Day 1.

Outside Terminal 2 at Dubai International Airport to catch my flight to Baghdad. It was my first visit in 11 months to this part of DXB since my trip to Bangladesh the previous February.


I had initially looked at visiting Iraq back in 2014, but with the rise of ISIS and resulting instability, I instead had to opt for only visiting the more stable northern part of the country of Iraqi Kurdistan instead.

In 2017 I spotted a trip being organised on a travel forum I belong to. After exchanging a few emails, I wired through my deposit to confirm my place on a 7 day trip from Baghdad to Basra.

For my flight from Dubai to Baghdad I opted to fly on Iraqi Airways (IA), booked directly on their website.

While economy was $190 one-way, business class (although marketed as 'First') was only $290 so I decided to opt to fly in the front of the plane.

For the return flight from Basra to Dubai, Iraqi Airways (IA) unfortunately only flies three times a week and not on the day I needed. Both Emirates (EK) and Flydubai (FZ) also fly this route, but the prices were quite high for a less than 2 hour flight in economy ($700 on EK and $380 on FZ).

Royal Jordanian (RJ) had flights from Basra to Amman and onto Dubai for a reasonable $290 so I opted for this despite the longer travel time.



After waiting for my bag at security, I looked over the shoulder of the guard reviewing the monitor at the X-ray machine and saw my bag on the screen, except with what looked like a large revolver inside it! The security guard quickly pressed a button and the 'revolver' quickly flashed and then disappeared. I figured it was some kind of test to make sure that security personnel were vigilantly reviewing the X-ray machine monitor.

I then headed to the Marhaba lounge for a quick bite to eat. Although I normally have access through my HSBC credit card but was in the lounge today as part of my Iraqi Airways First class booking.


Waiting for the boarding call for the flight to Baghdad. It felt a little ironic with a 'First class' boarding pass in the budget Terminal 2 at Dubai Airport.


Boarding the IA 737-800 after a short bus ride from Terminal 2. The plane (YI-ASW) had been delivered the previous August and was only 4.5 months old.


And window seat, 3A. My seatmate was an Iraqi-Canadian living in Dubai and travelling to Baghdad for business. He was very intrigued when I told him that I was going to Iraq as a tourist.