Planes, pains and automobiles, part deux!!!!

It couldn't happen again could it? Surely not!!!!

It bloody well did.

After a final night out in Texas with a few friends we'd met there and a few lads who's just arrived to start their training I woke up feeling slightly worse for wear, finished my packing and went to meet the minibus that was taking us to the airport at 10:30 on Saturday 23rd August.  I left Houston, slightly delayed by 45 minutes, at 16:35 as the plane suffered a puncture on landing that needed to be repaired however the pilot made this time up during the flight and landed as scheduled at 08:35 Sunday 24th August in Frankfurt.  With just over 5 hours to kill before our flight to Dammam I had some breakfast, had a shower and put some clean clothes on (I can recommend this to anyone travelling long haul, clean underwear and a clean t-shirt felt like winning the Lottery), had a wander round duty free before heading to the gate ready for my flight.  
So far so good, as you've probably guessed it goes a bit pear shaped now!!
We were told that the flight from Frankfurt to Dammam was overbooked!!!!  how do you overbook a flight where you know exactly how many seats you've got, it's not like you can just add a couple or get a few people to stand up.  We were told our options:

1. Take our chances and board the flight however if we didn't get on we'd be put up in a hotel and fly the next day 
2. Change our flight and go via Doha on Qatar Airways guaranteeing our arrival in Dammam.

The 1st option wasn't an option as we had to report to work at 07:30 on Tuesday 26th to start various site induction processes, any delay there would have a knock on impact on the holidays I plan to take in September to bring Lindsey and Tilly to KSA.  Option 2 it was then, this meant a further delay in Frankfurt as we wouldn't be leaving until 15:30 so I did the only thing I could do, went for a beer!!! 7 hours in an airport is enough to drive any man to drink.
Option 2 meant landing in Doha at 22:30 some 25 minutes after I should have landed in Dammam and with another stopover of 2.5 hours before the onward flight.  It has to be noted that the new International airport in Doha is a stunning piece of architecture, built specifically for the World Cup in 2022 it's all shiney and new with excellent shopping if you've got very deep pockets (Harrods, Bulgari, Rolex and Burberry to name a few all have shops in the terminal).  I boarded the flight for the short hop to Dammam at 00:40 landing at 01:40 on Monday 25th.  Bonus points here go to Saudi passport control at King Fahd airport, arriving there with an Iqama and a re-entry visa is a piece of cake, I was through customs with my bags in hand 45 minutes later although I was still stood waiting for Chris and Jordan another 45 minutes later.  They weren't so lucky, of the 4 suitcases they put on the plane in Houston only 2 made it Dammam, Chris had a massive panic on as 1 of his cases contained his life possessions the other contained his guitar, he was like a kid at Christmas when his clothes arrived and not his guitar.  We did our good deed for the day as another lad who'd flown in from the UK that day had said on Facebook that his bike never arrived, whilst stood waiting for our luggage I noticed his bike flight case so collected it for him. 
We met our taxi and set off at around 03:45 for the drive to Jubail.  I arrived at my new home, Jubail Views, at 5am to be told the keys for my villa weren't there so the security guard started ringing around trying to locate the compound manager, who eventually turned up at 05:30, showed me to my new home and left me to it.
Ok, so it wasn't as bad as when I flew out to the US but it still took some 35 hours door to door starting on Saturday morning and finishing on Monday morning.  One thing that's for certain is that I won't be heading back to the US any time soon, I've spent 75 hours of my life travelling there and back, that's more than 3 days of my life lost in the ether that is Lufthansa long haul!!!!

With just over 24 hours before I had to report to work I collapsed in a heap!!!!