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Overland Destination: Saudi Arabia · The Overland Journal Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Overland Journal podcast. I am
0:05
Speaker 1: your host Scott Brady, and I am here with my
0:08
Speaker 1: co host Ashley Gerdano. Ashley, thank you so much for
0:12
Speaker 1: being on the podcast today.
0:13
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me.
0:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're going to talk about some fun stuff today.
0:17
Speaker 1: We're going to talk a lot about Saudi Arabia. We're
0:19
Speaker 1: going to talk about the Dakar. We're going to talk
0:21
Speaker 1: about Richard and your trip over there to the Middle East,
0:24
Speaker 1: which is extremely interesting to talk about. And a special
0:28
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1:03
Speaker 1: First of all, I want to acknowledge that where we
1:05
Speaker 1: are recording this the day after International Women's Day, and
1:08
Speaker 1: unfortunately we didn't record it on that day. But it
1:11
Speaker 1: has been so exciting to see the continued change within
1:16
Speaker 1: the marketplace. We have more and more stories being told
1:19
Speaker 1: and you are a big part of that. So one
1:21
Speaker 1: of the things that I wanted to ask you about,
1:23
Speaker 1: given that we're celebrating International Women's Day and Women's Month
1:26
Speaker 1: as well, talk about some of the most inspiring women's
1:29
Speaker 1: stories that you have learned in your research.
1:32
Speaker 2: That's a great one. I totally acknowledge that there are
1:36
Speaker 2: so many women traveling today that are very inspiring, and
1:40
Speaker 2: of course that there are so many to choose from.
1:42
Speaker 2: But for some reason, for me, the women of the
1:45
Speaker 2: past have just been something I'm very passionate about and
1:49
Speaker 2: very drawn too for different reasons. For some reason, Barbara
1:53
Speaker 2: Toy is always the one that I keep coming back to.
1:56
Speaker 2: I think it's for a variety of reasons. Extend travels
2:01
Speaker 2: all over the world in her land rovert, and she
2:03
Speaker 2: did multiple round the world trips and she did them solo. Yeah,
2:07
Speaker 2: she got to some places like Saudi Arabia that a
2:09
Speaker 2: lot of other women or even travelers couldn't get to
2:12
Speaker 2: at that time. I think for me too, the thrill
2:15
Speaker 2: of the chase or the thrill of the hunt is
2:17
Speaker 2: very important. And she has nine books that she published,
2:21
Speaker 2: and I can get my hands on two easily. The
2:24
Speaker 2: rest are out of print and either very expensive to
2:28
Speaker 2: get your hands on or almost impossible. I am definitely
2:32
Speaker 2: looking forward to getting a copy of her books and
2:34
Speaker 2: looking into her a bit more. So we'll see more
2:37
Speaker 2: coming up about her. I'm going to dive pretty deep
2:40
Speaker 2: into her history and I'm looking forward to sharing that
2:42
Speaker 2: with everybody.
2:43
Speaker 1: Oh that's great. Well, and if anyone is listening that
2:46
Speaker 1: has seen some of her books, let's please reach out
2:49
Speaker 1: to Ashley so that way we can we can hunt
2:51
Speaker 1: them down. I like that the thrill of the hunt. Yeah,
2:54
Speaker 1: for me, I would say that one of the most
2:56
Speaker 1: inspiring women travelers for me is Lowest Price. I've followed
3:00
Speaker 1: her travels for a long time. I would say that
3:03
Speaker 1: she's absolutely one of my travel heroes. I think that
3:07
Speaker 1: she travels in such a way that we can all
3:09
Speaker 1: learn from that. She travels on a small motorcycle, she
3:12
Speaker 1: travels solo, and it's all about interacting with the people
3:15
Speaker 1: that she gets to see along the way. So it
3:17
Speaker 1: has nothing to do with the vehicle, or very little,
3:20
Speaker 1: has nothing to do with the gear, and she wears
3:22
Speaker 1: a pair of off the shelf fry boots in an open
3:24
Speaker 1: face helmet. So it just says a lot about traveling
3:27
Speaker 1: for the sake of joy of travel. So I think
3:30
Speaker 1: Lois is a big inspiration for that. So those that
3:32
Speaker 1: are listening check out Lewis Price. She's got a bunch
3:34
Speaker 1: of books available as well that are all excellent reads.
3:37
Speaker 1: And of course we have many editors within our own
3:39
Speaker 1: team that are telling stories as well, like Ashley and
3:42
Speaker 1: Heather Lee and of course our editor in chief Tina Overaker.
3:46
Speaker 1: So I'm so grateful for all of the women that
3:48
Speaker 1: are part of our team and celebrating International Women's Day today.
3:51
Speaker 1: What else is going on, Ashley? What's new?
3:53
Speaker 2: So we're back in Calgary, which has a bit of
3:56
Speaker 2: a shock with the cold weather. Obviously it's March now,
3:59
Speaker 2: so the snow is still here. It's still cold.
4:02
Speaker 1: It's cold and Prescot it's like thirty degrees this morning.
4:04
Speaker 2: Ah No, the cool thing is that we've been reunited
4:08
Speaker 2: with our Tendra here doing a little bit of work
4:11
Speaker 2: on that, which is very exciting.
4:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, you guys are starting to get it ready for
4:14
Speaker 1: some travels. And then you've been looking at different campers.
4:17
Speaker 1: What are some things that you guys have kind of
4:19
Speaker 1: decided that you most want to see in a camper
4:21
Speaker 1: for your trip.
