2. Journey to the other side of the world.

If you look at a globe, you will find that Kabul is exactly on the opposite side of the earth as San Francisco. To get there, you must travel 7,394 miles, fly over 4 continents, and pass through at least 9 time zones. So, preparing for such a journey, is a must. Lots of rest, plenty of water, packing books and magazines to pass the time, making sure to have at least 1000 songs on your iPod and having a comfortable neck pillow are all necessary. All of which I had none of...with the exception of my iPod. 

So after a heart wrenching good bye with family and friends, I headed to the airport totally exhausted from lack of sleep all week, dehydrated, with no books and magazines (which I ended up packing in my checked luggage) and a deflated neck rest. But did I care? No! I was on my way to Kabul. The only place in the world that has ironically provided me with any sense of belonging and peace despite being a war zone. 

My journey started on an overbooked Lufthansa Airlines flight where I was surrounded by wailing babies. I closed my eyes and had my little discussion with God. I asked for his protection to get me to my final destination safe and sound. My fear of flying kicked in as soon as we took off and immediately hit a patch of turbulence. But aside from the wailing babies next to me and the initial jolts, it was a relatively uneventful 11 hour flight to Frankfurt. As we touched down, I looked around the airport and remembered the last time I arrived in Frankfiurt. I was about to embark on a 10 day vacation which turned out to be the most unpredictable but definitely most fruitful trip of my life. I have always had a special connection with Germany. It was the first country we arrived at when we were forced to leave Afghanistan at the start of the Russian War. It has provided us asylum and a place to call home. I had 4 hours to spare and needed to sleep really bad. I found my gate and laid down on a row of empty chairs. I woke up and looked around and saw that the entire gate was empty. With a sinking feeling in my stomach I immediately thought that I missed my flight. I had completely lost track of what time it was and there were no clocks anywhere. I walked out to the hall and noticed some activity at a gate further down. Apparently, they had changed the gate last minute and were just about to start boarding. Whew! 

Another 6 hours on a plane and I arrived in Dubai. Even from the skies, you can immediately tell that Dubai is a city of glitz and glamour. Tall buildings, lights flashing everywhere, palm trees lining the streets, beach front hotels, massive shopping complexes, and a booming night life...and that's just the airport. ;-) I only had 2 hours to spare and decided to spend it people watching. I don't think I have ever seen so many tall gorgeous men under one roof anywhere else in the world. But that's neither here nor there. In the past, to get to Kabul from Dubai, you had to claim your luggage, pass through customs and immigration and take a shuttle or taxi over to the next terminal. However, the competitive Afghan airline industry has forced Afghan airlines to make it more convenient to passengers so this time my luggage was automatically transferred to Safi Airways and I didn't have to leave the terminal or pass through immigration. 

Finally, it was time to board the plane to Kabul. I have to be honest. For the first time on this entire trip, I got a strange sensation that I could only associate with nervousness. I knew it was too late to worry about it so I put my back pack on, gave the attendant my boarding pass and boarded the plane. I so wanted to hear the pilot announce that we arrived over Afghanistan airspace. That has always been a very special moment for me but after going through the last 72 hours on only 4 hours of sleep, I finally passed out 20 minutes into the flight. I woke up to the sound of the pilot announcing that we were beginning our decent into Kabul. I missed the whole thing! I looked out the window at the majestic view of the Hindu Kush mountain range covered in white blanket of snow. It was beyond breathtaking. I scrambled for my camera but it was locked up in the overhead cabin in my backpack. I tried to use the video camera option on my iPod but since it was just day break, there wasn't enough light to really capture the beauty of the landscape. 

Landing at Kabul Airport is a bit unnerving if you are looking out the window. Kabul is situated on a plateau in the middle of this massive mountain range. The plane can only descend so much without running directly into one of the peaks of the mountain. So as you look out, you see the plane coming closer and closer to the mountain tops and just as you think you are going to have a head on collision with it, the mountains open up to a dry, brown, drab landscape dotted with lighter brown buildings. It's completely devoid of any other color but brown, due to the years of destruction and drought that has left the city in rubble. As we touched down, I looked to find the familiar military aircrafts and the pile of plane parts that was once known as Ariana Graveyard. The airport had been a battlefield during the years of war and the aircrafts were destroyed and left on the tarmac. They resembled fossils of extinct animals from a past that no longer existed. But I couldn't find any of it. The airport had been really cleaned up. There were so many more airlines now than what I had remembered. We taxied down the runway and came to a stop in front of the new terminal that just recently opened. I took my time getting off the plane and was literally one of the last people to step out. I wasn't sure what I was expecting. There was so much going through my mind. Would I feel scared? Would I feel lost? Would everything be new and unfamiliar? Would anyone be there to receive me? Was this all a dream? But as I took my first step off the plane and inhaled my first breath of Kabul air, I knew I had returned back home.