Have you ever travelled abroad alone? Can you share your experience?

Yes, quite a few times. I will describe the first one in 1978.

I was getting used to my new job as Assistant Controller for Wallace International, and after several months, I was sent on an inspection tour of our overseas offices. This was my second trip out of the United States. (The first one was with the Marine Corps by sea to Korea in 1951 and return by plane.) I had almost no idea of what it would be like despite having a brief description by the Corporate Travel Office. The flight from Dallas to New York City was uneventful. The non-stop flight from New York City to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia was way too long, about 16 hours. On subsequent trips, I would fly to Frankfurt and change planes.

Going through customs in Dhahran was an interesting experience as they went through my luggage with a fine tooth comb taking nearly everything out and then tossing it back in. Sights, sounds and smells were all unfamiliar. Except for a few non-Saudi women on the plane, they were all dressed like the pictures below:

It was strange to me at the time, especially as most of the women did not wear these outfits on the plane but changed as we were approaching Dhahran. The reverse happened on the flight out of Saudi Arabia. They would board the plane in these outfits and change into western clothing on the plane. Another strange thing that I noticed, was that when there was a waiting period, the men were always messing with the headdress.

The next day I met with the in-country Controller. He took me for an automobile trip around the area. Before we started, he said “Let’s go play bumper cars.” The phrase made sense when we got into traffic. To say that the traffic was chaotic would be an understatement. There was an incessant blowing of horns and everyone was trying to get ahead of everyone else. Everyone would stop for a red light, but no one stopped for a stop sign. It was just blow your horn and go through. At a stop light, they would make 3 to 5 lanes out of a 2 to 3 lane street. When the light turned green, it was like the start of an auto race. Everyone wanted to be first.

The same phenomenon occurred at the airport. An announcement would be made in Arabic and there would be a mad dash for one of the exits for boarding a flight. There were no line, just a mob of people all trying to get through the door at the same time. I had a first class ticket to Riyadh so did not have to participate in the shoving match. After meeting with the manager in Riyadh and touring the job sites for two days, it was on to Jeddah for several days and a repeat.

Then it was off to Cairo for three days. In Cairo, customs was not as picky as it had been in Dhahran. There were lines in the Cairo Airport, but some of the Saudi passengers would try to jump the line. I was booked into a hotel in Cairo and the cab ride from the airport to the hotel was somewhat scary. It was late at night and where there was almost no traffic the driver would hit 80 or more. I was more comfortable when we arrived at downtown Cairo and it was stop and go traffic even at 11 PM. The next day was a meeting with the manager and a tour of the job sites. That night they took me to a couple of night clubs. The following day was a morning inspection of a job site then a trip to the pyramids. Seeing them up close and personal was amazing. The climb up inside the Great Pyramid to the King’s Chamber was an adventure all by itself. The engineering evident in the interior was amazing. The outside of the pyramid was large blocks of sandstone. The inside passageways and chambers were basalt rock. A hard, black volcanic stone. After more than 4,000 years, you could still not put a piece of paper into most of the construction joints. The next day was spent at the Cairo Museum. They clearly did not want me hanging around the office. As my instructions were to keep my eyes and ears open and my mouth shut, I did not object to being shown a good time.

From Cairo the next stop was London and a similar routine. Scary cab ride from the airport. It was my first experience with driving on the wrong side of the road. There were a few scary moments when I was sure we were going to hit something or vice versa. Spent most of the first day in the office and then they had someone take me around London. At night I was on my own. I got acquainted with the London Underground, the museum adjacent to Buckingham Palace and some pubs. The flight from London to Chicago was interesting as we crossed over the southern coast of Greenland and I could see bright blue water and numerous icebergs.

So much for my first international trip.