Jesus took my baggage in Jeddah and I got Upgraded, Wink, Wink - Say No More.
FlyNas flight XY 4whatever, with me and maybe 50 other PAX on board an A-320, landed in King Abdul-Aziz International, Jeddah KSA, about 11:30 pm, flying in from King Fahd International in Dammam. I had called ahead to our company travel agent from the gate in Dammam while waiting for the flight, to make sure they had booked for me an airport transfer to Mercure hotel, in Al Hamra'ah district.
On arrival, I wandered about like a lost child looking for a sign that said my name and the Mercure hotel on it. But, no one in the arrivals area were looking remotely like an airport transfer driver. I phoned to the hotel and Front desk attendant told me no reservation was made! Well, isn't that interesting, I thought calmly to myself, silently lauding the efficiency, and ethics of our great travel agents over at FCM travel, yes I named them because it sure wasn't the first time they did this to me!
Then, in the back-light of a Krispy Kreme Donut sign, I found Arabic JESUS. A local taxi driver in the arrivals section, his name was Eessa, which in Arabic means Jesus, right. So anyhoo, Jesus took me for a ride, (and charged me triple for it). Jesus took me to the Mercure hotel which was a mere 20 minutes from the airport and insisted on 250 riyals for his charitable act. So I swiped the corp card and front desk paid out cash to him – standard fare, indeed.
And THEN, the unthinkable unexpectedly happened. I turned around from front desk and realized too that JESUS had just taken off with all my baggage – laptop from work included. The dumbfounding, miraculous part is, my colleagues down in Saudi managed to recover my bags! Almost un-heard-of situation in these parts. As it turned out, I was JESUS's last ride that night! After that JESUS parked his taxi and went on holiday. My bags were in the back of his taxi, where they stayed for four days until my colleagues found JESUS's plate number and face on both CCTV footage from the camera covering the Mercure hotel guest reception ramp. I'd like again to mention my colleague Saeed for his extraordinary sleuthing on this one!
Back to that night. My bags were gone. I still had wallet and passport on my person. When I was a boy, my mommy and daddy taught me to carry my important stuff on my person. Me and my family are international travelers from way back - and I am not talking insulated touristic travel here, people. I have been carrying my important stuff on international trips forever - I know what I am doing, it is what I am bred to do actually. And yet, here was JESUS still getting the best of me in Jeddah. I booked in at least for one night, because the training sessions I was here to do were all lined up. I would find a way to get it done, at least for the important session tomorrow.
What! 740 riyals for one night! "Sir we have upgraded you to a suite...!" Ok but why are you charging me a suite price when everybody standing here right now, knows the price of a normal room in Jeddah at this season is from 360 to 450 max for a normal room?! "No, no, no sir, this is the price of normal room, we upgrade you to suite. Oh really? I was tired, it was 02:30, company was paying for this anyways, I didn’t feel like fighting in this state, etc.
Next day we got through the training session wonderfully without the laptop – everyone appreciated the fact that there were NO POWERPOINT SLIDES and that everything was hands on – “best training we ever had…”. Said the pot to the kettle. By the end of the day my only clothes were soaked with Saudi desert construction site sweat and I didn’t even have a phone charger with me. Got a USB Samsung charging wire and a neat tip from the concierge – Sir, there is a USB plug on the side of the TV just plug there to recharge. Totally Macgruber moment, I tell you.
Also Saeed helped me out again with the rescheduling of my flight – couldn’t very well run another day’s session in my condition we both agreed. So as a parting gift the hotel charged me a late checkout feee on top of the full two nights that had been reserved initially by FCM. Why did I have to pay full price? “Well, because sir, for the type of booking that FCM made our policy states that even in the event the customer’s circumstances deem that they must checkout early, they are still liable for the amount of nights that have been reserved.” Great. So again corp card swiped, company paying anyways, etc. (Mercure finally waived the late checkout charge and gave us a better rate on the room, but only after persistent follow up with both FCM travel consultants and the Hotel.
Whenever in Jeddah again, I will never stay in the Mercure Hotel in Al Hamra’ah district ever again, Wa’ Allah! (I promise to God). Not because it is a bad hotel, of course not, no. As four stars go, it fits the bill. The association with my recent experience is what prevents me from ever returning.
Emirates A380, JED to DXB, home again. And on that afternoon flight, I fell into a brief nap and dreamed that the Art Reynolds singers and the Doobie brothers had joined DC Talk on stage at the 1994 GMA Dove awards singing an ode to JESUS, my Jeddah Airport Taxi Driver. And they were singin’:
“Jesus is just alright with me, Jesus is just all right, oh yeah. Jesus is just all right with me, Jesus is just all right. I don’t care what they may say. I don’t care what they may do. I don’t care what they may say, Jesus is just alright, oh yeah…”
And the band “Stryper” was watching all this from the front row, singing along beautifully and then they got up and danced too, in that inimitable way that only bygone Christian heavy metal artists do….
