My work-life essentially exists within my laptop and for years I've been super paranoid that I would leave it somewhere and in particular - that I would leave it on a plane. Well, a few weeks back my nightmare came to fruition. I was traveling the Middle East (and my itinerary was not exactly the wisest of choices as I had a period where I traveled by plane to a new country or city every day for 7 days in a row.) I had talks or meetings nearly every day in new places - Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Jeddah, Riyadh, Doha, Amman and Cairo to name a few. I have, it appears at this point, more friends and friend-quaintances in the Middle East than in the USA through my work with the Middle East Leadership Association (MELA). The schedule started to become a bit absurd...

I had forgotten that when you visit a city in the Middle East, being hosted is a big part of the culture. And when I say hosted, it is more like a friendly kidnapping - you are picked up, whisked around, no one will let you spend any money and you are shown all the sites, attractions, and served up all the best foods.

Well, each day for more than 2 weeks I was in a new city where I was hosted by my friends until 1 or 2 am and then I would have to get up at 5 am for my 7 am flight to the new city or country the next day. To say I was exhausted is an understatement. Then... it happened. I was on the flight from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia where I'd been up until 2 am the night before yet again and flying to Jeddah. I slept nearly all the short flight but as we began to descend I got out my laptop to check something. Immediately the flight attendant sternly told me to close it and so I did that stupid thing - I shoved it in the seat back pocket. Moments later I was dead asleep again and only woke up when we got to the gate and I was the last person on the plane being shaken awake by the flight attendant. Embarrassed I grabbed my bags and exited having no memory that my laptop was still in the seat back pocket. 90 mins later in my hotel room, that moment of vertigo began as I realized it was not in my backpack. For a few minutes, I was completely confused, tearing apart my bags convinced I must have put it in the wrong pocket but eventually I remembered and then the paranoia started. I had multiple talks coming up in the coming days… What was I going to do??? Sure the data is in the cloud but where am I going to get a new laptop in a remote part of the world with very little time?

My friends in Jeddah were sanguine, "No one steals here," they said. Sure enough, a few calls from Samia and Raheed to friends confirmed that it HAD been found and was safely in a storage locker in the terminal. My lovely friend Raheed immediately took me to the airport to retrieve it in her giant BMW. However, I was informed, “They only bring items from the terminal here to the gates 2 times a day: once at 2 pm and again at 11 pm, so please return at 2 pm.

Raheed patiently waited for me (and took me to the greatest sushi meal I have ever experienced where Samia joined us - and neither would let me pay (even when I tried to be sneaky) and then returned me to the airport after 2 pm. “Sorry,” I was informed - they had failed to bring the laptop over.

That evening my various hosts in Jeddah then took me around to a cultural and art exhibition and a late-night dinner. A friend of Samia then went to the airport at 11:30 pm where we again informed that it had not made its way to the gate area and to come back at 6 am… My international flight to Doha was at 7:30 am so this made me suitably nervous but what could I do?

We were out hanging out until 1 am and the next morning I was (yet again) back up at 5 am to go to the airport. at 5:30 I grabbed my bags and got into my Uber to JED (the Jeddah International Airport code). Along the way, I did some emails on my phone in the car and then we pulled up in some strange parking lot near 6 am that looked nothing like the very modern Jeddah airport I had landed at the previous day.
I tell the driver that we are in the wrong place, but he says “No, you are just on the other side of the terminal”. He shows me the map, “You walk through to the other side.” It looked close so I said, are you sure? And he says yes. So I get out, he leaves and within a minute I ascertain that I’m at the completely wrong airport 25 minutes away from the new one (remnants of the old north terminal apparently.)
Inside I ask how to get to the other terminal and they suggest a bus “It comes every 30 mins and it takes 30 mins”. I have 90 minutes before an international flight so that’s not going to work. I say I can’t wait. She says, well here’s a taxi man. I ask him how much. He says $100. I say no way. I try to order an Uber - surge pricing of $130 and 12 mins wait. I negotiate to $50 equivalent in Reals with the taxi man. I have to go to the atm to make this happen. I run. I am running out of time.
We walk to his car load up and then pull up to the curb. “We wait now,” he says. I said “Why!?” and he says “One more passenger.” So he is still getting his $100. Ugh. So we wait for a few mins and another frazzled passenger at the wrong airport arrives. He is swift to load and get in.
To his credit, the taxi driver used the apron to speed past the other traffic and honked his way through intersections, picking up nearly 10 mins on the supposed 23 min trip.

I arrived at 6:40. One hour before my 7:40 am international flight and boarding was starting now. But I have to go to baggage services. I talk to the same guy as yesterday. He checks in at the office. “It’s not here. Maybe 1 pm or 2 pm it comes” he says. I explain that this has been the story for the last 24 hours. I suggest that since it is in the terminal that I can go there since I have a boarding pass. They say no - it’s in a secure area.

A manager Aziz appears. He says “Go to your flight. I personally promise to send your laptop on the next Saudia flight to Doha.” I decide to trust him as I have a very important meeting in Doha that afternoon that could lead to a lot of business in the area.

