Heading to the Middle East

Monday, May 21, 2012

I have been planning a trip back to the middle east for several years. Finally the time has come. Unfortunately in the last few weeks the political situation has taken a turn for the worse. First, I found out that my visit to Cairo will coincide with the presidential elections. 12 candidates have been finally certified to run after some of the more popular ones were disqualified. People are said to be very tense and very partisan. Every Egyptian I meet here in the States tell me not to go.

The situation is even worse in Lebanon. Two Muslim sects (the Sunnis and the Alawites) have been fighting over the Syrian cause in the north of the country were we are supposed to spend most of our time. 15 people have been killed  and the roads are closed intermittently.  The army has had to intervene to try to restore calm. They subsequently have been blamed for causing trouble when they gunned down 2 clerics who were carrying arms for the Syrian insurgents, sped through a check point and fired at the army. Then to make matters worse, a large group of Shiite Muslims (another sect) from Lebanon got kidnapped traveling back home through Syria on their way from a pilgrimage.

I am going anyway. I don't believe in staring at danger in the face. At the same time, if I let every potential concern stop me, I would never leave home.

My flight leaves from Miami at 550 in the afternoon. I decide to take the commuter train leaving at 308 that will get me to the airport at 4. We are just 20 minute into the trip when the train stops. We are told that someone is lying on the tract about a mile down the line. We have to wait for the police to clear them before we can move again. 

Twenty minutes later, there has been no action. I start to panic that I may miss my flight and decide to get off the train. No taxi in sight! More panic. Finally I am approached by an older man who offers to take me to the airport for double the usual cab fare. We negotiate a more reasonable fee and  start the drive. He drives like a maniac to get me there as soon as possible.

I arrive at the airport and meet my elderly mother at the Air France counter. She will be my travel companion as she speaks Arabic and will make my trip a lot easier. We try to check in, only to be told that we were supposed to be at the airport 3 hours before the flight. The surly airline clerk acts like she is doing us a favor. She now tells us that the rules have changed and that we have too much luggage. Not too much weight, but too many pieces. We spend the next 15  minutes rearranging our suitcases to please her. We are allowed exactly 23.5 kg each. Since my mother is unable to carry a bag on the plane, she is allowed a maximum of 10 extra kg in a second suitcase. We finally check in and take off for Paris where we have a six hour layover.

After a pleasant flight, a long and boring layover at the Paris airport, we board for Cairo. Excited, we forget the annoyances experienced so far. The engine starts, we get on the tarmac and then comes the announcement. We are heading back to the gate! Apparently the AC in one of the freight sections is not working. It takes 2 hours before they let us take off. They could not fix the AC but decided to move to freight into the other compartments and let us get on our way.

Is this a BAD OMEN or just modern day travel with the typical annoyances that one has to expect these days?