558. Two reasons why people settle down

Reason #1. So they don't have to travel any more.
Reason #2. So they don't have to keep searching for the perfect life in all the wrong places.

I'm beginning to hate traveling. Or maybe I just hate Kabul airport. Or maybe I just realized that Kabul airport hates me.

The first time I got to Kabul, my admin manager sent a brainiac to pick me up from the airport. It did not help that it was the admin manager's last day of work, so I wasn't high up on his radar. I ended up standing outside in a strange land for 45 minutes before the driver miraculously rescued me.

The second time I got to the airport, on my way to Herat, the display board showed that the plane already left. I boarded the same plane two hours later.

The third time, Kam air refused to check in my luggage, since I'd be flying to the US, and they can't forward anything automatically in Dubai. And they wouldn't let me take it as a carry on either, since it's too heavy. After some negotiation, I ended up lugging my bag and laptop as carry on.

This morning, I stand in front of Safi counter to hear, "sir, you're not in our system", even though I'm holding a paper ticket. They showed me the list of 137 passengers, my name nowhere to be found, and the flight shown as full. And yet, after 30 minutes of waiting, I board the same plane after someone enters me into "the system", and now in Dubai on my way to Dhaka.

An optimist person would say that the system is flexible and manipulable (if that's a word), and I've gotten my way every time. But I'm just so effing tired of negotiating, and dealing with incompetence, inefficiency and indifference. I am going to start a countdown for March 2009, when I get to do my hasta la vista, baby to this fun airport.

Phillipines and Ethiopia, won't one of you please shine a bright light soon enough?

I'm ready to settle down.

I am.