4:22
Speaker 2: That's a great question. I think the more time we
4:25
Speaker 2: spend insider looking at the campers, I think we get
4:28
Speaker 2: to bore up an idea, but it's not really common
4:30
Speaker 2: knowledge at this point, which it is now, so people
4:33
Speaker 2: will probably be like, why are you taking your red
4:35
Speaker 2: truck on your next adventure? And it's an excellent platform
4:38
Speaker 2: that we absolutely love. I think for our lifestyle now
4:43
Speaker 2: we're working on the road and we're a bit older,
4:46
Speaker 2: there are just some reasons why we need a little
4:49
Speaker 2: bit more comfort when we're going to be pretty much
4:52
Speaker 2: working full time on the road. So to answer your
4:54
Speaker 2: question the camper, I think one of the biggest things
4:58
Speaker 2: for us would be just a place to sit and
5:02
Speaker 2: be able to do that work. So a table and
5:05
Speaker 2: like a bench seat or something is probably one of
5:07
Speaker 2: the biggest reasons why we're going in this direction. And
5:11
Speaker 2: also storage space, which is not necessarily intuitive in a
5:17
Speaker 2: lot of the campers that we've looked at because they
5:19
Speaker 2: are for the weekend warrior, because that's really what the
5:22
Speaker 2: products are targeted towards.
5:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, I find things some of the real advantages of
5:26
Speaker 1: a camper is when you're having a bad day, when
5:29
Speaker 1: you're sick, when you're not feeling well, that you have
5:32
Speaker 1: a place to retreat and get well. When you're traveling
5:36
Speaker 1: for the weekend, if you're not feeling well, you just
5:38
Speaker 1: don't go. But when you're crossing a continent or when
5:40
Speaker 1: you're in some other place of the world, you're in
5:43
Speaker 1: your home, it's with you, and if it's a little
5:45
Speaker 1: more comfortable. And the second reason I find is just
5:48
Speaker 1: really dealing with the huge variety of elements that you
5:51
Speaker 1: experience over a longer trip. Normally, when we do when
5:54
Speaker 1: all of us do short trips, we may even plan
5:56
Speaker 1: those trips around weather. So maybe we want to go
5:58
Speaker 1: on a snow trip and then plan accordingly, or maybe
6:01
Speaker 1: we want to go down to Baja where we know
6:03
Speaker 1: the weather is going to be great. On months long's trips,
6:06
Speaker 1: then we have to deal with a huge variety of weather,
6:09
Speaker 1: and that's where a well insulated camper, even with a
6:12
Speaker 1: heater or at least a way to get out of
6:14
Speaker 1: the rain, makes such a big difference.
6:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, we've been running into a lot of wind lately
6:19
Speaker 2: the last couple of years. I don't know what it
6:21
Speaker 2: is about, but I think that's another thing to take
6:23
Speaker 2: into consideration, especially trying to decide between like a hard
6:28
Speaker 2: shell versus a pop up camper. Sure, that's another thing
6:32
Speaker 2: that we've kind of trying to figure out or feel
6:34
Speaker 2: out what the best stuff for us is going to be.
6:37
Speaker 1: It all complicates the shipping, it does. I mean, if
6:39
Speaker 1: you have a pop up camper, now, what some people
6:41
Speaker 1: will do is they will remove they'll back the truck in,
6:45
Speaker 1: you know, close to the to the container, and then
6:48
Speaker 1: they'll just pick a forklift and move you know, a
6:50
Speaker 1: non popping up camper in there, because normally they're not
6:53
Speaker 1: too tall to fit inside a container, and then you
6:55
Speaker 1: back the truck in very carefully, just right underneath the overhang.
6:59
Speaker 1: So that's always a possibility, but it certainly is a
7:02
Speaker 1: lot easier, a lot less work if you've got a
7:04
Speaker 1: pop top.
7:04
Speaker 2: For sure. It was a weird process for us too
7:07
Speaker 2: to realize that this is the direction that we wanted
7:10
Speaker 2: to go in because I think sometimes your vehicle can
7:14
Speaker 2: be kind of an extension of yourself and your identity.
7:17
Speaker 2: And we know, you know, we're priding ourselves on just
7:21
Speaker 2: the build and what it was about and kind of
7:24
Speaker 2: be like being tough and roughing it makes you a
7:27
Speaker 2: stronger person sometimes, and so we really were like this
7:30
Speaker 2: is part of who we are, and we had to
7:32
Speaker 2: be like this isn't it right for us anymore, which
7:35
Speaker 2: I think was a big shift.
7:36
Speaker 1: Well, you got the T shirt, you did rough it,
7:40
Speaker 1: you totally got that. You have like the certificate on
7:43
Speaker 1: the wall, you got the T shirt, You got to
7:46
Speaker 1: experience all those things, and now you're deciding that you
7:48
Speaker 1: want to be more sustainable long term and you want
7:51
Speaker 1: to be able to work, and you want to be
7:53
Speaker 1: able to change that experience. And that's totally normal. I
7:55
Speaker 1: think it's normal to do that.
7:57
Speaker 2: I'm kind of over like working when my heat, my
8:00
Speaker 2: computers overheating, when I'm in the passenger seat with no
8:03
Speaker 2: ac like driving involved.
