by Rod Hughes
The incoming flight Saturday to Liberia’s Daniel Oduber International Airport was not your average tourist flight. The Boeing 747 belonged to a Saudi Arabian prince and contained his 48-member enterage plus some luggage—245 trunks and suitcases crammed with not only clothing but also food, water and plasma TV sets.
Traveling light, you understand. Only the necessities.
Naturally one would not expect Al-Waleed bin Talal al-Saud, not only royalty but one of the richest men on the planet, to stand in line for Immigration processing and he did not. An official raced aboard the aircraft to process 49 passports on board.
Then the crowd passed magestically down the ramp to a caravan of one luxury bus and 18 brand new Toyota Prados (were you expecting camels?) while 13 airport maintenance crewmen scrambled to load the mountain of luggage into the transport. Then off they went to the local Four Seasons Hotel, part of a chain of hotels in which the prince is the major stockholder, reported the newspaper La Nacion.
Not all the passports were Saudi, by the way. The prince is an international sort of guy and carried with him Syrians, Lebanese and even a few New Zealanders. Then, there were the South African crewmen of the smaller jet that landed ahead of the 747 to prepare the way. Security was tight with Al-Waleed the last to leave the plane.
The visiters were mostly dressed in jeans, sports shirts and sandals, prepared for the sun. But one thing the red carpet official treatment could not control. It rained until early afternoon.
This afternoon Al-Waleed will meet with President Oscar Arias at the latter’s home in Rohrmoser. The prince will journey on tomorrow to Guatemala.