Flying to Saudi Arabia in First Class!

We are about to spend 21 hours flying on an airline that we have never flown before. And after nine years of full time travel to over 100 countries, it's rare that we get to experience a new airline, especially in first class.

Oh, this is going to be great.

So here's the plan. Today we are boarding our first flight from Munich to Jeddah. This is going to give us five hours to try out Saudia's business class product.

Welcome to Saudi Arabia.

Once we arrive in Jeddah, we're going to be taking advantage of Saudia's 96 hour transit visa which allows us to spend four days in the country for free. And we have something very unique planned for those days which we'll be sharing with you in the next video. But then later in this video, we'll head back to the airport to board our second and final flight of the journey which is going to take us from Jeddah to la. This is Saudi's longest route which will maximize the amount of time that we get to spend in first class.

It's time to get cozy. How cute are these?

I am super excited to start this journey, but with that said, I've seen a lot of mixed reviews of Sadia online, so join us as we spend 21 hours testing it out for ourselves.

Thank you.

Our business class ticket gave us access to a lounge called Airport Lounge World. But our priority pass would have gotten us into. There was a pretty good selection of food. Very excited about this German pretzel and we had a glass of champagne to celebrate the start of the trip. This is actually the last alcohol we'll be having for a while. Because Saudia is a dry airline, alcohol is actually illegal in the country of Saudi Arabia, so it makes sense that they wouldn't serve it on their national airline either.

And that is a tiny A320 that's going to be taking us to Jeddah. I'm pretty sure there are lay flat seats on this plane, but it looks way too small. Here we go.

Going to Jetta.

We get a dance or what?

Thank you.

All right. This is home sweet home for the next five hours. The seats are indeed still laid flat. It's a two, two configuration. If Kara was a stranger and she were to recline her seat and I had to go to the bathroom, that would be a little awkward because then I have to crawl over her.

But to have lay flat seats on an A320 is a win. And for us it's kind of fun to be so close when we're traveling together. As expected, instead of champagne, we were offered some welcome juice drinks.

There are real chunks of mango.

The flight attendant just brought me our menu. The flight, which is very exciting because I can't wait to eat. There are tons of food options, but the best part is it's a la carte dine on demand, So I can pretty much order whatever I want whenever I want during the entire flight. Yay. Thank you. The welcome drinks continue. They are definitely making up for the lack of champagne. We've now been served Arabic coffee and, of course, some dates.

This might be the best Arabic coffee I've ever had. Whatever we're eating in the US that we call dates is not the same as what this is. You can't even compare them.

Now that we're up above the cloud, let's see what we got in our amenity kits.

Without a doubt, the best socks we've ever gotten in a minute kit before. So, Ginsey, I don't usually end up keeping socks that I get in these because usually they're really thin and they're good for, like, sleeping on the plane and then just lay on the plane most of the time.

But you will see her in those socks again.

Definitely. Very nice. Eye mask with the nose slot. Got the classic A dental kit. Earplug. A solid chapstick. Amber infatuation.

Are you sure it's chapstick?

No, I don't think it's Chapstick again.

It tastes really strong. Are these perfume?

It smells really good. Tastes really bad. Okay, let's see if we actually have chapstick in here. Here we go. Lip butter.

Mm.

Very mild flavor, thankfully. Face cream. I love a good face cream. Face cleanser. Body care. Apply when required until completely absorbed. Oh, hand lotion. Stupid's on the back.

It's not edible.

I'm not gonna put this one on my mouth.

Toothpaste.

And that's it for sure. Keep me in this bag. So cute.

Kara's been telling me that to look young and hip, I need white.

Thank you, Saudi.

He's trying to act like he's not excited, but he's so excited too.

Thank you so much.

