After getting up at Oh-dark-thirty, I got a cab to Dubai airport to check in my early morning flight to Kabul. I was flying on Ariana Afghan airlines, which mean't having to go the very spartan Terminal 2 way over on the other side of Dubai airport.


Boarding for the 5am flight to Kabul in Dubai. Ariana Airlines is the state-owned national airline of Afghanistan, and was founded back in 1955. During the Taliban era in Afghanistan, Osama Bin Laden took over the airline, using it to ferry Islamic militants, arms, cash and opium through the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan. It lost its entire fleet during US bombing raids on Kabul airport during Operation 'Enduring Freedom' after 9/11. The airline has been gradually built back up, flying to neighbouring countries but is still banned from flying to the EU.


Only a 2.5 hour but a half-decent breakfast.