Airport Security

We planned a nice dinner out before our flights to Dubai, but the food did not agree with blogger14. By the time we got to the modern but grim Frankfurt airport, nothing seemed more appealing than some fresh air. The lady at the information desk told us that the only way to get "fresh air" was to go through passport control. I swear, she used air quotes. It's like she was too polite to flat out warn us against the dangers of breathing Germany's polluted air, but still wanted to teach us the advantages of mechanically filtered and ventilated air.

Passport control was a breeze, but then we got stuck in this purgatory-esque room. For some reason, no one was allowed to go out into the pre-security terminal area, yet we had to go through an extremely long x-ray line to return to the gates. People moved back and forth between the two options, getting nowhere, while the room filled up with more unknowing travelers coming through passport control. Some uniformed personnel came through and were accosted by people who wanted to know if we would ever in our life see the outside of the room again. It looks big here, but trust me, it was not a fun place to be with a thousand other people in it.



Plus, doesn't it look more like a danky subway station than Europe's busiest airport?

After we were finally let out of the room, we wandered about looking for a bench outside. We were dressed for balmy Dubai, so I couldn't last too long out in the cold. We ended up going in and out of the terminal every few minutes to both get fresh air and stay warm. Not the most dignified way to spend our 4 hours of transit time, but look what we found!



That's right. An adult novelty store by the baggage claim. You know a country is progressive when the airport has facilities to meet all your needs.