Uploaded April 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Saudi Arabia is an enigma: it's world famous and yet a total unknown.
What we know:
- Saudi Arabia is an 'absolute monarchy' where the king rules all.
- Saudi Arabia is the largest oil exporter in the world. 75% of the government's revenue comes from oil.
- Saudi Arabia is an Islamic State. It's where Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was born.
- Saudi Arabia is influential in world politics, and even moreso throughout the Arabian Peninsula and the Arab world.
What we don't know:
- Can we make YouTube videos in public?
- How does the average person in Saudia Arabia live?
- What is it like to walk through a Saudi Arabian city? How about the beach? Will we stand out as non-Muslims?
- Is Saudi Arabia like Dubai -- completely commercial? Is it "American-ized"?
To answer these questions and more, we decided to book a flight to Jeddah-- a city on the coast of the Red Sea of 3.5 million people-- to find out.
It's rare we are this excited to travel to a new country. We were nervous to fly 12 hours, overnight, with our 7 month old daughter, but lucky for us she seems to love flying.
Next: we paid 40 USD for a 22 minute taxi ride. Now, to be clear: we did NOT experience a Saudi Arabian taxi scam. I take full responsibility for the overpayment. Our driver increased the price after he dropped us off, but I did not put up much of a fight. It would be interesting to see what would've happened if I argued with him, but... we will never know. I am not the arguing type, especially with the language barrier between English and Arabic.
And so: we checked into our accommodation, a 100 USD per night Air BnB, and immediately hit the streets!
The bad news: Within minutes, we were told we can't film in public. Our big camera caught some attention, we suppose. But filming with cellphone is okay. We happily obliged. We are not here to do anything we are not supposed to!
The good news: The sunset and waterfront at Jeddah Corniche was pretty great. Remarkably quiet and respectful, it was full of local people & tourists admiring the sun on the water.
The even better news: The local people are very friendly to us. They treat us with the type of hospitality that we've gotten familiar with, after traveling to so many Islamic countries. We tend to need help ordering food, or getting directions-- so we've been happy to learn that English is pretty commonly spoken here.
(Also: did you know that Arabic has a different set of numerals? I find this remarkable. I've learned the numbers I'm familiar with-- 1,2,3,4 etc-- are infact Arabic numerals; whereas the ones that are used in Saudi Arabia are known as eastern Arabic numerals. Mind. Blown. This also makes it pretty easy to get confused/lost at times!)
After our Red-Sea-Waterfront-Walk we attempted to get dinner, which was an adventure in and of itself. First: We went to a restaurant that only served liver. No kidding! 100% of the items we google-translated were liver of some sort. And so, we walked in, and turned around and walked out. We noticed some local people laughing at us. No sweat. I would laugh at us too! I'm sure we looked confused.
Luckily, we found a great place just above the liver-only restaurant. After ordering, we learned it was a Turkish restaurant. Hahahaha. Duh. Ivana said "close enough!" and we enjoyed our meal-- again impressed by the hospitality of the staff.
Stay tuned for more stuff. Traveling Saudi Arabia is truly an adventure.
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Excited for our first trip to Saudi Arabia
2:09 - 12 hour flight with a 7 month old with Saudia Airline
4:20 - Baby Jean making friends, AGAIN!
4:44 - Half the plane changed clothes in the middle of the night?
6:08 - Sharks in the airport in Saudi Arabia
7:03 - Price negotiation: Saudi Arabian airport taxi
10:28 - THEY HAVE DIFFERENT NUMBERS IN SAUDI ARABIA
12:05 - Did I just get scammed? No, but huge overpay
13:52 - 100 USD accommodation tour in Jeddah
16:50 - First look at Saudi Arabian city walk
18:10 - Beautiful sunset & picnic spot on the pier
20:48 - Would you eat here?
24:09 - First time trying Saudi Arabian food (actually Turkish)
▶︎ BEST eSIM we use for our travels: holafly.sjv.io/o4v9gb, and use code JETLAGHOLA5 for 5% OFF
Music:
–
Music: The Bluest Star - The 126ers • The Bluest Star – The 126ers (No Copy...
–
Music: Not Too Cray - Huma-Huma • Not Too Cray – Huma-Huma (No Copyrigh...
–
Track: Daydream — Land of Fire [Audio Library Release]
Music provided by Audio Library Plus
Watch:
• Daydream — Land o...
Free Download / Stream: alplus.io/daydream
–
Jazz Dreams by Snoozy Beats / snoozybeats
Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0
Free Download / Stream: https://www.audiolibrary.com.co/snooz...
Music promoted by Audio Library • Jazz Dreams – Snoozy Beats (No Copyri...
–
Track: Dj Quads - Blushes
Music by Dj Quads: / aka-dj-quads
Music promoted by Audio Spotlight
Listen: • [No Copyright Music] DJ Quads - Blush...
