Hi, I'm Kelly McEvers, and this is Atlas Obscura, a celebration of the world's strange,

incredible, and wondrous places. So a while ago, we asked you to share stories about traveling

with your kids for the first time. We got some really good responses and we are going to share

some of those with you today. First, I will just share a quick story about traveling with my kid for the

first time. I spent many years of my career as an international correspondent. A big chunk of that time I spent in the Middle East.

One of the first places I ever went to in the Middle East was Saudi Arabia.

I went there for the first time in 2008.

I was doing some stories and I realized, oh, it's getting a little bit easier for Western

journalists to go to Saudi Arabia.

So at one point, I decided I actually should live in Saudi Arabia.

It was a time when there was a lot of interest in the country, but not a lot of journalists had access.

So I knew that being there full time would be a great way to see the place and to cover the place.

Lo and behold, I'm there for my first year and I realize that I'm going to have a kid.

At that point, I was like, I could go back home to the States, but I think I really want to stay in Saudi Arabia. I want to travel to every corner of this country, which I was able to do

and see places that a lot of Westerners had never seen. So I decided to travel to every corner of this country, which I was able to do, and see places that a lot

of Westerners had never seen. So I decided to have my child in Saudi Arabia. So the first time I

ever traveled with my child was actually traveling out of Saudi Arabia with my child back to the

states to meet the grandparents and do all the things.

What they didn't tell me was that I was going to need to get an exit visa for this person who

didn't exist. Once I had the child, I had to go through this whole rigamarole of like

applications and paperwork that I had no idea how to navigate. It took like six weeks,

and it was also like the height of summer in Saudi Arabia, so it was incredibly hot, like 100, 110,

...