8:06
Speaker 1: It's exciting, though, well, very very fun. And let's talk
8:10
Speaker 1: about Saudi Arabia. So let's give a little context around
8:14
Speaker 1: your recent trip back in.
8:16
Speaker 2: I think this was the beginning of January. We went
8:18
Speaker 2: to Saudi for twenty days, which is not nearly enough
8:21
Speaker 2: to be fair, like, we felt like we barely scratched
8:24
Speaker 2: the surface at all. The country is huge, it.
8:27
Speaker 1: Is, and yeah, I saw that it was. It was
8:30
Speaker 1: the second largest country in the Middle East and it's
8:34
Speaker 1: the fifth largest country in all of Asia. So it's massive.
8:38
Speaker 2: Which we knew that, but I don't think once you're
8:40
Speaker 2: on the ground, you're like, oh wow. Like we literally
8:43
Speaker 2: drove the equivalent of driving across Canada and we only
8:47
Speaker 2: hit kind of like the northern and the Middle apart,
8:51
Speaker 2: nothing in down south, not anything towards Oman or the
8:54
Speaker 2: empty border or the other side. So yeah, it's a
8:57
Speaker 2: lot of It's a big country, it is, which is awesome. Yeah.
9:01
Speaker 2: So we flew in obviously, and we rented a car
9:05
Speaker 2: and that's how we traveled through the country.
9:07
Speaker 1: Well, let's talk about one of the questions that I
9:09
Speaker 1: have is what was the process like of being able
9:12
Speaker 1: to get into Saudi Arabia when I looked at it
9:14
Speaker 1: the last time, I needed to have a letter of invitation,
9:18
Speaker 1: there was some additional processes around getting a visa. How
9:21
Speaker 1: does that look now that the Dekar is there and
9:24
Speaker 1: they're starting to open up more towards tourism.
9:26
Speaker 2: Twenty nineteen, I believe they opened up to oh my gosh,
9:30
Speaker 2: I can't remember how many countries, it was like forty
9:32
Speaker 2: something countries that they've approved that can apply for an
9:35
Speaker 2: eVisa online or they could also do a visa upon arrival.
9:40
Speaker 2: Now right now with COVID, they've suspended the visa on arrival,
9:45
Speaker 2: so you have to go through the eVisa process, and
9:48
Speaker 2: it was really easy for us. You just go on
9:51
Speaker 2: to the website. I think it's like visit Saudi or something.
9:53
Speaker 2: We can figure that out and put it in the
9:55
Speaker 2: show notes if people are interested. And I'm also doing
9:58
Speaker 2: a piece on it for overland journals, so all that
10:01
Speaker 2: information will be in there. So, yeah, you apply for
10:03
Speaker 2: your eVisa, and we had issues with their Canadian credit
10:07
Speaker 2: card on there. I don't know why. It was so weird.
10:10
Speaker 2: We were like trying to fight with the whole thing,
10:12
Speaker 2: and it wasn't the bank, and it wasn't the website,
10:14
Speaker 2: and it wasn't the tourism board. And eventually we got
10:17
Speaker 2: it figured out super straightforward, and the visa comes really quickly.
10:20
Speaker 2: I think it came within a few hours or something
10:22
Speaker 2: like that, and it was in Arabic, which was pretty fun.
10:26
Speaker 2: I think that was the only thing that we needed.
10:30
Speaker 2: Aside from they have some pretty strict COVID regulations for
10:34
Speaker 2: tours coming in which you're changing all the time. What
10:37
Speaker 2: we had to do back in January has already changed.
10:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, it seems to be changing rapidly in most of
10:42
Speaker 1: the world. A lot of that has eased, for sure,
10:44
Speaker 1: which is great news for those of us that want
10:47
Speaker 1: to travel. For sure. Was there any other considerations around
10:50
Speaker 1: the visa. Are there areas of the country that require
10:53
Speaker 1: additional permitting or did that give you access to pretty
10:57
Speaker 1: much travel around the country.
10:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, I gave us access to everything. I think there's
11:02
Speaker 2: there was a road that I heard of that you
11:04
Speaker 2: can apply to drive on that's on the West coast.
11:08
Speaker 2: It takes about a month or something. We didn't do
11:10
Speaker 2: x we didn't have time. I'm not really sure the
11:13
Speaker 2: details of that, but otherwise, your visa covers the entire country.
11:17
Speaker 1: Very cool. Well, I think it's worth talking a little
11:19
Speaker 1: bit about the culture of Saudi Arabia, which is I
11:22
Speaker 1: think one of the main reasons to go visit is
11:24
Speaker 1: to experience something so unique and so ancient. This is
11:28
Speaker 1: a very old culture. It's been a monarchy since nineteen
11:32
Speaker 1: thirty two, which I think is very interesting. There's very
11:35
Speaker 1: few countries that are still monarchy run countries. So these
11:39
Speaker 1: are all very interesting things for the traveler to experience.
11:42
Speaker 1: What did you find about the culture or what kind
11:45
Speaker 1: of research did you do ahead of time? And then
11:47
Speaker 1: what cultural considerations do you think that we need to
11:49
Speaker 1: have as travelers when we go to visit their country.
