We checked out of the Hyatt and headed to the airport. If you book a Club room or a Suite at the Hyatt Regency Dubai, you get complimentary car service to the airport. This time they actually took into account the number of people and bags, and provided a Mercedes GLK. I had to deal with the usual accounting nonsense at check-out, some of which I left alone and dealt with later. Hyatt customer service was great and set things right in a timely manner.

• Introduction
• Admiral’s Club Charles De Gaulle Airport, Paris
• British Airways Business Class Lounge Heathrow Airport
• British Airways Business Class London – Dubai
• Safi Airways Dubai – Kabul
• Kabul, Afghanistan
• Arghandeh, Afghanistan
• Northern Afghanistan
• Kabul Airport
• Hyatt Regency Dubai
• Al Dawwar Restaurant
• Qatar Airways Dubai – Istanbul

We were flying coach, so no fancy lounges for us. This was fine, since we only had a little over an hour to spare before the flight.

As we walked towards the gate, my dad recognized three men who were hurrying along in front of us: Mohammad Hanif Atmar, Mohammad Mohaqiq and some guy named Nadiri. Atmar was affiliated with the KGB and lost his leg fighting against the Mujahideen. He served as Minister of Interior from 2008-2010.

Mohaqiq was a Northern Alliance warlord. Ignore the propaganda you’re fed about the Northern Alliance being allies of the US – they were turncoats who took bribes from the Soviets (an accusation backed up by the CIA), and they’re turncoats now. Mohaqiq ran for President and needless to say, he lost.

Nadiri once served as Chairman of the Independent Human Rights Commission. All of them were warlords who became high ranking government officials. During the civil war they spent a lot of time convincing young men to die in pursuit of their respective agendas, and now they’re all travel buddies.

I followed them to try and get a better photo, but they stopped at a security checkpoint and began rushing through.

One of them was particularly paranoid. He kept rushing through security, setting off the alarm, and having to go back and take off his watch, his ring, etc. I guess this is the price you pay when you sell out your country – you’re constantly scared that somebody is after you. After this sideshow, we found my mom and sister at a gift shop and headed to the gate together.

There was a Starbucks near the gate, and since I hadn’t had a Frappuccino in over two weeks, I got myself a liquid crack fix. It was a total assault on my taste buds. Something was different about this Frappuccino. They probably used a ton of cream instead of milk, and there was barely any ice. Even though the Barrista remade it for me, I eventually tossed it out – it was undrinkable. Dubious human rights record aside, if your Baristas can’t make a decent Frappuccino, I’m definitely done with you Dubai…