Day 294 - Travel Preparations

In 1996, Alex and I were looking forward to moving to Abu Dhabi for three years. I would be the administrative officer (the title management officer didn't start being used until later), I had worked with the Deputy Chief of Mission twice before and respected him very much, I knew the ambassador and looked forward to working with him, and Alex had a job in his field lined up through the efforts of a good friend and colleague from Doha who had moved to Abu Dhabi a year before. We thought everything was set. We would leave in August so we could attend my 30^th class reunion. I had missed my 10^th (I was in Iran) and my 20^th (I was in Germany) so attending my 30^th was important. And somehow I convinced Alex to come with me, even though he had no idea what a high school reunion was about. Those Brits rarely leave home so they have no need for reunions.

Khobar Towers Building #131 after the blast in June 1996

Then, in June, suicide car bombers attacked Khobar Towers in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, just down the road from Abu Dhabi. We realized then that we needed to have wills drawn up, and we didn't have a lot of time. Fortunately, I inherited my dad's organizational and archiving genes. The lawyer we contacted provided us with a worksheet that he recommended we fill out ahead of our meeting. I did. Apparently not many of his clients get around to that before the first meeting. With the completed worksheet in hand, he had only a few more questions before he produced our wills.

Because England is about half way between Washington and Abu Dhabi, we made travel arrangements for Alex to spend two weeks in England with his family ahead of my leaving. But because of  government-funded travel regulations, it was cheaper for us to have Alex fly to England and back on a charter flight, and then leave for Abu Dhabi from Washington with me the following day. It would have cost us more than twice the charter flight for him to interrupt the city-pair ticket to allow the stop. It was going to mean twice as much time in the air just to get back to where he started, but the alternative was Alex not seeing his family for another year. So we stuck with the plan and Alex flew to England just after we returned from the reunion in Minnesota.

Image of reconstruction of TWA flight 800 July 1996

Then, on July 17, 1996, Trans World Airlines Flight 800 exploded 12 minutes after takeoff and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York. There were rumors of something sinister that caused the crash, but that wasn't what was important to us. We believed the cause was mechanical failure, and that was enough for Alex to decide he wanted to skip that extra round trip between England and the U.S. and just meet me in London for the rest of the trip. He had his ticket from Washington to Abu Dhabi with him, so he checked out whether he could skip the Washington to London segment. Everywhere he went, he was told to go somewhere else. He even traveled to London to go into the American Airlines office. No one could guarantee him he would be allowed to get on the plane in London. So he called and asked me to get my orders amended.

He really had no idea why that was impossible. It meant getting many people, each of whom had the power to say "no," to agree that changing my orders would be to the benefit of the government. Explaining that it would cost the government less wasn't persuasive. Explaining that he was already in England wasn't persuasive. Explaining that he was in England to see his father who had been diagnosed with liver cancer wasn't persuasive. All those explanations fell under the description of "for the convenience of the traveler." And orders are never amended for the convenience of the traveler (unless the traveler is very, very important, that is).

During my final week in the U.S., there was an explosion in Atlanta, Georgia, during the Olympics. Things were beginning to look grim. But in early August, I left Washington for Abu Dhabi, with a stop in London on the way. I didn't know if Alex would be there. He was. Things started looking up.

We expected that having lived in Doha before our move to Abu Dhabi would mean we wouldn't be surprised by much. But Abu Dhabi had plenty to teach us.