Here’s Another Hilarious Story

So I forgot to set my watch forward an hour in Dubai. I sat at the wrong terminal at the airport. They strangely did not announce the end of boarding on my flight. Yup, I missed it! I called the airline; they refused to give me any credit and told me I could buy another ticket for $3000. HA! I was pretty depressed wondering if I would get to snowboard in Germany and see my friends there at all. Not to mention that, because it was my own fault, the company would no longer pay for my hotel, and they are not cheap in Dubai!

I went and prayed. I called the airline again, and a different soul answered the phone. I didn't even use my begging voice and was offered an “upgrade” for the same flight, next day. Cost? 530 Dirham, which is about $150. SOLD!

What began as an interesting chain of events continued. Surprisingly, I ran into an old co-worker (I hadn‘t seen in a year), for example, because I was in Dubai an extra day. He got some of the promotions that I passed up at work and he invited me to an apartment he stayed in high above the city. Wow. We’re talking marble sidewalks and floors, exotic vehicles parked out in front, a balcony with a view to the helipads on other buildings, the works! And I slept for free.

Also, I met a friend from Kirkuk in the transit camp and he told me about snowboarding indoors at a mall in Dubai. I laughed at him. But that’s where I went after missing my first flight. You know what is funny? Watching the locals Arabs who have lived in a desert all their lives working inside that ski-park, jumping up and down to keep warm and frost forming on their mustaches. And they are so polite!

So some great things happened after the initial stress of missing my flight. I can only assume that other good things are in store for me on my trip, and saw again that something bad maybe something good in disguise, if you just believe and keep trying.