It's merely the size of an empty wallet, small enough to fit snugly inside your pocket, and tiny enough to evade detection before carelessly ending up in the washing machine. It also holds the power of keeping citizens confined within their country's borders if it is not in your possession while traveling internationally.
One month ago my wife and I finalized our travel itinerary to visit my parents who live in Saudi Arabia. One month ago we put into motion the tedious process of securing a Saudi Arabia visa which would provide us single entry and exit access into the otherwise closed country. Today is our travel day, specifically at 5:00PM tonight, and we have still not received our passports with country visa back from the Saudi Consulate here in the US. I would say I am worried it will not show up, but for some reason I have enough blind faith in a culture that tends to always wait until the last minute to produce the goods.
People always ask before vacations or longer trips if I am "excited" and my answer is always the same. I never seem to get excited until I am checked into the airport and board the airplane. That is when the trip begins, before that there are too many factors out of our control that can delay or terminate the process.
What I am excited about is to show my wife the country where I spent the first 13 years of my life, to see my best friends from childhood who are also flying back to "the big sandbox", and to even race in a sprint triathlon back in my hometown! It was in my father's P.E. class in Ras Tanura I raced a triathlon for the first time and almost 15 years later I compete at a professional level in attempt to earn a prize check!
The swim for this tri will be in the Persian Gulf and not the local swimming pool like in 8th grade P.E. and I won't be racing to get an A (finish all 3 sports), a B (finish 2 of the 3 sports) or a C (finish 1 of the 3 sports). My folks live in the international community of Dhahran, where the US military made it's home during Desert Shield and Storm, and their teacher friends have volunteered to outfit my wife and I with bikes to use on race day too.
I was told our little blue books would be arriving this morning via FedEX Overnight delivery and they have almost an hour to fulfill that promise. After that, our trip to Saudi Arabia might be put on hold until another time! But, I continue to hold out hope.
-LF
