My flight back from Riyadh left at 6:40 p.m. I gave myself plenty of time to get to the airport, but hit no traffic and no security line.

The check-in for Air Arabia is in the non-Saudia terminal. I was hoping to spend some time picking up Saudi-themed gifts for my kids, but no such luck. There was a small gift shop right before passport control (with nothing interesting), then only a few food stands in an otherwise effectively empty terminal. I had fish and rice from one of the food stations, then surfed on the free wifi for a while until my battery was out. Overall, this is not a great airport to spend time in, especially if you are not flying on an airline with a lounge, though the free wifi is a good bonus.

The flight was delayed about 20 minutes. Boarding was more orderly than the SHJ-RUH route. I had another window seat, this time in the exit row, but by the time we took off it was dark so there wasn't much to see. My neighbors were two Egyptian men who seemed to want to haggle the FA about everything, from having to stow hand luggage (since we were in the exit row), to having to pay for food, to having pay for a second drink, to the exchange rates.

My only negative comment about the airplanes is that they are sometimes not cleaned very well and appear a bit worn.

Immigration at Sharjah was challenging. The lines were short, but the immigration booths were staffed by 20-something Emiratis who seemed more interested in socializing than making sure the lines did not get too long. It took well over a half hour to get through, with only about 6 people in front of me in queue. With such waiting the lines themselves got chaotic, as the middle eastern practice of line cutting was attempted with full ability by many.

By the time I got through my bag was waiting for me at claims. There is money exchange booth on the way out, and also a duty free shop with alcohol, which surprised me since Sharjah is a dry emirate. The final exit leads outside, and a fleet of Sharjah airport taxis was waiting. The initial airport charge is 20 dirhams, which seemed a bit steep. The trip back to the Garhoud area seemed much quicker, only about 20 minutes.

I got to the Le Meridien Fairway at around 10 p.m. or so, I think, caught up on email, consumed the room's quantity of alcohol after being in Riyadh for nearly a week, then passed out, only to wake up at 5:30 a.m. for my daytrip to Kuwait City, also on Air Arabia -- trip report will be forthcoming.