Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Pilot Said, “We're Taking this Plane to Tehran”…
and Nobody Was Alarmed
Flying from Istanbul's Atatürk Airport to Tehran's Khomeini Airport, I
thought about other airports my fellow passengers likely used—Reagan and
De Gaulle. h e airports are named after four very dif erent 20th-century
leaders, but each one left an indelible mark on his nation.
h e plane was i lled with well-of Iranian people. h eir features were dif-
ferent from mine, but they dressed and acted just like me. As so often happens
when I travel, I was struck by how people—regardless of the shapes of their
noses—are so similar the world over.
As we all settled into the wide-body
jet, I wished the big decision-makers
of our world weren't shielded from
an opportunity to share an economy
cabin with people like this.
I had made a similar Istanbul-
to-Tehran trip 30 years before. Last
time it took three days on a bus,
and the Shah was on his last legs.
Wandering through Iranian towns
in 1978, I remember riot squads
in the streets and the Shah's por-
trait seeming to hang tenuously
in market stalls. I also remember
being struck by the harsh gap between rich and poor in Tehran. I was 23
years old and confronted with realities that my friends who stayed home
were oblivious to. I believe that was the i rst time in my life I was angered
by economic injustice.
My Istanbul-Tehran trip was quicker this time—three hours rather than
three days. And every main square and street that had been named “Shah”
back then was now named “Khomeini.” On my 1978 visit, all denominations
of paper money had one face on them. In 2008, they still did...but the face
was dif erent.
As the pilot began our descent, rich and elegant Persian women put on
their scarves as routinely as buckling their seatbelts. With all that hair sud-
denly covered, I noticed how striking long hair can be—how it really does
grab a man's attention. Looking out the window into the night, the lights of
Suddenly it occurs to our producer, Simon,
that the plane is fi lled with Iranians…and
everyone has been given a metal knife.