Thank you. They've just served us some warm toasty nuts, and we ordered our third drink of the flight already. Black coffee. Before our dinner gets here, I thought I'd show you around the rest of our seat real quick. Starting in the front, we have nice big screens. If I'm being nitpicky, I can see exactly what my neighbor is watching. Like, our screens are right next to each Other. So there's very little privacy. So once again, I'm glad I know my neighbor. There is some storage underneath the tv. Under our armrest, we have the tray table that very easily pulls out quite small. A little wobbly. I think it'll do. The remote in this situation is very handy because the TV is extremely far away. This is way more comfortable. I can look at all of my TV options while reclined. Right now I have the map going. I like to see where our plane is, and I find it so interesting. There's a button on the screen that shows which direction Mecca is in and what time the next crater is. We have all our seat controls in one place. The live flap button. I can lift my feet. I can increase the back support. And we each have our own little cubby in the back. They had some waters waiting for us when we got here. And how nice does this headphones box look? It still has the plastic on it. I feel like it's brand new. Oh, I love them. Noise canceling. Right above the headphone jack is an outlet with the USB plug. When we first got to our seat, they have this pretty colorful pillow and hefty blanket here waiting for us. Oh, wow. This feels like a quilt that a grandmother has sewn together. It is so soft and comfy. I'm gonna prop my feet up. Button takes.

Wow.

This is nice. How do you say cheers in Arabic?

They don't drink, so it's not a word.

Beautiful. Dinner is main. We went with the burrata, which is beautifully plated. Salad on the side. And what I'm probably most excited about, Arabic bread and hummus. These are definitely some of the cuter mini salt and pepper shakers I've ever had on a flight. They're marble. Oh. And comes out real fast. And to drink, I got this sparkling white spritzer. Almost tastes like champagne.

There are pomegranate seeds on it. Also, I know you're dying to know, I decided to watch the Shaun White documentary series, bones appetite.

Wow. 10 out of 10 hummus.

So good.

All right, we've got a couple hours before we land, so I'm taking advantage of the dining on demand. I just ordered myself a cheesecake and a tea.

Whoa. Cheesecake is always good, but it tastes even better on an airplane.

This bed is so great. Putting the armrests down makes it feel so much bigger. Also, the Shaun White show it is.

Pardon the interruption. Kara from Colorado here. Hope you're enjoying our first real travel video of the year. I just need to say a big thank you to Better Help for sponsoring this video and making this adventure possible. Exactly one year ago I got the life altering news that I was diagnosed with epilepsy and as you can imagine, it really shook Nate and I and that's what really got my foot in the door with therapy. But what's kind of funny is my epilepsy is the topic we talk about the least. During my sessions through talking to my therapist, so many other things have come up for me that I didn't even realize I was carrying the weight of in my life. Family dynamics, certain relationships, family planning. All things that I feel like I've talked about openly to Nate in circles forever. But there's something really unique about talking to a completely unbiased, fresh new perspective who just makes me look at things in a totally different way. I didn't even know I needed her in my life is what I'm trying to say. I don't think you have to have some big dramatic thing in your life happen to you in order to benefit from therapy. I think everyone deserves just to be listened to and to be told that you're not crazy and you're not the only one going through hard times. Plus, with over 7,000 reviews and a 4.5 star rating on Trustpilot, BetterHelp is a platform you can trust. So please give BetterHelp a try if you haven't yet by going to our link betterhelp.comk&n or just click the link in our Description to get 10% off your first month of therapy.

Dear Guest, welcome to King Casa International Airport.

Thank you guys.

Welcome to Saudi Arabia.

We have officially set foot in our 110th country. Very fancy buses.

I can't believe we're here.

The airport is hopping at Jeddah at 11pm at night. What are all these people doing up there's this.

We spent our 96 hours in Saudi Arabia staying at the world's newest overwater resort. This place looks like it came straight out of a sci fi movie. So be sure to join us in our next video as we see if the experience of actually staying at this place is as amazing and futuristic as it looks in the photos. But for now, back to the Jeddah Airport.

Thank you so much.

Good morning. Four days went by way too quickly, but we are back at the Jeddah Airport about to check in for our 16 hour flight.

The check in is basically our own private business and first class terminal. We came through this beautiful entryway. They took our bags and our passport and they just said sit down there's tea and coffee and a waterfall. It's a trumpet.

