A Pashtun on his way to Europe

It was 20 february and it was friday. I woke up early, got ready, and said my goodbyes at home to everyone. The sky was clear and sunny, an excellent day to fly from kabul. I was very pleased to see that the sky was clear and I didnt want to miss any of my flights or reschedule for some other day. I was very excited that I was going to Poland. A day before my flight the weather was terrible and there are no flights from kabul in a bad weather. Sometimes I wonder that the local airlines just need an excuse not to fly. I started to hit the road, thinking very positively about my whole journey to Poland. Kabul airport is about 45 minutes away from my house but if my dad’s  driver is driving then its about 2 hours. I might have been 15 minutes away from the airport and suddenly the weather starts to change. The closer I got to the airport the foggier it got. Now kabul airport is not a pleasant place to be even on a bright sunny day and I got there, it was outrageously foggy. I took my stuff and started walking inside. Now when you book your ticket, right there you are told to come at least an hour or two before your flight. I am sure you will agree with me, the reason you have to be there early is so you can go through the security and all that stuff before your boarding time comes. But in kabul it doesnt mean that at all. I went to the airport two hours earlier thinking that I need all this time to make sure that all my stuff gets on the same plane. Unfortunately I was very wrong about this. The airport seccurity made me wait for an hour outside in the fogg and let me tell you this along with everything that it is freezing outside with no place to sit.

I think I have already mentioned that I started my day with positive thinking about my trip, and while I was  waiting outside in the cold, I kept telling myself that I am going to Poland so I should bear some sacrifice after all. The hour past somehow and I just couldnt feel my toes anymore and the security allowed us to get on the buses that took us to the terminal. Here, we had to open our baggage for “security” reasons, whatever that means, and it took me another 25 minutes to get inside. I thought it will take me forever even inside but the only good thing that happened that morning was that the I was the first one to get my boarding pass. I was done with everything in less than 10 minutes except when I got to the passport control. At the passport control counter this guy took my picture and then asked for my passport. He looked at my passport and visa and told me to wait in a coner for sometime. I said to him, ” ok, but how long?” he told me the samething again. After waiting in a nearby corner for 10 minutes I went to the same guy and asked him if he was done with my passport. He told me that it will take some time and I have to wait. This time I went and sat with all those people that had their passports cleared already, I didnt care I was tired of waiting and I wanted to just sit somewhere. Now There was about 15 minutes left for my flight and I went to the guy and told him that i dont have time cuase my flight is in 10 minutes so please whatever you are doing, do it quickly. He didnt say anything and just handed me my passport. I got very curious and asked him that what was wrong? He said that it was just a “random check”. To make my day better, my own people thought that I was a terrorist, so you can imagine how I felt about going to airports in Europe!

The funny think was that the guy at the passport control told me that they ran a computrized check on me and I fortunately check out. My day was just going great. Now I have my passport with me and thought that I will be out of all this in 10 minutes but guess what? My flight from kabul to Istanbul got delayed for an hour and 15 minutes. Why? Because of some “VIP movement”, I dont know whatever the hell that means. Finally I get on the plane, but as I was walking toward the plane I was trying to figure out that whether I will miss my connecting flight from Istanbul or not. Fortunately I was safe and thought that I will have enough time to take care of my baggage and all and board the plane on time. Now we got on the plane and I was trying to figure out where my seat was but I couldnt find it because the plane was very old and almost everything was broken. So to make it easier for myself I asked one the plane crew people and she told that I can sit anywhere I want. You might be thinking that it was very nice of her to tell me that but I totally disagree. After telling me she went and anounnced it that all the passangers can sit anywhere they want. I couldnt really understand why they just did that because seat numbers are assigned for a reason, so that people dont kill each other over seats. Well, you can imagine how it was done in civilized manner, right after the announcment the whole plane turned into a market place. Everyone wanted a window  seat and people were pushing each other to get some nice place. I just stood near the toilet and didnt know what to do but managed to find myself a seat. The plane was mostly empty so almost everyone got a window seat. Just in case if you are wondering, I didnt get a window seat.

I sat next to 3 old men, nothing is wrong sitting next to old men but just to be respectful I didnt listen to music and instead read the newspaper. Fortunately, I found myself a window seat once the plane was in the air. In fact, I got the whole row all to myself. The plane smelled like a pig hole and it was my longest flight ever. It lasted for eight and half hours. It usually takes 5 hours to get to Istanbul from kabul-even on Ariana airlines-but guess what? suprises kept coming all day long. I booked a direct ticket to Istanbul from kabul but it stopped in Anqara to drop a few passanger. I was more than sure that I missed my next flight. I made it half and hour before my flight so I really had to rush through Istanbul airport and I did. I went straight to the transit desk, transfered my baggage and boarded the plane. I was so hungry that I could have eaten a whole cow but guess what? I hate plane food so all day I didnt eat anything. This flight was the nicest one through out my journey from kabul to Poland.

It was much better compared to the last one I was on half and hour ago, nice people, very attractive air attendents , and comfortable seats. This nice lady gave me some very good coffee and after a while I almost bought a watch on the plane but fortunately didnt. This flight from Istanbul to Frankfurt was about 2 hours and 40 minutes. I took a nice rest on the flight because I was not worried about my next flight. I had a 9 hour saty in Frankfurt. I had heard so much about Frankfurt International Airport for being very nice and beautiful. I was so disappointed when I reached there because I was planning to have a nice dinner and then find a place to sleep a little. But Frankfurt was just a disaster for me. Let me start from my baggage. I go through the security stuff and then went straight to the transit desk to transfer my baggage again but here they told that I have a lot of time so I should go out, get my baggage and then check in. I go to get my stuff and I am just waiting for it to come. I waited and waited and all the passangers got their stuff and I was the only one left with no baggage.

My emotions here suddenly got confused, I didnt know whether to be angry or worried because I didnt have the energy to be both at the same time. Now I started hunting for the baggage claim desks, found one and told them. This lady kept typing for like 5 minutes and then she turns to me with a smile on her face and says, “sorry sir, your baggage is not on the list at all.” I had a baggage tag which I got in Istanbul and I showed her that as well, still she had no clue where my baggage was. I didnt know what to do now and I was very hungry too. So I decided to go and eat something first and then think about what to do. I will say that frankfurt airport is a big airport so I had to walk for a little while to find something to eat. Now, I knew that I have to be pissed because it was 11 pm and every restuarant and food place was shut. Simply, there was nothing to eat. I sat all night long infront of a coffee shop until it opened at 4 am. That coffee was heavenly, I had never enjoyed my coffee so much. I boarded my next plane in the morning without my baggage.

Warsaw International Airport. I tought I landed in a bus stop or something. This airport was one small and boring place I have ever been to in my little life. My journry from Kabul to Warsaw took about 28 hours and all this time I havent slept or eaten a proper meal. To some up the journey in a less exciting way, some people were waiting for me at the airport and they drove me to my city from Warsaw. Just in case if you are wondering, my baggage was sent to me three days later.