I run full tilt for security, boarding pass ready. 40 mins to go, flight already boarding for 20 mins, doors closing in 10. My boarding pass is rejected when I swipe. It says “wrong airport”. I’m paranoid that maybe the first airport WAS the right one but I look and it says “JED terminal 1 new terminal.” I ask security. They say to return to check in and get a paper boarding pass. I sprint back.

I wait for a little and then I am handed a new boarding pass and she says “They are still boarding - you might make it.” I run back to security, swipe the pass, and again red lights and a warning sound and it says “invalid”. I try to convince them to let me through but of course, they say no, please go back to the ticket counter.

I return, back to the same lady and she says “Too late now” and I said what do I do? And she says, “go buy a new ticket for tomorrow”. “So helpful,” I thought…

I returned to baggage services and let Aziz know I missed my flight but that there was another flight at 11am. Aziz assures me he will have my laptop by 8 to 8:30 am and that I can safely book another flight. I decide I don’t trust the process and decide to wait a bit. An hour later, nothing. Now its 9 am and I’m told “We can’t find anyone to get the cart and go get it” shared with a shrug. My new flight was going to cost me nearly $600 and I was getting close to missing it, as well the important meeting in Doha.

It was at this point my background in Design Thinking kicked in and I thought to myself, “Am I solving the right problem?” Clearly, these men have agency, but not urgency, and my urgency was not their urgency. Time to take a new tack. I went to the convenience store and I bought a series of snacks and drinks - the good stuff. I brought them to the desk. I said, “I know you are all working hard to try and get my laptop to me and I wanted to say thank you.” I can tell you that the energy in that back office changed dramatically. They were very thankful and promised to redouble their energies. 10 minutes later Aziz arrived, proudly with my labeled laptop.

I open it immediately and log in to book the flight to Doha leaving now in just 2 hours. However, in the interim, that next flight had disappeared from both Expedia and the Qatar Airways website. So I ran upstairs and look for the Qatar Airways sales desk. I am told there is no Qatar Airways sales desk, “but there is a travel agent.” I run to the travel agent who is able to find the flight in his system, however when it came time to pay (the 5X more than my original flight on Saudia Airways), my Amex is declined, then my Visa, then my business debit and finally, finally my Capital One debit goes through … whew!

I was in real-time keeping a group of friends in the middle east aware of my progress and told them what happened. I said, “Clearly some force doesn’t want me to leave Jeddah : )”. They responded, “Well you are all set now!” and I said, “Now, now, let’s not get hasty - I still have to check in, get through security, get on the plane, have the plane take off, have the plane land and get through customs…” Lots of LOLs

I then went and checked in for my flight and made my way to customs. No joke my bag is flagged for search and I get patted down. Sorta knew that was coming at that point. I then began the long trek to my gate. The gates are ordered A1 to A50 with gate A50 being about a mile way. Sure enough, I’m gate A50. I sit down to wait as the flight is delayed (shocker) and try to login to the airport wifi. Upon my very first attempt, I get the popup warning, “Failure to login - too many attempts.”

I sent this little fantasy to the group (didn’t really happen) but I wanted to say it: “Me boarding the plane before even heading to my seat, “Um hello, yes ma’am I’ll have a red wine, seat 21C”. Her, “um we are still on Saudi soil so there is no alcohol - and we are not waitresses - we are here for your safety.” Me: “I will feel safe at 10,000 feet with a Cabernet please.”

We finally start boarding 5 minutes late and it’s now pushing the time right up to possibly not making my very important meeting in Doha that afternoon. But we push back from the gate and… sit for one hour. I call ahead and push the meeting back an hour. Finally, we take off, quick flight, land in Doha and … there’s only one passport control kiosk open and the line is very long. I call ahead and push back the meeting again. Sure enough, just when I’m getting my passport stamped, they open 4 other lanes.

My client in Doha was very understanding of the delays and we had a great meeting. However, when I counted there were 22 times where my travel out of Jeddah was thwarted. Clearly, Jeddah did not want me to leave.

I’m afraid to go back : )

1. leaving laptop

2. not realizing until hotel

3. trying to call

4. sailing cancelled (getting shoes)

5. airport - rejected to go baggage - sneak

6. Come back to airport 2pm

7. Calledm not there, return 7pm, call, not there

8. Friend of Samia goes airport 11pm - not there

9. Uber to wrong airport

10. Taxi scam, Uber surge

11. Arrive - laptop not there come back at 1pm (manager says will get)

12. sprint to gate, e-boarding pass rejected (wrong airport)

13. Return to counter, paper ticket - then rejected invalid

14. Return to counter, they say “buy one for tomorrow”

15. Return to baggage claim - they can’t find a driver to bring from the terminal (I buy drinks)

16. Next flight to Doha no longer avail on Qatar and expedia

17. Sprint to travel agent - available, but 3 cards rejected

18. Bags flagged for search

19. Longest farthest away gate A50

20. Try to use free wifi, first login rejected for multiple attempts

21. Flight delayed on runway for 1:15 mins

22. One passport line open with the slowest woman (4 more open as I’m at the end)

My Greatest Fear Finally Happened - That Time I Left My Laptop on a Plane in Saudi Arabia...