I had been working in Dammam, Saudi Arabia since August 2016. I hadn’t been to the capital city, Riyadh, yet. However, things soon changed for me. Dammam is only a thirty minute car ride from Bahrain. On weekends I made my way to Bahrain’s capital city, Manama.

 

In late January I took a trip to the Edge of The World. This locale is in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

When February rolled around, I made my way to Japan via Philippines Airlines. I had a 24 hour layover in the capital city, Manila, before I arrived in the lovely city of Fukuoka. The ride to Manila via Philippines Airlines was uncomfortable to say the least even if it was cheap.

Fukuoka, Japan (2017)

 

Soon after arriving in Fukuoka, I made my way to Kokura, Japan. There I found hot springs!

I fly back to the Saudi Arabia via the Philippines.

Besides seeing the sun from the sky, the sun can be seen well in all its glory in Saudi Arabia.

I grew anxious to travel a couple of weeks following my trip to Japan. I planned two trips to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in consecutive weekends. Starting on 17-February-2017 I flew to Abu Dhabi.

The following week I found myself in Doha, Qatar.

I spent a few weeks in Saudi Arabia before hitting the skies again. This time I was headed to Africa for the first time to spend eight days. My destination of choice was Ethiopia.

After Africa, I returned to Saudi Arabia for another month and a half to work before I would travel again. Unbeknownst to me, I was sent to San Antonio, Texas where I received training at Lackland Air Force base for my job. I spent one week in San Antonio. I had a six hour layover in Frankfurt, Germany before I arrived in Texas.

After returning from San Antonio, I spent the next few weeks teaching. It was only about six weeks before I hit the road again. This time I would fly half way round the world.

I flew from Dammam to London. Then I flew nonstop to Los Angeles International Airport from London Heathrow airport. Thereafter, I flew to Mexico City where I spent four days. Then, I flew to Havana, Cuba where I spent another four days. Then, I returned to Mexico City to prepare for my trip to Peru. To get to Peru, I had to first fly through Panama. After I arrived in Peru, I remained there for just under four weeks. While there I visited the cities of Chincha, Cusco, and Machu Picchu Pueblo. I returned via a similar route. The black line delineates my flight trajectories.

After all was said and done, I was back on a plane headed to the desert, Saudi Arabia.

Then after several weeks, I was back on the plane en route back to Cuba. However, this time I visited Varadero Beach and continued to document what I saw.

I stayed with the same family I stayed with in my previous trip. Sadly, just after I left Cuba, Hurricane Irma hit the island’s northern coast including Havana.

After a couple of weeks in Saudi Arabia, my company announced that Saudi National Day would be a holiday. I took advantage of the rare three-day weekend and made my way to Cairo, Egypt.

On November 24, I flew to Muscat, Oman to hang with friends — new and old. We spent the day on the beach. Including Oman, I have visited the United Arab Emirates, Suadi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar — all of which are GCC members. I have only Kuwait to visit and I can say that I have been to all GCC countries. Though I doubt I will complete that feat this year as my next journey is to Sri Lanka and possibly Thailand before this year ends.

 

Finally, I went to Sri Lanka to enjoy a week long vacation. I met with Damith and Craig and rode Tuk Tuks around the city. This year is in the books. It was fascinating and adventurous. I plan to set my sights on saving money rather than stacking up frequent flyer miles.