Saudi Arabia: A Newly Opened World
Following an incredible journey throughout Egypt, we boarded our flight to Saudi Arabia. Why Saudi Arabia? A few reasons. The first, of course, is because we wanted to go. After seeing Petra years prior, I wanted to see more Nabatean structures. The second? I'm trying to hit my goal of visiting 100 countries in 2026, and this nonstop flight seemed liked a great add-on while we were in the area! And finally? If there’s a final frontier of tourism left, it’s Saudi Arabia because the country opened to tourists in 2019. When we landed in Jeddah, we were the only white people in the entire airport. In this day and age, that is pretty incredible, eye-opening, and extremely humbling. Not even phased, the immigration officer asked us what brought us to Saudi Arabia, to which we responded "tourism" and we were on our way. Located along the eastern shore of the Red Sea, Jeddah has long served as a historic crossroads for pilgrims and traders. For centuries, it has been the primar...