11:52
Speaker 2: This is such a big topic. It's so awesome, and
11:54
Speaker 2: we learned a lot through research that we did beforehand
11:57
Speaker 2: while we were there experiencing it, and then after we
12:00
Speaker 2: got home we did more research because we wanted to
12:03
Speaker 2: understand and a lot of people speak English, but not
12:06
Speaker 2: as many spoke English as fluently as we had heard
12:10
Speaker 2: or expected, and so there were a lot of question
12:13
Speaker 2: marks that we had when we were there. I would
12:15
Speaker 2: say in terms of practicality of clothing, that's one thing
12:20
Speaker 2: that you definitely should be aware of. For women, there's
12:24
Speaker 2: no mandate that says that you have to wear a
12:29
Speaker 2: scarf or a robe or any sort of covering at all,
12:33
Speaker 2: especially as a foreign woman. You could in theory, wear
12:37
Speaker 2: what you want there. I would definitely recommend not doing that,
12:40
Speaker 2: sticking with loose pants, a loose shirt, long sleeved T shirt,
12:45
Speaker 2: even a T shirt with short sleeves. I probably wouldn't
12:48
Speaker 2: go that far. And I also picked up in a baia,
12:52
Speaker 2: which is a like a black robe that you can
12:54
Speaker 2: just throw on over your clothes, and I felt pretty
12:57
Speaker 2: comfortable in that. And then in terms of a head scarf,
13:01
Speaker 2: you don't have to wear one unless you're going into
13:03
Speaker 2: a mosque. Sure, so for women it's interesting. I think
13:06
Speaker 2: people have different levels of comfort. But the country, there
13:09
Speaker 2: aren't a lot of international tourists there, and so the
13:13
Speaker 2: only place we really saw tourists was in maybe a
13:16
Speaker 2: riod and al Ula, and there were few and far between,
13:20
Speaker 2: And so I felt more comfortable with the robe on
13:23
Speaker 2: top of my clothes, and I just didn't want people
13:26
Speaker 2: to feel uncomfortable, I guess because of my presence. So yeah,
13:31
Speaker 2: especially in those remote areas, in the smaller towns, and yeah,
13:35
Speaker 2: we were going to a lot of gas stations. Sure,
13:38
Speaker 2: you know, it's shocking enough to see us pull up,
13:41
Speaker 2: So yeah, it was out of considerations. And then for men,
13:45
Speaker 2: it's pretty relaxed, but they did suggest, you know, like
13:48
Speaker 2: loose pants and not a really tight T shirt and
13:51
Speaker 2: no shorts.
13:53
Speaker 1: So yeah, the shorts is definitely a good one that
13:55
Speaker 1: a lot of people don't know or think about. It's
13:57
Speaker 1: not considered respectful to their values and beliefs for a
14:02
Speaker 1: man to wear shorts in Saudi Arabia, and I think
14:05
Speaker 1: that that's one of the most important lessons that we
14:07
Speaker 1: learn as a traveler, is that we're going to visit
14:10
Speaker 1: them by choice, so it should be part of the
14:13
Speaker 1: experience to also adopt the components of their culture that
14:16
Speaker 1: honor them the most. As a guest, just like you
14:20
Speaker 1: would in someone's home, you wouldn't track your muddy boots
14:23
Speaker 1: through their carpet. You would do all of these things
14:25
Speaker 1: to be considerate of your host if you were going
14:28
Speaker 1: to have dinner with someone. It's the same thing when
14:30
Speaker 1: we visit a country that has a different culture than ours.
14:33
Speaker 1: That's part of the fun is to and it's part
14:35
Speaker 1: of the joy I think of travel, is to begin
14:37
Speaker 1: to understand how they live and honor them in as
14:40
Speaker 1: many ways as we see as appropriate. I think that
14:42
Speaker 1: that's really important. So those are all really great insights
14:45
Speaker 1: Thanks for sharing that. What other things did you notice
14:47
Speaker 1: about the culture that you really enjoyed?
14:49
Speaker 2: Oh gosh, okay, it like the food was really wonderful.
14:52
Speaker 2: And I think the thing that I didn't know going
14:55
Speaker 2: into the country was how much of an influence other
14:59
Speaker 2: countries have had the cuisine there. So they have really amazing,
15:02
Speaker 2: delicious traditional food. We definitely tasted some of that, which
15:06
Speaker 2: was great. We went to a traditional restaurant in Riot
15:09
Speaker 2: and I did. I was like, I don't know what
15:11
Speaker 2: any of this is, but it's all delicious, you know,
15:14
Speaker 2: like flatbreads and meat dishes and veggie dishes, and yeah,
15:17
Speaker 2: it was very very good. We also noticed like in
15:21
Speaker 2: certain areas, like a Lebanese influence or a Syrian influence
15:26
Speaker 2: that was really good too. So that's like your hummus
15:29
Speaker 2: and flatbread and pickles and all sorts of things like that. Yeah.
