It looks as though you were well and truly rinsed, and your expat saviour doesn't seem to have fared much better. There's still quite a chasm between the rhetoric and marketing effort of the ministries involved in (non-religious) tourism and the experience on the ground. A work in progress! In the meantime, yes there are far less awkward countries to visit in the region.


As this thread wil be viewed by others travelling to Jeddah, it's maybe a good idea to attempt to flesh out the airport terminal business. There are two that concern most tourists/visitors. A third handles Haj flights.

• Terminal 1 is the new, flagship facility hosting Saudi carriers (international and domestic), other Gulf carriers and some other "mainstream" international airlines;
• North Terminal is the old terminal, and it hosts many other international airlines as well as low-cost carriers such as Wizz and Pegasus.

It's important to be aware which terminal you'll be using, particularly when it comes to your departure. Requesting the international terminal, you could end up at either.

Since T1 opened I haven't had to use the North Terminal: something i'm grateful for. But there's (supposed to be) a shuttle service between the two, aimed principally at passengers needing to connect between flights, or between the North terminal and the rail station at T1.