Putting my 6 figure (hard earned) career on hold & moving with my hubs to... Saudi Arabia

My husband and I had been happily toiling away in Northern NJ, both working for the same company and enjoying our roles. We had both been brought up in different areas of the Midwest and had been given several opportunities to travel around the world via family trips, his military, and my study abroad experiences which I truly believe all combined together and left us constantly wanting more adventure and experiences… we couldn’t sit still!

Prior to getting hitched, we both knew that we would be interested in working abroad and that it was a possibility with our company. I was actually in a career development program with our company where it was actually required to work a position abroad at some point. Little did I know my husband would beat me to the punch; He was offered a management position in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia where he would be overseeing half of the country, including the capital, Riyadh, and the Kohbar branch. This would be a great career opportunity for him and one that would surely not come again. Ironically enough, this was the one country in the world where I, as a female, could not also work for the company as KSA has strict rules restricting females from obtaining work visas and positions that a Saudi male could posses.

Although our company bent over backwards trying to keep us both gainfully employed in KSA, it became clear rather quickly that by accepting this new position, I would be putting my career ambitions on hold. We would also be giving up a 6 figure salary that I had worked so hard to obtain- dangit! After spending plenty of time mulling over the pro’s and con’s together, however, we knew that this would not only be a career opportunity that we didn’t want to pass up, but a life defining experience that would not be offered again. A big factor that also played into our decision was that we were hoping to start a family together and having a period of time on my resume where I could not legally continue working for my company would provide us with the ability to make this happen. I looked at the situation as one that would allow for a stress free pregnancy, as well as an extended maternity leave with (hopefully) a new baby! This would all be happening for a reason as my current position would have made family planning a nightmare. So that was that – we sold our house and all the belongings inside, packed exactly three bags each and moved to the desert hoping to embark on one heck of an adventure… we would not be mistaken!