Mark's Travels

10 years of travel blogging from 35+ countries around the world

Problems in Singapore, Flying over the Middle East 18th September 2004 in London, United Kingdom


My flight left around 8pm in the evening. I found the check by Australia Immigration to be quick and eventless. I exchanged the last of my Australian currency for UAE Durham. I was shocked to see only Arabic numbers on the currency and I only relaxed once I turned the bills over and saw Roman numbers on the back.

The flight to Singapore lasted 7 hours. When we landed, I thought for half a second that I should stay on the aircraft. I thought that Singapore is excessively strict and that they might cane me if I so much as farted in the airport, again. I decided that the opportunities to see these places are so rare that I needed to take up the opportunity.

The airport is really clean and high tech. There were TVs showing English TV everywhere. They also had free internet that anyone could use. I decided to take them up on the offer.

I had just signed out of my Yahoo account when I turned around and saw two soldiers pointing assault riffles at me and demanding my passport. I had my tickets bundled with my passport; I handed my passport over and dropped my tickets out of shock. I really felt terrified. I looked around to see everyone using the internet was now being questioned by the same means.

There were some commanders coordinating everything about 20 meters from me. The soldier writing down my details looked at them and pointed up. It could have meant they found the person they were looking for but I think he only meant to signal "go upstairs" or "we are done here".

As soon as they handed back my passport I headed as quickly as possible to the gate. I got through security and sat with great anxiety until I was allowed back on the aircraft. As we flew away, I felt I would never want to return.

I was dazzled flying over India and seeing a huge number of lights beaming up. You can tell they have more than a billion people living there. The place was blanketed with villages and winding roads.

We landed in Dubai at six in the morning. The city is so amazing and I felt excited to be there even if my stay was only for 2 hours. I saw the city from above and it was extremely inspiring. I saw the Burj Al Arab and The Palms and got some good photos.

I cannot wait to return to Dubai. My dream is to start a business in there. I would love to build a small start-up company into a large international corporation. I have fantasies of flying in between international offices in a GulfStream V Jet and providing financial security for my family and the people whom work for me. Everything I do now is aimed towards this goal.

My flight from Dubai to London flew over Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia along the southern Iraq border, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, The Black Sea, South Eastern Europe, Czech Republic, Germany, Belgium and Finally into England.

It was so nice to make it back half way around the world and back into my wife's arms. I felt extremely confused and disorientated for the rest of the weekend but I was ok for work on Monday morning. This was the successful completion of the biggest goal I had. I finally had circumnavigated the world and made it back home safe.


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