Well, it turns out the first class check in just leads back into the normal airport. Before you go through security.

There's a robot.

It's a cat robot.

Where is it going?

I like that. It's called a slow.

Zaatar and cheese bread. Exactly what I want. It's coming out fresh like Arabian pizza. Massive breakfast apple crumble. I know. It is adding. I don't think I've ever had chamomile before. Should we try chamomile? It's called noog. Kind of like egg. No.

We were about to settle in and then we realized this is just the business class lounge. There's a whole other side that's first class. No, we're basically the only ones in here.

First classroom is special.

Meeting room and digital library.

This is amazing.

Don't say it. Don't say it.

Plastic silverware just doesn't really match the rest of the vibe. That's ok. First camel milk. Here we go.

I was not expecting to enjoy this. It's pretty good. I don't drink any milk on its own. No milks from any animal or even pets. I'm just as surprised as you are.

There she is. That is the triple seven that's going to be taking us to la. We're flying first class today. So I have no doubt that this flight is going to be amazing. But I'm super interested to see how Saudia stacks up against some of the other more popular Middle Eastern airlines that we've flown in the past. So we've flown Eddie Hod's the Room. We've flown emirates on their A380, the one with the shower and the bar. And then we've also flown the Emirates game changer suite. And while Saudi is first class product looks nice in the pictures, it definitely doesn't match like over the top luxurious seats that you see on Emirates and Etihad. But Saudi is charging almost the same price as these airlines for a first class seat. So I'm super curious to see how it stacks up.

Thank you.

Here we go. Good morning.

Wow.

Welcome to Seat 1 8. We already have welcome snacks and a water and our seat is huge. Where do we put our bags?

Pretty excited to be calling this seat home sweet home for the next 16 hours.

16 hours and 45 minutes it says.

I'm pretty sure this is in the top 15 longest flights in the world. It's just over 8,000 miles.

They just brought us hot scented towels. She offered me a detox strawberry mango smoothie. And I just had to say yes. If they would have offered champagne, I definitely would have taken that. But this is way healthier, especially because it's 9:55 in the morning. Cheers.

Mmm.

That is fresh champagne or Detox juice.

I'm enjoying the change from champagne. I really am.

Thank you so much. Cheers.

Almost makes up for the lack of champagne. Now that we're in the air. Initial first impressions. What's a different way to say pros and cons?

Good parts and bad parts. Ideal and less ideal. We're spoiled and we're privileged.

I never, ever want to be the person sitting in first class complaining, so don't hear this that way. This is just like in comparison to Emirates. And anyhow, like, if you're gonna spend the same amount of money to fly first class on one of the Middle Eastern airlines, I think it's important to know how it's.

Next up.

So far, service has been amazing. Tons of snacks and drinks and stuff. As soon as we got off constant. It wasn't a 300 bottle of Dom Perry on, but we do tens. Make that going into it. The Internet may or may not work. It's like a little website that doesn't exist. And then this. I just.

The remote is terrible.

This is the current situation. That's as close as I can get it to you, but it's a touchscreen remote with, like four buttons and you have to hold down each one of them for like two seconds before it actually works.

If it works, mine is frozen.

Oh, no. I broke my nail off.

That's what I get in frustration.

Big fan of the closing doors. We're just in this room together. It's so private and small detail. I haven't seen any plastic on board yet. The waters are in glass bottles, which I really appreciate. We'll see what the silverware is like. I would also like to add that when the iPhone came out and everyone was switching to a fully touchscreen phone, I thought that was crazy.

Nobody is going to be switching to these.

Reminds me, hey.

My screen is uncrozen.

No, it's not.

