Quick Facts
Distance from Riyadh: 1,340Km
Travel Time Duration: 18 hours
Regions to Cross: Al Qassim and Hail
Boredom and Excitement - An uninterrupted journey spanning 18 hours with individuals from diverse backgrounds, upbringings, and cultures presents an exhilarating challenge that examines your patience, social adaptability, and emotional resilience to any situation that may arise.
As a resident of a province in my homeland, the Philippines, I became accustomed to taking long journeys. Whenever I needed to visit Manila, I would always travel by land. I rarely flew there. A nighttime trip from my province to Manila usually takes six to seven hours, while traveling during the day extends the journey to eight to nine hours.
However, I don't find it challenging because, where I live, we have numerous bus options, ranging from ordinary non-air-conditioned to air-conditioned buses and VIP trips comparable to business and first-class on airplanes. With all these choices, I typically opt for the more expensive VIP trips, but convenience is something money can't buy. Convenience is simply convenient; that's all.
Traveling to Tabuk is challenging because the options available in my area in the Philippines are limited. Therefore, my best option is to use SAPTCO. I wanted to try the VIP Express service from SAPTCO, but it wasn't available on the date of my trip so that I couldn't experience it. I chose to take the land route to explore all aspects of the journey.
Journeying by bus from Riyadh to Tabuk City requires many hours and a lot of patience. This trip has pros and cons: it can be exciting and tedious.
If you're interested in discovering the areas between Tabuk and Riyadh, traveling by land via public transport is a great choice. It provides insight into the topography, terrain formations, and sights that are rarely seen by many. It's like hitting several birds with one stone and completing a leg of the journey on a marathon trip. Now, let's discuss the pros and cons of making the journey by land:
Advantages:
Low cost of transportation fare. The fare cost for a round-trip ticket is way cheaper than a one-way airplane ticket.
Chance to see the vast open land and the changing colors of the deserts.
Enjoy the sights between each town and city getting passed by the bus.
Sometimes, on your trip, you may experience sudden sandstorms in the identified sandstorm areas.
Every stop-over for a blogger like me creates another segment of the story.
Chance to meet instant friends.
Disadvantages
Exhausting
Long hours of travel spend time for some essential and beneficial activities.
Encounter and seated with the inconsiderate passengers making annoying noises inside the bus.
If luck does not favor you, you may be seated next to a smelly passenger who must endure for 18 hours.
You are postponing the call of nature’s necessity until you reach the specified stop-over area.
Traveling in a Private Car
Traveling in your car is the best option for going by land because you are in control. Unlike in public transport, you need to go with the transport company's flow, ways, rules, and policies.
You will experience the advantages and disadvantages enumerated above.
Should you rest and recharge your energy for a while, all the gas stations have a lodging facility where you can take a short sleep with affordable room rates.
Each gas station has a shop and small meals dining facility to buy food items and eat.
You should be in a convoy or at least a group of 2 cars. Because, in the event of any trouble, the other could assist. Traveling by only one car is difficult, especially if you get into trouble in the middle of the desert between one town and another.
Travel time is much shorter than public transport because you can drive the car to the speed you think is safe. Meanwhile, the public transport, SAPTCO, as part of their road safety policy, has a running speed of only up to 80Kph.
If the purpose of your trip is purely for a road trip adventure, you should be in your car. You can stop in every town, city, and province to explore and discover what each place could offer to travelers and visitors.
Important Things To Bring
Traveling In A Private Car
Adequate drinking water
The stock of water for the car radiator
Food items to eat along the way.
Spare tires
Car tools and accessories
Traveling in Public Transportation
Bottled water in your bag
Light snacks or finger foods so that you will not starve in case of a delayed stop at any meal station.
Handkerchief or tissue
Alcohol or sanitizers
Candy or chewing gums
Generally, traveling a distance of 1,340 km is long and fun. Tiring, yes, but the feeling experience depends mainly on how the travelers perceive everything that goes along the trip. If one makes it difficult and horrible, it’s terrifying. But if you perceive it as excellent and look at everything on the positive edge, traveling to Tabuk from Riyadh by land is a kind of experience worth every mile a smile, just like how I see it from my experience.
To complete the trip a total experience and knowledge, I suggest observing the following:
At every stop you make, if you are not eating or praying, always look around the place to see the untold other things, find the sights that are not shown, and be familiar with the area.
If you see something worth remembering, capture it with your camera for the memory to stay.
Never hesitate to ask the locals what the name of the place is so you can determine where you are.
Initiate a cordial conversation with the locals or the people working in the area, and ask something interesting about the place.
When talking to a resident of the area, start the conversation by saying the good things you see around. They will open up about other things they can offer visitors, like tourism spots, facilities, and others. The cordial conversation usually ends with an establishing connection that will help you in the future should you return to that place.
Observe the time allocation of the stop set by the drivers to avoid getting left out.
Upon the stop, do the most important things, like going to the comfort rooms, buying something, and eating your meals before doing anything else.
The long travel duration from Riyadh to Tabuk is no different from any other long-distance trip. However, if you are creative enough to turn the hassles into excitement, you will have a memorable trip.
Happy trip!
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