The first year I was in Jeddah, I lived in an apartment in a nice, but not palatial, apartment, and felt very comfortable and secure. I doubt that you will have any problems, as long as the neighborhood is a good one and building is well appointed.

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To some extent we all live in social bubbles. In Saudi Arabia the bubbles are more clearly defined, particularly for women, specifically manifested in the requirement that women wear an abaya cloak in public. For muslim women the bubble is even more tangible and restrictive.
You can be happy living in the bubble of your house, your chauffeured car, your fitness club, your women's group, your friends' salons, your kids' school. And periodic escapes to other countries with more freedom.
Restrictive, yes; Dangerous? no.
Happy? chacune a son gout.
Compound living allows for a slightly bigger bubble.
Most will say that pursuing a vocation greatly eases the feeling of restriction.

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We have been living in Riyadh for three years now and have decided to move off-compound. The reason for this is because I, especially, find the compound life very restrictive. Although it has it upsides there are also certainly some disadvantages of living on a compound. One is fairly restricted to using compound buses for shopping. This means that you go where the bus goes. If you don't want to do this you can organise a driver at a much inflated rate who will generally take you to one place only. Food shopping on the shopping buses is a nightmare. A lot of women have to use this service, but it is far from a pleasure.
Of course, one could have a private driver and then the problem would be solved. However, the rents on compounds are very high and only going up and up. During our three years here, our rent has gone up by 30%. Services are generally going down on most compounds. Waiting lists are very long.

Riyadh is as safe a city as any in the world. The Saudis don't want any incidents.

True women have to wear abayas when outside, but one would be very conspicuous without one. So this is perhaps not so bad. The upside is that it keeps the dust of your clothes. It is very dusty here!

Housing, generally, is big. So doesn't feel restrictive. Also, it is possible to find housing off-compound in close proximity to other Westerners, so that one can establish one's own social life.

We are moving into an apartment in a building where there are quite a number of other Westerners. Travel time for my husband will be non-existent, which is a huge consideration as the traffic is Riyadh is quite bad. Also, we are in town which means that travel for social reasons is far less as we will be more centrally located.

As for the owner of the company your husband will be working for... there are a huge number of princes and such like in Saudi. If I am not mistaken the Royal Family numbers about 20,000 all together.

Once here it would be a good thing to register with organisations such as the ACR (American Community of Riyadh), Corona (British equivalent) and WSB (Women's Skills Bureau) as well as the American Embassy. There are many organisations in Riyadh women or families can become members of for activities and outings, information etc. etc. For weekends there are also the Hashers and some Off-roading clubs. None of these are highly advertised, but all are accessible.

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where want to go, send to my e-mail, u r phone number

E-mail:-
huskaj.man@gmail.com

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