The part where you get off the plane

You get off the plane, and you wind through 3 hallways. You look around and notice that the floor is a bit dirty. You notice that it smells just a little bit. But maybe that's because you're in a "developing country" for the first time. You wonder if it's OK to judge the smell, since it's not really the airport's fault if the country smells bad.

Step. Step. Step.  There's the custom's agent. The passport inspection. Even though you know it's your passport and you're legit, you still wonder if you somehow imagined to be on the interpol list or no-fly list. Maybe the bad guys are going to take you off into the corner, without a phone, who will you call?

Oh. Wait. You've been waived through. There's the luggage, and you look around for other people, to be sure that this is YOUR luggage carrier. Because they might put it in another terminal. You are in another country, after all, things might not be the same here. A woman from 2 rows ahead of you stands at the same place, so you, too, must be in the right place.

Then there's the long, long luggage ramp. It's outside and a little bit dingy. You don't know what comes next. Ahh, there. The signs with the letter of your last name. You wait under them.

These are the things that I imagine Dan will experience, as I did. And then I'll find him there, under the H line.  ahhh, that moment is only 6 hours away.