15:34
Speaker 2: And then coffee and tea culture very fascinating there. They
15:38
Speaker 2: love their tea and coffee and it comes in so
15:41
Speaker 2: many different shapes and sizes, I guess, or modes of
15:44
Speaker 2: experiencing it, from really high end coffee shops that are
15:49
Speaker 2: beautifully decorated almost like your kind of like a niche
15:54
Speaker 2: unique coffee shop in the States, but like even more
15:57
Speaker 2: kind of feels luxurious to me. Anyway, There was a
16:03
Speaker 2: Tim Hortons in the Yeah, yeah, fascinating stuff. But yeah,
16:09
Speaker 2: so you've got your like your typical kind of boutique
16:13
Speaker 2: coffee shop and you go there and get your latte
16:15
Speaker 2: and you really enjoy the experience. And often those shops
16:18
Speaker 2: are really big with a lot of glass and contemporary
16:21
Speaker 2: kind of architecture and design. Inside pretty much every gas
16:24
Speaker 2: station there was a little coffee kiosk, Like in the
16:28
Speaker 2: US they'll have those little I don't know what those
16:30
Speaker 2: are called. Do you drive through and get whatever. So
16:33
Speaker 2: we had all sorts of fun yeah, like sugary drinks
16:40
Speaker 2: from those or just tea and I don't know. The
16:43
Speaker 2: menus were like those really long, extensive offerings, and the
16:46
Speaker 2: tea and coffee culture of the people just like pulling
16:49
Speaker 2: out beside you and saying welcome to Saudi and handing
16:52
Speaker 2: you a cup of Arabic coffee out of their vehicle
16:56
Speaker 2: with a big tea pot inside. They carry these little
17:00
Speaker 2: paper cups with them where they go so they can
17:02
Speaker 2: share the experience with others. That has nothing to do
17:05
Speaker 2: with us being there. This is like anybody, like anybody
17:09
Speaker 2: living there would they'd just be sharing with them. That's
17:12
Speaker 2: really experienced. Yeah, so we experience Arab coffee in that way,
17:17
Speaker 2: just being shared out of somebody's vehicle. And it's like
17:20
Speaker 2: a milky kind of yellow color and has a bunch
17:24
Speaker 2: of spices like cardam on in it. And I thought
17:27
Speaker 2: it was delicious. I'm not my opinion's not like the
17:31
Speaker 2: only one coming from America can be kind of weird,
17:34
Speaker 2: but I loved it. The black tea with sugar is
17:37
Speaker 2: another one that they just make it. I don't know
17:39
Speaker 2: how they do it, but it tastes so good.
17:41
Speaker 1: No, they always get it just well. They've been doing
17:43
Speaker 1: it for so long that they just have it totally nailed.
17:46
Speaker 1: And I love how they'll pour, you know, like so
17:48
Speaker 1: far away from the cup and it kind of like
17:50
Speaker 1: foams the sugar in there. It's just amazing.
17:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, there were some cops or military police or something
17:56
Speaker 2: just outside of where the decker relly was running, and
18:00
Speaker 2: a bunch of us stop by and they were like
18:02
Speaker 2: serving us all tea, and yeah, it was quite an
18:05
Speaker 2: amazing experience.
18:09
Speaker 1: This content is brought to you by Overland Journal, our
18:12
Speaker 1: premium quality print publication. The magazine was founded in two
18:16
Speaker 1: thousand and six with the goal of providing independent equipment
18:21
Speaker 1: and vehicle reviews, along with the most stunning adventures and photography.
18:27
Speaker 1: We care deeply about the countries and cultures we visit
18:30
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19:05
Speaker 1: Oh that's wonderful. So let's talk a little bit about
19:07
Speaker 1: overlanding in the country. So you were able to access
19:11
Speaker 1: a full old drive. What did you guys rent or
19:13
Speaker 1: how was the process of renting? Was it easy? What
19:16
Speaker 1: was the cost of renting the vehicle?
19:18
Speaker 2: So we went with Sixth it's spelt S. I own
19:22
Speaker 2: x T or sixth and I think they're the one
19:24
Speaker 2: of the go to was for vehicle rental and one
19:28
Speaker 2: of the only ones I think that offers four wheel drive,
19:30
Speaker 2: which if you need four whel drive, which I feel
19:34
Speaker 2: like is necessary there. If you want to go into
19:37
Speaker 2: dunes or sand or waddies, it's more expensive, Like it's
19:41
Speaker 2: quite expensive, like over one hundred dollars US a day
19:44
Speaker 2: every day that was taking buy were like, oh my gosh,
19:48
Speaker 2: like here's another money flying away out of Did you get.
19:51
Speaker 1: A discount for longer rentals? Like was there like a weekly?
19:55
Speaker 2: So there was a sale going on which we took
19:58
Speaker 2: advantage of that. And then the man that signed us
20:02
Speaker 2: up initially, he was really sweet and he gave us
20:05
Speaker 2: unlimited kilometers Oh wow, so which was we were like,
20:08
Speaker 2: thank you so much, like we have so much to see.
20:11
Speaker 2: So that was really great and the process was easy.
20:14
Speaker 2: You could either go to the airport in Riad and
20:17
Speaker 2: pick up those vehicles or at the train station in Riad.
20:21
Speaker 2: And then there was another place we stopped in at
20:25
Speaker 2: I think it was Hail, and we wanted to extend
20:28
Speaker 2: our time, so we went there and talked to them
20:31
Speaker 2: about that, and the whole thing was pretty easy. But
20:33
Speaker 2: I would definitely loved to go back in my own
20:36
Speaker 2: vehicle because I think it just financially, like even if
20:40
Speaker 2: we shipped over, it would be worth it to have your.
20:42
Speaker 1: Own, and then you could stay much longer.
20:44
Speaker 2: Too, So yeah, for sure.
20:46
Speaker 1: Well that's very interesting about the vehicle. Another thing that
20:49
Speaker 1: I think is really cool about overlanding in Saudi Arabia
20:53
Speaker 1: is the price of fuel, which is of course on
20:55
Speaker 1: people's minds right now. How much is fuel per leader there?
21:00
Speaker 2: I can't remember.
