I arrive at the airport 3 hours before take off. There is a looong line of people at the check in counter. Several people from Arab & Eastern origin have some overweight and try to resolve the issue by emptying their luggage. Bags are opened and are filled with mobile phone boxes. They start to remove the mobiles from the boxes to lower the weight, moments later there is a whole stack of at least 50/60 boxes piled up beside the check in counter... the few Westerners in line look in amazement at the display of foreign trade & export and don’t seem know whether to smile, cry or have sympathy...

On the plane I notice that the majority of the passengers are of Arab & Eastern origin. 5 rows ahead of me there is a Western man and he seems to be quite uncomfortable in his seat. Moving around, looking from left to right, shaking his head and not knowing what to do. The captain tells everyone that we are about to take off and the plane starts moving towards the runway. Then suddenly the man gets up from his seat and walks to a stewardess. While he talks to her he points his finger to some individuals with Arab & Eastern features. He starts moving frantically and obviously is not comfortable with the whole situation. He almost snaps, starts to make a scene, talking loudly and showing his discomfort with the fact that he is on this flight. The stewardess makes a phone call and urges him to sit down quietly, in a different seat though. Moments later the captain makes an announcement: “due to security reasons we have to return to the gate for a passenger & luggage check, we are sorry for the inconvenience”. The cabin crew starts moving back and forth through the plane, eyeballing every passenger, especially the ones from Arab & Eastern origin. A very uncomfortable energy flows through the plane and other passengers start noticing that something is wrong. The plane arrives at the gate and the man gets up from his seat, takes his luggage from the compartment and leaves the plane. Then there is another announcement: “we are sorry for the inconvenience but we have to make a luggage check, please point out your luggage to the cabin crew”. The crew starts checking every luggage compartment in the plane and passengers have to identify their bag(s). About an hour and a half later the captain announces that a passenger has been offloaded for unspecific reasons, the plane received security clearance and that we are about to take off. 25 Minutes later we are airborne. Once more the captain apologizes for the inconvenience and wishes us a pleasant flight for the next 9 ½ hours... I will not comment on what happened nor on the plane food, because I guess everyone has an idea on the how and what’s... While I watched about 3 movies (Stardust; not bad, Border town; very good & sad, Death at a funeral; hilarious!) and some series (Scrubs; always good!), listened to some music (acoustic oriental; very nice& relaxing) and tried to get some sleep, I was wondering about the sick and crazy way the Media influences the lives of people. I feel sorry for this Western guy that could not help but think of something terrible happening to the plane and/or its passengers & crew, simply because of the origin of people aboard the plane. You know, I don’t regret that I stopped watching TV, especially the news since a few years ago and now only occasionally get updated via the internet, because the influence is truly sickening...

After a 9 ½ hour flight you really want to throw yourself on a bed and get some sleep, but no, that was not going to be the case. I arrived at my Transit and realized that I was going to be there for the next 7 hours! Started to consider taking a room to get some sleep & rest but then quickly changed my mind and went for breakfast since it was 0730 in the morning. After a nice cup of Hot Chocolate I went for a stroll through the airport. It was very crowded, people were sleeping on the ground in the hallways and brushing their teeth in the toilets, I guess I wasn’t the only one that had a long transit. I passed a group of African people and one of them suddenly started to shout at an airport security official. The African man seemed to be filled with fear and was very aggressive towards airport personnel. He was requested to go with them into an office but he refused, after some more shouting and pushing, he finally went in. The office had one window and was covered with a shade that refuses you to see what is happening on the inside. Suddenly the shade was pulled down and the African man threw himself against the window shouting & screaming for help. The security pulled him back in, however, the shade was half up now so people could actually see what was going on. The African man was swinging his fists around and security had trouble holding him down, it took three men and a beating to get him down to the floor and control him. The shades went up again, it became silent, the hallways of the airport were filled again with quiet music. The door of the office stayed shut until two security officials came out apparently holding the African man’s passport. That was that. Another day at the airport I guess...

The flight to my destination went smooth but on arrival I could not help but think;

“what am I doing here?”