Peace be upon us all, Amen & Amin
On arrival, I wandered about like a lost child looking for a sign that said my name and the Mercure hotel on it. But, no one in the arrivals area were looking remotely like an airport transfer driver. I phoned to the hotel and Front desk attendant told me no reservation was made! Well, isn't that interesting, I thought calmly to myself, silently lauding the efficiency, and ethics of our great travel agents over at FCM travel, yes I named them because it sure wasn't the first time they did this to me!
Then, in the back-light of a Krispy Kreme Donut sign, I found Arabic JESUS. A local taxi driver in the arrivals section, his name was Eessa, which in Arabic means Jesus, right. So anyhoo, Jesus took me for a ride, (and charged me triple for it). Jesus took me to the Mercure hotel which was a mere 20 minutes from the airport and insisted on 250 riyals for his charitable act. So I swiped the corp card and front desk paid out cash to him – standard fare, indeed.
And THEN, the unthinkable unexpectedly happened. I turned around from front desk and realized too that JESUS had just taken off with all my baggage – laptop from work included. The dumbfounding, miraculous part is, my colleagues down in Saudi managed to recover my bags! Almost un-heard-of situation in these parts. As it turned out, I was JESUS's last ride that night! After that JESUS parked his taxi and went on holiday. My bags were in the back of his taxi, where they stayed for four days until my colleagues found JESUS's plate number and face on both CCTV footage from the camera covering the Mercure hotel guest reception ramp. I'd like again to mention my colleague Saeed for his extraordinary sleuthing on this one!
Back to that night. My bags were gone. I still had wallet and passport on my person. When I was a boy, my mommy and daddy taught me to carry my important stuff on my person. Me and my family are international travelers from way back - and I am not talking insulated touristic travel here, people. I have been carrying my important stuff on international trips forever - I know what I am doing, it is what I am bred to do actually. And yet, here was JESUS still getting the best of me in Jeddah. I booked in at least for one night, because the training sessions I was here to do were all lined up. I would find a way to get it done, at least for the important session tomorrow.
What! 740 riyals for one night! "Sir we have upgraded you to a suite...!" Ok but why are you charging me a suite price when everybody standing here right now, knows the price of a normal room in Jeddah at this season is from 360 to 450 max for a normal room?! "No, no, no sir, this is the price of normal room, we upgrade you to suite. Oh really? I was tired, it was 02:30, company was paying for this anyways, I didn’t feel like fighting in this state, etc.
Next day we got through the training session wonderfully without the laptop – everyone appreciated the fact that there were NO POWERPOINT SLIDES and that everything was hands on – “best training we ever had…”. Said the pot to the kettle. By the end of the day my only clothes were soaked with Saudi desert construction site sweat and I didn’t even have a phone charger with me. Got a USB Samsung charging wire and a neat tip from the concierge – Sir, there is a USB plug on the side of the TV just plug there to recharge. Totally Macgruber moment, I tell you.
Also Saeed helped me out again with the rescheduling of my flight – couldn’t very well run another day’s session in my condition we both agreed. So as a parting gift the hotel charged me a late checkout feee on top of the full two nights that had been reserved initially by FCM. Why did I have to pay full price? “Well, because sir, for the type of booking that FCM made our policy states that even in the event the customer’s circumstances deem that they must checkout early, they are still liable for the amount of nights that have been reserved.” Great. So again corp card swiped, company paying anyways, etc. (Mercure finally waived the late checkout charge and gave us a better rate on the room, but only after persistent follow up with both FCM travel consultants and the Hotel.
Whenever in Jeddah again, I will never stay in the Mercure Hotel in Al Hamra’ah district ever again, Wa’ Allah! (I promise to God). Not because it is a bad hotel, of course not, no. As four stars go, it fits the bill. The association with my recent experience is what prevents me from ever returning.
Emirates A380, JED to DXB, home again. And on that afternoon flight, I fell into a brief nap and dreamed that the Art Reynolds singers and the Doobie brothers had joined DC Talk on stage at the 1994 GMA Dove awards singing an ode to JESUS, my Jeddah Airport Taxi Driver. And they were singin’:
“Jesus is just alright with me, Jesus is just all right, oh yeah. Jesus is just all right with me, Jesus is just all right. I don’t care what they may say. I don’t care what they may do. I don’t care what they may say, Jesus is just alright, oh yeah…”
And the band “Stryper” was watching all this from the front row, singing along beautifully and then they got up and danced too, in that inimitable way that only bygone Christian heavy metal artists do….
Peace be upon us all, Amen & Amin
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