21:01
Speaker 1: It's so cheap, you don't remember. Yeah, I think it's
21:04
Speaker 1: in the sixty to seventy cent range. It's very inexpensive
21:07
Speaker 1: per leader.
21:08
Speaker 2: So yeah. The other cool thing is that there are
21:10
Speaker 2: so many borders nearby, like Jordan, oman Q, eight UAE, Yemen.
21:17
Speaker 2: But obviously you don't want to go there. A rock
21:20
Speaker 2: is over there too, so yeah, lots of opportunities to
21:23
Speaker 2: explore more in that area.
21:24
Speaker 1: I'm going to check the price of fuel.
21:27
Speaker 2: Good idea, I don't pay.
21:30
Speaker 1: It is okay, So per gallon in riod is ninety
21:35
Speaker 1: one cents a gallon, Isn't that amazing? And then in
21:38
Speaker 1: Kuwait it's it's even less. In Nigeria it's thirty eight
21:42
Speaker 1: cents a gallon. Is that that's fascinating? Fascinating? So yeah,
21:46
Speaker 1: less than a dollar a gallon per fuel in Saudi Arabia.
21:49
Speaker 2: So makes it. You can add you can really overland
21:52
Speaker 2: therefore white you can. Saudi can be really budget friendly
21:57
Speaker 2: if you know how to do it right. Yeah, there
21:59
Speaker 2: aren't real campgrounds or like overland or camps, which was
22:03
Speaker 2: super interesting for US. I feel like we didn't really
22:06
Speaker 2: realize how our travels through the Latin America shaped what
22:10
Speaker 2: we thought that the rest of the world would be. Right.
22:13
Speaker 2: We had no clue un till we got there and
22:15
Speaker 2: we're like, wait, there aren't any of these overland or
22:17
Speaker 2: camps anywhere in Saudi. They just don't have them because
22:20
Speaker 2: the tourist infrastructure or the it's not like the Pan
22:23
Speaker 2: American Highway. We don't have people overlanding through to that extent,
22:28
Speaker 2: you know, and the people aren't going to go to
22:31
Speaker 2: a camp ground.
22:31
Speaker 1: They're going to go which is perfect. So it's kind
22:33
Speaker 1: of like what we experienced in North America where we
22:36
Speaker 1: just go wild camping, but you get to go do
22:38
Speaker 1: it in massive sand dunes. So talk a little bit
22:40
Speaker 1: about what made it more budget friendly? What decisions did
22:44
Speaker 1: you guys make that made it less expensive?
22:46
Speaker 2: Well, for US, I would say it wasn't budget friendly
22:48
Speaker 2: because we were in we had the rental car first
22:51
Speaker 2: of all, and then we were spending money on flights.
22:53
Speaker 2: And then because we were in the rental car, we
22:55
Speaker 2: needed to stay in like in a part hotel or
22:58
Speaker 2: an airbnb or something more frequent. I think too, when
23:02
Speaker 2: your first visiting somewhere, you don't really have your finger
23:05
Speaker 2: on the pulse of what's happening and understanding what's going on,
23:09
Speaker 2: especially with the language barrier, and so we weren't necessarily
23:12
Speaker 2: making those smart decisions because we just didn't know. However,
23:16
Speaker 2: it could be a good budget destination for somebody with
23:20
Speaker 2: their own vehicle, because you could, really you can as
23:23
Speaker 2: long as you're outside an urban center, and you could
23:25
Speaker 2: literally camp anywhere. There's just no reason to get a
23:30
Speaker 2: hotel room if unless you need to, you know what
23:33
Speaker 2: I mean, Like you could literally just camp the whole time, and.
23:35
Speaker 1: It looked like you guys camped a lot.
23:37
Speaker 2: I mean, we did camp a lot. Yeah, we needed
23:40
Speaker 2: those resets for sure. And actually some of the apart hotels,
23:44
Speaker 2: which is basically like it's kind of like a hotel
23:46
Speaker 2: room but slightly different, some of those can be quite
23:48
Speaker 2: inexpensive in certain areas as well. So that's another way
23:51
Speaker 2: that it can be quite budget friendly. What was really
23:54
Speaker 2: interesting is those are set up around the culture, so
23:58
Speaker 2: they will have you walk in and there's a little kitchen,
24:02
Speaker 2: and then that room is separated, like there are doors,
24:05
Speaker 2: and then it goes into like the next kind of
24:07
Speaker 2: room area with the bathroom, sure and bedroom because of
24:11
Speaker 2: the way that the men and women can sometimes be separated.
24:15
Speaker 2: And so we found like there were lots of doors
24:17
Speaker 2: and things separating different parts of the rooms out which
24:20
Speaker 2: I thought was really interesting.
24:21
Speaker 1: It is interesting. Yeah, what was the most humorous thing
24:25
Speaker 1: that happened when you were on your trip? Kind of
24:27
Speaker 1: the stand away kind of funny experience.
24:30
Speaker 2: Okay, this was funny and heart ordering. So when we
24:34
Speaker 2: were there, we met up with a group of eight
24:37
Speaker 2: American guys. Kurt Williams was one of them, and they
24:41
Speaker 2: were all there to watch the deck bar. And so
24:44
Speaker 2: we stopped into this little town for dinner one night.
24:47
Speaker 2: All the guys were inside ordering and I was outside
24:50
Speaker 2: with one of the other guys, just kind of standing
24:52
Speaker 2: outside and seeing what was going on. And then this
24:55
Speaker 2: car pulled up with this like it seemed like it
24:58
Speaker 2: was full of women. It had like one lady was driving.
