Somewhere out there...

So here is a story from back in the day...

We're living somewhere in an un-named Arab State and some very traumatic things were happening at the time over there. ( I'll save that story for another time ) It was time for the children and I to head home to Canada and visit the family and make plans for a new life.

We are in the airport getting checked in to our plane. We were moved from one plane to another, bags on, bags off, back in the airport, back on the plane. There was some kind of issue with a staff member of the airport and apparently he had made a few veiled threats so they were being cautious. Keep in mind this was directly after the Kuwaiti invasion from Iraq.

Finally, we are boarded, the plane is an hour or so late for take off. We land in another Arab state and the connecting flights have all been kept waiting at the gate for everyone on the plane. My children and I are met by 4 heavily armed soldiers at our gate and escorted to our connecting flight in an army jeep. I kept wondering if they were meant to protect us or to protect others from us, big scary photographer and her 2 little assistants. All the while there is a customs agent checking the passports and luggage tags, asking questions and trying to get us on our way. We board our next fight, and the heavily armed soldiers escort us onto the plane FULL of waiting passengers. Now waiting in an airport for a connecting flight is bad enough, waiting for 1 to 2 hours on the plane, in the hot sun, on the tarmac, is pretty serious. These people were not impressed and it showed in their faces as we were brought on board, myself, my two little children, and our 4 heavily armed escorts. I can't even begin to guess what was going through their heads at that point. I imagined they were wondering what the scary woman and her two little kids had done to deserve a military escort directly to the plane. Could you imaging being a passenger, watching the army escort us on to the plane, that's been kept waiting in the hot sun for hours?

We landed in London at Heathrow in record speed and waited the few hours to get our next connection to Pearson in Toronto. Of course back then, because we moved every few months or so, we traveled with 3 oversized hockey bags as luggage. Everything we owned had to fit in those bags and three little daypacks that we used as carry-on. The airline lost one of the bags. Hard to lose a gigantic purple bag, but they did. Eventually, it was returned, missing a few pieces of lego building blocks and t shirts, but returned just the same.

As I write this, I am trying to remember how the kids took it at the time and I recall them thinking it was just another day. We were never afraid over there, even during our shared adventure with the 4 armed soldiers. We were always treated with great respect by everyone we met. Even during the toughest times, people were so generous and helpful when we needed it. (But of course that's a whole 'nother story)

Don't forget to check your Compass!
Cole