Never mind. We just ordered more food. So before it comes, let me give you a quick sweet tour. Like I said, is a completely enclosed suite. It feels even bigger because we're together and can share this huge space. The seat itself is very wide and large. The foot well doesn't even exist on the business bus flight. It's just huge. In fact, it's actually a seat with a seat belt. So if Nate and I Wanted to stare into each other's eyes during our meal. We could take this tray table out, have all of our food on it. It's going to come to each other. Probably will do that because I like to watch movies while I eat. But fun to know that we could if we wanted to. Like I said, the TV is huge. Mine is still frozen. So maybe I will sit with Nate after all because I don't know if I'm going to be able to watch anything. Let's talk about storage. Here's the first little storage compartment. It's got the flight information and this little slot where you can put things. Underneath the second seat you can slide a bag. My backpack is pretty big and it just fits under there. However, Nate's was a bit too wide and our flight attendant put it in the closet in the front. So even if you had a huge bag, they take care of it. There's no overhead bins, so that's really your only option if you want your stuff nearby. This storage bin is deceivingly massive. I have so many things in here.

Whoops. Same headphones as the business class flight. Excited about that. This is where the lovely remote is stored. But I also have my fanny pack, my amenity kit, my water bottle and my phone all in here.

Now the seat control is something I've never seen before. This screen above the button is really fun. When you click the seat button, it basically shows a top down view of your seat and each control. When you click it, it shows you what the end result is going to be. This is like chill mode. This is lay flat mode. This is eat mode which just scoots you up closer to the tray, I guess. I don't know. That's a fun touch that I've never seen before. Then I think I can make my headrest go up.

But here's where it gets really exciting. This button turns on what I sure is a back massager.

I don't feel anything. Please massage me. Please. I can't tell if I'm imagining that it's moving. It's really moving. There's even a mood light option. I can turn these cool lights on and off the tv. Same pillows as last time. Same grandma quilt. Let me move my chair back.

A few minutes later. Do I pronounce your name? Dodie.

Good to meet you, Dodie. Real silverware. Look at that.

So we've gone two very different routes to start this flight. Cara's in breakfast mode. I went straight to dinner. The chef sent out an Amouj Bouj It's a combination that I've never heard of before and that I'm slightly skeptical of. It is date and parmesan cheese.

I think it's gonna be awesome. Is there a parmesan inside?

There's tahini down in the bott.

Whoa. The clash of the sweet with the tanginess.

Who thought of this? What a treat. Thank you, daddy. I think this might be my first French press and my first smoothie bowl on an airplane. But we're just getting started. Hopefully this is the beginning of a long Middle Eastern culinary experience.

It just felt wrong not to start a first class flight with caviar. So even though, well, it's debatable whether it's breakfast or lunch, right now, potentially an acceptable time for caviar. So we've got the little pancakes in these really beautiful pearl bowls. Pearl, pearl, pearl, pearl bowls. It's hard to say. All the normal toppings. This is fine. Thank you.

Wow, that is gorgeous.

Are you sad you didn't go?

So many details. I think I'm just going to space it out.

A little butter. Poached Arabian lobster on an airplane.

Oh, grilled lemon.

Just grilling it up in the front of the plate.

All right, that's it. I'm ordering the short shoe cup.

Kara 1 hour ago, when we got on the airplane, said that she wasn't eating anything.

All that complaining I did about this remote. I think this is what I get for that. It's like, oh, you don't like me? I'm just not gonna work. Is it possible to order the shakshuka? Sure, just give me, like, 15 minutes before we make it to no rush whatsoever. I love that you make it fresh. That's so cool. Sixteen and a half is not long enough. As long as my TV star is working, I'm so happy.

And to finish a pistachio cheesecake.

I cannot believe how long we've been eating. But my last course for a while has just arrived, and I'm very excited to try their freshly made shakshuka. It's basically scrambled eggs with, like, some tomatoes, olive oil, and herbs.

Pretty sure you just offended an entire culture.

I was trying to explain it to the typical, like, probably American fair. But yes, this is a very Middle Eastern, and I absolutely love it. And just crazy that they're making this on. I'm just picturing Joby back there, like. Or Joby. Joby's our tripod. I'm just picturing Joby back there cracking eggs into a pan. Bon appetit. It could not be any better. The fresh herbs on top. On another note, my TV has been fixed and I was scrolling through the TV shows and I have horrible news. We didn't get to finish the last episode of the Sean almost said Sean Jo.