25:00
Speaker 2: When it was in the passenger seat. They were like
25:02
Speaker 2: three in the back and they were all like holy
25:04
Speaker 2: roped up. She started talking to us because she had
25:07
Speaker 2: studied in London, I believe, and so she spoke English
25:11
Speaker 2: really well, and she was asking us a bunch of
25:13
Speaker 2: questions and handed over a box of sweets and we
25:17
Speaker 2: were like, wow, this is amazing. And so I was
25:19
Speaker 2: asking her where I could find an abayah because I'd
25:21
Speaker 2: been looking to buy one. I didn't really know where
25:24
Speaker 2: to get one, and so she gave me some advice
25:27
Speaker 2: and gave some tips and pointed to a few like
25:30
Speaker 2: shops and stuff like that, and so you know, we
25:32
Speaker 2: said goodbye, blah blah blah, and she drove away, and
25:37
Speaker 2: I kind of walked around looking for this place. And
25:39
Speaker 2: half an hour went by and I was we were
25:41
Speaker 2: still standing there. She came back up and the lady
25:45
Speaker 2: in the passenger seat rolled down her window and held
25:47
Speaker 2: this bag outside of the passenger window, and it had
25:50
Speaker 2: an abaya in it, and she purchased one for me
25:54
Speaker 2: and the effort of coming all the way back and yeah, anyway,
25:58
Speaker 2: it was a really nice one too. It smelled really
26:00
Speaker 2: like perfume and really lovely. This hasn't ever happened to
26:04
Speaker 2: mean first bought you close, you just bought me amy. So, yeah,
26:07
Speaker 2: that was really cool.
26:09
Speaker 1: And I've heard stories like that consistently. A friend of
26:12
Speaker 1: mine actually he used to go to Embrew Riddle here
26:15
Speaker 1: in Prescott. His name is Loui, And you guys worked
26:17
Speaker 1: with Loui a little bit. I think his oil drive
26:20
Speaker 1: shop in Saudi's called ore Wheel Station. Yeah, and Loui
26:23
Speaker 1: listens to the podcast amazing guy. He rolled into the
26:27
Speaker 1: into the Overland Journal offices in his in his aev
26:31
Speaker 1: TJ and it was all set up and he's just
26:33
Speaker 1: a really neat person and he was really helpful around
26:37
Speaker 1: some of your other questions too. So what were some
26:40
Speaker 1: things you learned from Loui?
26:41
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. We had such a good time with him,
26:45
Speaker 2: and so we went by the shop and did a
26:47
Speaker 2: podcast episode with him and awesome, which everybody hopefully will
26:52
Speaker 2: look forward to hearing that in the upcoming weeks. But
26:55
Speaker 2: he just explained the differences between North American overland and
27:00
Speaker 2: overlanding in that area of the world, and the mindset
27:04
Speaker 2: and the vehicle differences. We just like went out for
27:06
Speaker 2: a few meals and went out in the desert and
27:09
Speaker 2: did a shoot up for his vehicle, and we just
27:12
Speaker 2: asked him everything because he speaks really good English and
27:17
Speaker 2: he has lived in the US and so he knows
27:20
Speaker 2: he can give me some context, like if we're confused
27:23
Speaker 2: or whatever. And we really appreciated that time that he
27:26
Speaker 2: took and spent with us. And he sourced some you
27:29
Speaker 2: many coffee beans for us to take home at the
27:31
Speaker 2: last minute before we flew out, and after reading the
27:35
Speaker 2: Monk of Boca, we were like, we have to find
27:37
Speaker 2: you many coffee beans. Very sweet guy, and we so
27:40
Speaker 2: appreciated all the time that he took to spend with
27:43
Speaker 2: us and explain a little more about the things that
27:46
Speaker 2: we didn't understand, which was pretty much ninety.
27:48
Speaker 1: Nine percent totally. And for those that are listening within
27:52
Speaker 1: the next few weeks, so it may be just right
27:55
Speaker 1: after this podcast airs, or maybe even slightly before, but
27:59
Speaker 1: we are going to have a three part series on
28:01
Speaker 1: the Expedition Portal YouTube channel that was produced by Ashley
28:06
Speaker 1: and Richard of their adventures. So make sure that you
28:09
Speaker 1: all check out the video series that they work so
28:11
Speaker 1: hard to put together. It's it is super fun. It
28:14
Speaker 1: had me laughing out loud on many occasions. You guys
28:17
Speaker 1: did a wonderful job with that. So that are those
28:19
Speaker 1: that are listening or watching this podcast on YouTube. You
28:22
Speaker 1: can also find a three part series on their adventure
28:25
Speaker 1: on YouTube as well. So what was the most adventurous
28:29
Speaker 1: thing that happened? It felt the most overlandy moment of
28:32
Speaker 1: your trip.
28:32
Speaker 2: So you added to Lotti Disa, which is in the
28:36
Speaker 2: Topook region, which is north towards kind of towards Jordan.
