Today I’m off to explore Saudi Arabia (and Abu Dhabi). If you are wondering why I decided to go to Saudi Arabia, there are so many reasons… First, you may not have heard, but Saudi Arabia just opened to non Muslim tourists in 2019. I love going places before the tourist routes are too busy. Second, over the past 10ish years, Saudi Arabia has been experiencing real change and liberalization. I’m an experiential learner and I want to see what’s going on. I’m taking a women’s only tour and one of the missions behind it is to help build the businesses of the women rising in the tourism sector as a way to elevate the women in society. It will also give us opportunity to hear directly from women about on all the societal changes. Third, I’ve been wanting to get a deeper look at the Persian Gulf for a while. Going to Iran was the most eye opening trip of my lifetime, because reality was so much more nuanced than our Western press reported.
Another reason is the generation above me often speaks about traveling the hippy trail through the Middle East and Central Asia in the early ‘70s and being able to see liberalizing in real time. I’ve been jealous, so I’m taking advantage of this opening and diving in.
In preparation for the trip I’ve read five books and watched countless videos and podcasts. It’s hard to wrap my head around so many years of history and all the power dynamics, while also trying to learn about local culture. I am aware that I can’t just count on what people tell me always being the full story, so I’ve started with book knowledge and show up as an educated observer. I know many of you look blankly at me when I’ve told you where I’m going, but I hope my photos and stories after will open your mind to another part of the world you may not have thought that deeply about. Updates soon!
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