Unstuck in a Dubai Duty Free Shop

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As much as I adore the curly headed one no amount of love could prevent me from spreading his passport shame.

I consider it well deserved payback for all the movies, TV shows and radio announcements my travel seasoned boyfriend has interrupted with a nudge and the words ‘I’ve been there’. To which my usual response is, ‘alright Johnny Cash, settle down.’

It needles me because I have a long list of destinations under the heading ‘I wanna go to’ with very few ticked off. England. Scotland. Corfu. Zimbabwe. South Africa. The last three were really short trips and the earnest backpacker in me still debates whether they should be counted at all. The boyo has no such scruples. I caught him trying to include airport stopovers on his facebook travel map. Blush, baby, blush!

Still, there is no doubt that he has been everywhere man. More everywhere than me at least.

Which is why I am so impressed he managed to lose his passport, MID-TRANSIT. That truly is a phenomenal effort. Now, this isn’t about getting on my high horse; I lose stuff too. Like (famously), my phone, in my bed, for a whole week. My hat, sunglasses, phone AND shoes at Reading Festival 2005. The bag that contained my passport at a South African backpackers. Which I only noticed missing the day I was due to get on the plane home…

In fact, I’m so bad/good at losing stuff that my regular travelling partner forbids me, expressly and absolutely, from carrying any kind of ticket or important document. Including my own passport. Which makes, from my POV at least, the boyo’s lapse even more delicious. I don’t think even I could top it - finally, someone who is more crap than me! I’ve dreamt of this moment…

His flight to Ghana was divided into two legs; Perth to Dubai, Dubai to Accra. The first leg (despite a pretty horrendous excess baggage charge) went well. It then came unstuck in a Dubai duty free shop.

After getting his passport out to extricate a note detailing the model number of a printer he was buying for a mate already in Ghana, the boyo left it on the counter at the duty-free, going to check out the said printer. He was then taken back to a different counter and proceeded happily, sans passport but with printer, to the boarding gate. Here the unhappy realisation hit him.

From what I can gather, he spent the next few hours traipsing the length of Dubai airport being redirected by security guards to different locations that the lost and found might be. Or not. On our brave but absent minded hero trudged, ignoring the searing pain from his legs and pausing only to call his girlfriend (who did have the decency to offer a few reassuring words before asking if she could blog him). Eventually, and annoyingly, the same security guard who set him out on this circular quest found the missing passport under his desk and the pair were reunited. Passionate kisses were exchanged. Ok, that’s unconfirmed - but highly plausible.

By this stage the boyo had…

• missed two connecting flights
  
• raised his project managers blood pressure to dangerous levels
  
• cost himself several cartons and a lot of pride
  
• earned a fortnights worth of ridicule from his workmates and a lifetimes worth from me
  

…but at least he can add Dubai to his facebook map!

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Comments

[Pele]

oh well...
Very entertaining....at least it worked out in the end...