28:40
Speaker 2: The area is like full of local locals that head
28:44
Speaker 2: there kind of on the weekend to drive around and
28:47
Speaker 2: camp and e and party. Probably, like it reminded me
28:51
Speaker 2: a lot of Lotti Rum in Jordan. And it had
28:55
Speaker 2: these like big rock wall facades in the middle on
28:58
Speaker 2: the sides, and then in the middle there was like
29:01
Speaker 2: a big I guess a river and all these this greenery. Yeah,
29:06
Speaker 2: you kind of we use the vehicle, the rental vehicle
29:11
Speaker 2: sort of I wouldn't say hard, but we definitely needed
29:13
Speaker 2: it for some of the water sections in there. Getting
29:17
Speaker 2: through that was quite an adventure and it was really
29:20
Speaker 2: fun and a lot of vehicles that were stuck in
29:22
Speaker 2: all this water and sand and mud and just meeting
29:26
Speaker 2: all these different types of people that were all camping
29:30
Speaker 2: or driving and sharing dates and tea with them, and
29:34
Speaker 2: that was probably the most overlanding thing I think we did.
29:37
Speaker 2: And we actually were with Marcel and Kiar of Overland Vagabonds.
29:41
Speaker 2: They're Swiss Overlanders, so it was kind of cool. We're like, oh,
29:44
Speaker 2: we're traveling with the Overland couple.
29:48
Speaker 1: Are there any other thoughts that come to mind about
29:51
Speaker 1: your trip there that you'd like to share with the audience.
29:54
Speaker 2: It was such an interesting trip for us, just I
29:57
Speaker 2: think because we were so used to, like I said,
30:00
Speaker 2: traveling through Latin America, to just have that realization that
30:03
Speaker 2: you're like, wow, we have to relearn everything, and it's
30:07
Speaker 2: so exciting and wonderful. But it was. It was kind
30:10
Speaker 2: of an interesting learning experience. So we came away from
30:14
Speaker 2: it wanting more and I felt like we barely scratched
30:18
Speaker 2: the surface and there's unfinished business there big time, and
30:22
Speaker 2: we don't usually we usually do a country and we're like,
30:25
Speaker 2: I think we did a pretty good job of feeling it,
30:28
Speaker 2: seeing it, experiencing it, and this time we were like,
30:31
Speaker 2: no way, man, we have to go back again because
30:34
Speaker 2: we saw nothing, but we saw everything, So that's amazing.
30:38
Speaker 2: It was a really really good experience.
30:40
Speaker 1: People can find out more about your trip. So you're
30:42
Speaker 1: doing some content for Overland Journal and then how else
30:46
Speaker 1: can people see some of your photos and learn more
30:50
Speaker 1: about what you guys did in Saudi Arabia.
30:53
Speaker 2: So that stuff will be rolling out over the next
30:55
Speaker 2: little while. But I would say falling at desk to
30:58
Speaker 2: Glory on Instagram or Facebook at desk Glory underscore ash
31:03
Speaker 2: on Instagram. We post been posting photos, but not very many,
31:07
Speaker 2: so we have a plan We're going to post more
31:10
Speaker 2: and share more. But yeah, I would watch the portal
31:12
Speaker 2: as well. I've got a few pieces I'm working on.
31:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, and then we'll have interviews with Loui coming up.
31:19
Speaker 1: We'll have some feature vehicles on how Loui built his
31:22
Speaker 1: overland vehicle, which I'm very excited to see. And then
31:26
Speaker 1: you can reach out and ask questions. So you can
31:28
Speaker 1: reach me at Scott dot a dot Brady on Instagram
31:32
Speaker 1: if you have additional questions. Same with desta Glory ash
31:36
Speaker 1: on Instagram. If you've got questions for Ashley Richard can
31:39
Speaker 1: be a be found at desta Glory on Instagram. So
31:42
Speaker 1: if you guys have questions about traveling to Sadi Arabia,
31:44
Speaker 1: or you have comments about the podcast or additional things
31:46
Speaker 1: you'd like to know, please reach out and then make
31:48
Speaker 1: sure to check out the new three part series that
31:50
Speaker 1: we've got going up onto YouTube. We're excited to see
31:52
Speaker 1: that go live.
31:53
Speaker 2: Yay. Yeah, thank you for the opportunity to be able
31:57
Speaker 2: to share that through video. Are really excited to have.
32:00
Speaker 2: You know, obviously articles and photos can share things really well,
32:04
Speaker 2: but I think video adds this other element that you
32:07
Speaker 2: really get more of a sense of what it was like.
32:09
Speaker 1: And oh, totally, it was definitely a thousand words per second.
32:12
Speaker 1: It was a lot. There was a lot going on
32:14
Speaker 1: which was really neat. Like I said, I found myself
32:16
Speaker 1: laughing out loud and being like, oh, that's so cool
32:20
Speaker 1: or whatever. Was something unexpected, Like it seemed like every
32:23
Speaker 1: gas station was also like a Costcolie.
32:28
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. They had like rugs and camping equipment
32:31
Speaker 2: and snacks.
32:32
Speaker 1: I saw like roller luggage was just like in the
32:35
Speaker 1: middle of nowhere.
32:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's absolutely cool and unbelievable and I feel like
32:40
Speaker 2: you could chat about those cultural things for like hours.
32:44
Speaker 1: Well, Ashley, thank you so much for sharing your experience
32:47
Speaker 1: with Saudi Arabia, and thank you to Richard and you
32:49
Speaker 1: both for being such an inspiration to so many and
32:52
Speaker 1: for sharing your stories through Overland Journal and Expedition Portal.
32:55
Speaker 2: It's been our pleasure. Thank you so much for
32:57
Speaker 1: Having me out, thanks for being on, and we will
33:00
Speaker 1: talk to you all next time.