What to expect when we land at DMM?

We had a bad experience landing at 10pm in DMM. The immigration lines took forever. People with crying babies did not get any special attention either. Try to land during the day if there are any flights. If not, and the lines are long, go to the shortest line and tell them you are with Aramco. Some people waited a long time and were told they are in the wrong line.

Customs didn't check our bag so that was quick. When we got out at 1:30am, our driver was sitting in a chair with a sign, but we didn't see him. I borrowed the luggage handler's phone and called the cell number on my badge and someone came and opened the door to the Aramco office at the airport.

Even if you rent a car, you won't have a Saudi driver's license and if pulled over, the police can interpret that however they choose. Best thing to do is get phone numbers for taxis and personal drivers. I'm in Dhahran so don't know much about the taxi system in Abqaiq. Taxis in Dhahran Main Camp are hard to get during early morning and late afternoon hours. Best thing to do is call a few hours ahead and reserve one.

First few days will be rough so bring lots of snacks and food in case you can't make it to the grocery store.

Thanks Vpainter and Texas786,

We are unfortunately arriving at similar time 9ish in the night so not good, but atleast we will be mentally prepared to just spend few hours in the queue.

Would anyone recommend taking my Road Bike on the flight to Dammam or we will be hassled for it during customs? We can send it with shipment it but it wont arrive till good few weeks when I could really do with being able to move around a bit.

Any comments will be appreciated.

Thanks Everyone,

Arriving in Dammam can be... challenging...especially after 20 hours of travelling. All you can do is take a deep breath and tell yourself 'Im almost done'...

The lines can be long, and while we had an irritable infant, we had to stand in line for nearly 2 hours. Luckily they barely glanced at our bags and we got through that area quickly.

My boss was there waiting for us (About midnight at this point, he had been waiting for close to 3 hours). He took us the the Aramco office in the airport and helped with the initial paperwork. There was a Samara SUV taxi waiting to take us to RT.

I would *NOT* suggest driving here, especially if its your first time in KSA. I have read that with a US drivers license you can rent a car up to 30 days, but as was stated that can be left up to the interpretation of the local traffic police (Al Maroor). Even more challenging is learning to drive at night in KSA. I worked in EMS for almost 20 years before coming here, trained in high speed and heavy traffic, Ive driven in the caribbean and in Europe, but found KSA to be on a completely different level... Please just take a taxi/bus until you become familiar with things.

Some people say exchange money at the airport, some say wait until you get to camp. The bank here on camp is only open during business hours and that is reduced during Ramadan. Also, they only exchange money if you have an account, which require an iqama. I know some banks do not require an account, but just letting you know what I was told here. I would recommend exchanging some money at the airport so you have some SR (Saudi Riyal) on hand.

As to the road bike, make sure you have a GOOD hard case to pack it in. I have seen quite a few pieces of luggage mishandled flying this past year (They destroyed our brand new $500 baby stroller, broke a 1/2" metal bar!). I wouldnt trust anything valuable in checked baggage unless it is very well protected.

Good luck, and realize you are arriving during the hardest part of the year. You will have quite a few challenges ahead of you the next few weeks. But if you can just take a deep breath and hang in there things *do* get better, nicer weather is coming, and you will start receiving that monthly apology from Aramco that makes it all worthwhile ;-) .

Expect a long lines and really slow processing. I landed around 9:30 and got out by 12:30 and that was mainly because the aramco rep came looking for me and pulled me out of the line. Anyways, I was prepared for it and didn't stress too much about it.