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Flashback: 2009 (Before the move)

Preparing for the BIG move was quite a headache. We are given weight quotas for sea and air freight. We had to decide the stuff that would be brought over from Singapore over to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

I’m a sentimentalist; my other half more pragmatic. In this situation, pragmatism won over the other one. Only the ones that were needed most were shipped. Before the packing day arrived, my wife had an idea to create a space where we would gather all the stuff for air / sea shipment. This was done to reduce confusion. The packers would just pack those in the ‘staging’ area.

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So, the day finally came for the packing:

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Shipment arrival in KAUST:

Delivery day: I requested the men to assist me in unloading and unpacking plus placing them in the rightful place: pots and pans in kitchen, clothes in the respective rooms and so forth. I was thankful and grateful for all the prayer(s) and help for the smooth delivery of all our goods/stuff. Wouldn’t have done it without my wife’s initial planning, coordination of the logistics departments in KAUST and the freight companies.

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This is a continuation from my previous blog: Flashback: Time to leave home ….

My flight from Dubai – Jeddah was delayed by more than 2 hours (if I’m not mistaken) due to some technical issues. I was too tired to roam around Dubai Airport. On hindsight, I should have done that, given the variety of stores and food restaurants that are available. All I did was to find a nice spot to land my butt and catch some sleep.

Source: https://flic.kr/p/qBGu2z

Source: https://flic.kr/p/7SUQMY
(One of them is NOT me)

Source: https://flic.kr/p/7Z65dV

The flight took off from Dubai late in the evening, around 6pm or so. Reached Jeddah airport some 3 hours later (sometime past 9pm). Went past immigration and baggage check. Met up with the Uni Meet and Greet Team. The rep gave me a temp ID and they brought me over to my Jeddah ‘residence’ – Crowne Plaza. This was my place of stay for a few weeks before I moved into my permanent home in the University Town.

Loved the food in Crowne Plaza. They really served excellent dishes and were generous in their servings. Too generous even; I had to request for them to reduce the servings so as not to waste the food. Like to thank the University for providing me a great accommodation even though it was a temporary one.