–
Saudi Arabia is an enigma: it's world famous and yet a total unknown.
What we know:
- Saudi Arabia is an 'absolute monarchy' where the king rules all.
- Saudi Arabia is the largest oil exporter in the world. 75% of the government's revenue comes from oil.
- Saudi Arabia is an Islamic State. It's where Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was born.
- Saudi Arabia is influential in world politics, and even moreso throughout the Arabian Peninsula and the Arab world.
What we don't know:
- Can we make YouTube videos in public?
- How does the average person in Saudia Arabia live?
- What is it like to walk through a Saudi Arabian city? How about the beach? Will we stand out as non-Muslims?
- Is Saudi Arabia like Dubai -- completely commercial? Is it "American-ized"?
To answer these questions and more, we decided to book a flight to Jeddah-- a city on the coast of the Red Sea of 3.5 million people-- to find out.
It's rare we are this excited to travel to a new country. We were nervous to fly 12 hours, overnight, with our 7 month old daughter, but lucky for us she seems to love flying.
Next: we paid 40 USD for a 22 minute taxi ride. Now, to be clear: we did NOT experience a Saudi Arabian taxi scam. I take full responsibility for the overpayment. Our driver increased the price after he dropped us off, but I did not put up much of a fight. It would be interesting to see what would've happened if I argued with him, but... we will never know. I am not the arguing type, especially with the language barrier between English and Arabic.
And so: we checked into our accommodation, a 100 USD per night Air BnB, and immediately hit the streets!
The bad news: Within minutes, we were told we can't film in public. Our big camera caught some attention, we suppose. But filming with cellphone is okay. We happily obliged. We are not here to do anything we are not supposed to!
The good news: The sunset and waterfront at Jeddah Corniche was pretty great. Remarkably quiet and respectful, it was full of local people & tourists admiring the sun on the water.
The even better news: The local people are very friendly to us. They treat us with the type of hospitality that we've gotten familiar with, after traveling to so many Islamic countries. We tend to need help ordering food, or getting directions-- so we've been happy to learn that English is pretty commonly spoken here.
(Also: did you know that Arabic has a different set of numerals? I find this remarkable. I've learned the numbers I'm familiar with-- 1,2,3,4 etc-- are infact Arabic numerals; whereas the ones that are used in Saudi Arabia are known as eastern Arabic numerals. Mind. Blown. This also makes it pretty easy to get confused/lost at times!)
After our Red-Sea-Waterfront-Walk we attempted to get dinner, which was an adventure in and of itself. First: We went to a restaurant that only served liver. No kidding! 100% of the items we google-translated were liver of some sort. And so, we walked in, and turned around and walked out. We noticed some local people laughing at us. No sweat. I would laugh at us too! I'm sure we looked confused.
Luckily, we found a great place just above the liver-only restaurant. After ordering, we learned it was a Turkish restaurant. Hahahaha. Duh. Ivana said "close enough!" and we enjoyed our meal-- again impressed by the hospitality of the staff.
Stay tuned for more stuff. Traveling Saudi Arabia is truly an adventure.
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Excited for our first trip to Saudi Arabia
2:09 - 12 hour flight with a 7 month old with Saudia Airline
4:20 - Baby Jean making friends, AGAIN!
4:44 - Half the plane changed clothes in the middle of the night?
6:08 - Sharks in the airport in Saudi Arabia
7:03 - Price negotiation: Saudi Arabian airport taxi
10:28 - THEY HAVE DIFFERENT NUMBERS IN SAUDI ARABIA
12:05 - Did I just get scammed? No, but huge overpay
13:52 - 100 USD accommodation tour in Jeddah
16:50 - First look at Saudi Arabian city walk
18:10 - Beautiful sunset & picnic spot on the pier
20:48 - Would you eat here?
24:09 - First time trying Saudi Arabian food (actually Turkish)
▶︎ BEST eSIM we use for our travels: holafly.sjv.io/o4v9gb, and use code JETLAGHOLA5 for 5% OFF
Music:
–
Music: The Bluest Star - The 126ers • The Bluest Star – The 126ers (No Copy...
–
Music: Not Too Cray - Huma-Huma • Not Too Cray – Huma-Huma (No Copyrigh...
–
Track: Daydream — Land of Fire [Audio Library Release]
Music provided by Audio Library Plus
Watch:
• Daydream — Land o...
Free Download / Stream: alplus.io/daydream
–
Jazz Dreams by Snoozy Beats / snoozybeats
Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0
Free Download / Stream: https://www.audiolibrary.com.co/snooz...
Music promoted by Audio Library • Jazz Dreams – Snoozy Beats (No Copyri...
–
Track: Dj Quads - Blushes
Music by Dj Quads: / aka-dj-quads
Music promoted by Audio Spotlight
Listen: • [No Copyright Music] DJ Quads - Blush...
–
