The Start of the Big Adventure

After almost 8 months of planning and preparation the big day had finally arrived, I had my visa sorted and my travel was booked ... I was actually doing this, moving to Saudi Arabia to take on a new role with Red Sea Global. It felt like an eternity since Joan's ex colleague Tony had contacted us and asked whether this move would be something we would consider doing. After a few Teams calls back and forth and a few other things happening for Joan, the girls and I that we decided to take a punt and do something crazy and I accepted this new role and resigned from Stride, where I had been working for the past 8 years.

I will be working on the Red Sea Global hotel and resort development project, one of the government's many giga projects that are happening across the country here at the moment.

I will fly back and forth to New Zealand for the first part of my time away and then the plan will be for Joan, Scarlett and Frankie to relocate to Fermanagh for a while to spend some quality time with their grandparents Ernie and Linda, and Uncle Shiner and Aunty Louise which also means I will be considerably closer to them for visits.

After a 28 hour journey with flights via Doha, Riyadh and Yanbu I have arrived at my home for the next 2 weeks, Waves Hotel just outside Umluj and have settled in to my room, caught up on some much needed sleep, have swum in the pool and am doing my best to acclimatise to the 36 degree heat after coming from winter at home. The plan is that I will be here for a couple of weeks before relocating into apartment accommodation on the work site.

My work induction starts tomorrow bright and early and I'm looking forward to getting stuck into some work after being "between jobs" the past 6 weeks or so.

I don't see this being a daily update kind of blog but more of a tool to keep the people who care up to date with what's happening where I am and how the whole experience is going when there is something interesting to write about.Read more