The Innocent Criminal

It's been a few weeks after we got back from our month-long vacation. Of course, friends have asked how our holiday went, but the question is just not that simple to answer.

The trip to London and Euro Disneyland was fantastic. The stay in Sweden was sweet and fulfilling(especially our tummies). But there was a horrible part and it occurred during our transit.

Our luggages were lost for four days on our way back to the UAE. When they returned, one of the bags was in badly ripped condition. It was very unpleasant to have the bags gone missing. Yet, it was not at all as bad as the beginning of our vacation when we discovered that Mikael was blacklisted as a criminal in UAE.

It was the10th of July, we were going through the passport control in Dubai Airport. We were giggling and excited about our holiday for one moment and the next moment, the customs officer hit the alarm button and Mikael was arrested.  A few more officers came and took all of us to another counter and one told Mikael that he could not leave the country. No reason was ungiven, it was his record in the computer saying that he was a criminal and must be immediately captured on spot.

It was not a bit obscure for Mikael to ask the officers WHY, WHY and WHY? But all he got was the answer, "we don't know because the system doesn't show," from the officer, "you just can't fly because you are on the blacklist." Rage was rising in high speed within me, a loud voice came out of my mouth and straight to the officers who were standing around me. I was filling up their ears full. It's ridiculous. We are catching our flight. You can't just arrest anyone without a reason.

In the ultra-modern and flashy airport of Dubai, Mikael and I went into disbelief as no one could give us any further explanation other than showing a piece of computer printout listed the names of all other blacklisted criminals, and one was the full name of Mikael. They told me that the kids and I were free to leave, but Mikael was not.

I looked at Mikael's phone while he was rolling up and down the phone book to find someone who can help us, I nearly fainted. One thin and tiny block of battery is left on the phone.

Another man came to lead us away from the counter, we followed him and walked a long way. Gemma was asking many questions and I didn't know if I answered. Mikael was still in the thinking mode and was trying to understand the situation. The officers told us to give them our boarding passes and passports earlier, but I refused. I was holding on tightly of our paperwork in front of my chest and really was fear of the unknown.

A lot of things that have happened during our stay in UAE might not make sense to people who have come from the outside.  In the past two years, Mikael was in trouble with the police because he was the person in charge when the hotel was targeted by local law enforcement. It's probably risky for me to write about this so I am not going to say too much. Let's just say that like the type of parents who spoil their children to no limit, and even when the children do wrong, they find others to blame. Meanwhile, their precious children are always right and can get away with anything. Supposedly, since I am a mom myself, I do understand the thoughts behind, but still...

What happened next was really blah blah blah. We were arguing to the officers and policemen about the huge mistake they were making. Ten minutes before boarding, we were still arguing. At some point, they were very irritated with me and my questions. They told Mikael to "control his wife."  Finally, Mikael got hold of somebody from work on the phone to talk to the officers.

I heard an officer was calling for female police assistance. I understood that they want me to disappear(I was only protesting way too much.)   I quickly announced that I would take the children and get on our flight. It was only five minutes left to the take-off time, and we needed to run fast. I put Mikael's paper and boarding pass in his pockets and reminded him not to giveaway to the officers(you never know about him...)  Now Gemma got very sad and was asking the men to let her daddy come to our airplane.

The signage in the Dubai airport is very well-designed and helpful but the personals/staff are just the opposite. We were treated cruelly by one airport security personal. I needed help to point me to the gate, he said that he only help humans. Who hired this guy?

We got to the gate just a minute before the take-off, I had never run as fast. It was absolutely difficult to go through the baggage screen with a crying four years old girl and a heavy-duty 8 months old boy (and with all the baby bags and stroller.) A big reminder to myself was never to judge the people who were late to the plane. You never know what had just happened.

The air attendances told us that they had given our seats away and tried to put the fault on our late boarding. We stood on the aisle like a public target while our seating problem was being sorted. The flight had to take off so they put us in the business class for the time being. A female flight attendance put her hand on my knee to make sure that I fully understood the business class seatings were only for the take-off. I shouldn't be surprised once they had to seat us back in the economic section. Gemma kept asking for Mikael, I finally couldn't hold my cool so I told the flight attendance what just happened. 

Once the plane was in the air, another attendance came to find out what happened to us. He was very soft-spoken and empathetic. He wanted us to stay in the business class and finally, we were treated like human beings.

During the flight, I texted Mikael for an update via the airplane phone. A few more hours after, I actually got a reply that he had come clean. The police in Al Ain had provided evidence that Mikael was innocent. There was a system error on the computer from Dubai's side.  Gemma so was happy when she learned that daddy was fine and on next flight to us.

Oskar was not quiet for a moment throughout the 7 hours flight. I was so disliked by the passengers in the business class. They thought that they had paid a significant amount to avoid sitting to people like us?


London album @ Helen's place

EuroDisney and Paris City

Sweden with families & friends

Other notesBest places visited - Golders Hill Park(UK), Disneyland(FR), Musée du Louvre(FR) , Granna(SW)

Best moments - friends reunion w/ Helen & Sandra's families and met their new additions for the first time. Oskar's baptism and after party. Grandmom Lola's place and hong out with Linda & Josefin's families. Ranch Lundberg and crayfish fest. Joakim's beautiful lakeside house & bada.

First time experience - Disneyland. Musée du Louvre. Eating reindeer meat.

Worse experience - Dubai departure. Wembly Park Hotel.