In Transit

I'm sitting at my gate in the Frankfurt Airport. It's 8:30 am here, 10:30 am in Jeddah and 2:30 am to me, so I apologize in advance if things don't make sense, but I'm operating on very little sleep. A couple of things to share.

I arrived at the airport in Miami all ready and set to go and was told that my carry-on luggage was too heavy! So the lady told me I was going to have to check it (making it my third checked bag). I was (I think) understandably upset, this was the bag that I had all of my valuable things in. Upon seeing my distress, the lady gave me a smaller bag told me to take a couple of the more valuable things and put them in there and that the rest would be checked and that she would not charge me for the third bag. So fingers crossed, that everything I packed actually makes it to Jeddah.

Once through security it hit me like a bag of bricks, I'm actually doing this. I'm moving to a country where I don't have any friends, I don't speak the language, and being a woman is seen as a bad thing. An entire chapter of my life has come to an end! I no longer live in the US, after 9+ years and countless conversations about trying something new, here I am. Granted I'm headed to a place that had never really entered my thoughts, but I guess that's what makes it exciting, right???

After I came to this realization it was time to board my flight, and what should I see as I'm getting ready, but lovely immigration officials pulling people aside. And who, you might ask, were they pulling aside? Well only the people who were not blonde and blue eyed, basically everyone who looked Arabic or Muslim! Talk about racial profiling...

So then the flight. Fairly uneventful. Except for one thing: Luftshansa serves alcohol! Score for me, considering I'm moving to a dry country. So I see a very young looking kid order a beer in perfect french and voila, he gets it, no questions asked. Me?  I ask for a gin and tonic and get asked if I'm 18 yet "it's about the law madam" the guy says to me. Really? I mean I know I look young for my age. But not over 18???

Finally, I arrive in Frankfurt. Land at like 6:30am and it's freezing here and dark. Everyone I see has the same blood shot eyes I have and all look as lost as I feel. Apparently Frankfurt doesn't believe in a traveler's ability to sit in the airpot besides their gate. So I arrive at my gate a full four hours early only to have the security people look at me like I'm insane and tell there are no bathrooms here, no where to eat or drink or buy anything. I tell them, I don't care, they shrug and here I am. I've paid a fortune for an hour of internet and I'm spending sharing with all of you.

Next stop Jeddah...