They both do flips to be fair.

True. We didn't get to finish the Sha White docu series. We have one episode left and I was so excited to finish it on this flight and I'm shocked that they don't have it. So I'm gonna have to sign up for HBO when I get home, I guess just to watch the last hour.

The bathroom is definitely nice and bigger than your average airplane bathroom. But it's not Emorett's first class with a ship shower. But how cute is this pajama bag? It's time to get cozy. They are so soft. Quarter zip Saudi logo on the top and the bottoms. There are pockets. 100%. Wearing these off the plane and all the way back home. Let's see how the amenity kit stacks up to business class. Similar look of the first bag, but this one has a different zipper. I really liked the double flap zipper of the last one. But you know, whatever cute little br I could use fresh up. Same staple pieces. Eye mask, earplugs, toothbrush, lotion, face cream, lip butter, face cleanser. Same perfume that doesn't go on your lips. But there are a few more surprises in here. The socks have the Saudia logo. I don't think the business class socks have this part. Cute little pin.

Wow.

What is this?

I have no idea what this could be for. Two keychains, a mirror. What is in here? Oh my gosh. A passport holder. I feel like this is like a handle cover like for your luggage. And lastly, I have no idea what this is. No way. It's a USB C that converts to a lightning. But I don't know what the other end of it is. Whatever it is, it's a Sauda airplane. And it's so cute. What does this go to?

Maybe night notes.

Cute blue PJs. I have a question for you. Okay. What.

Is this?

It's a phone charger. This is usb. That's light.

What do you mean usb?

I think it's USB without the thing on it. Stick that in the USB charger.

I have never seen this before. You do it. I'm gonna get electrocuted.

Why would you do.

It works? Why does it look so weird?

It's like it just like didn't put the case around it.

Circumcised USB.

Memory foam mattress topper. This is cozy. Wow. Oh, this is gonna be great.

We are eight hours in, meaning we are officially halfway celebrate. We ordered some more food. I got the beautiful plate of ravioli with a side of baked cheese.

Lab labna.

No, fattier.

Tastes like a piece of bread with a little bit of cheese inside. I'm a little jealous of Nate's Arabic mezzi plate. Not gonna lie.

Dine on demand is a great idea in theory. And I love the idea of being on my own schedule eating whenever I'm hungry as much as I want, whenever I want. But in real life, it kind of stresses me out. I find myself feeling a little bad, pressing the call button, and then I'm like, oh, what if they're busy and everyone else is ordering right now? Am I ordering too much? Am I not taking enough advantage of this? But overall, it's fun.

You guys, welcome to Tom Bradley International Airport in Los Angeles. We made it.

Thank you very much.

Bye. Thank you.

See you again next time.

Thank you so much. All are the best. We made it to la. Kara's still in our airplane pajamas. I feel a little embarrassed to walk through the airport with her.

No. They're so cute.

It has been five days since we started this journey and mutual Munich, and it has been so fun. I cannot wait to share the next video with you.

It's insane. I love this feeling of just exhaustion from pure adventure.

I think when people watch this and it's a first class flight in the resort, I'm not sure that pure adventure is the category I would put this in. There has been a lack of sleep, but I wouldn't call it pure adventure. I'm delicious. Overall, the Saldia flight experience was a great one. Especially the flight attendants and the chef really made the flight. Does it stack up against Eddie Hod and Emirates? No. I would say if saldia is an 8 out of 10, Emirates and Eddie Hyde or 10 of tens, maybe 11 of tens.

But that was awesome. No complaints. My tummy is so happy.

I am very sad. Sad that I'm not gonna have Middle Eastern hummus tomorrow.

All right, Nobody got time for this.

Whoa. Spotlight. Oh. Double, triple, quadruple spotlight.

Double fisting the dates.

This is the best one. Plus.

You have to squeeze it on there for the flavor. You can't do. Don't be wrong like that.