My brother Leo is my best buddy.

In a few hours from now, he is going to land in Abu Dhabi… for a 7-hour transit to Europe. His choral group, Coro Cantabile, is off to Europe for a concert tour.

For 7 hours, he’ll be roaming around the confines of Abu Dhabi airport while I’ll be at home waiting, imagining him walking on the same land I am on. He can’t get out. I can’t go in.

I miss him so bad and I have a lot of things to show him: my new flat, my flat-screen TV, my bed, my sofa, my automatic washing machine, my first failed-cooked pasta, my jogging park, my garbage disposal… I wanna show him everything!

But I can’t. So near yet so far.

I think Airports need to create a visa-free ”transit lounge” where passengers could meet family and friends during lay-over. They could provide a very tight security as long as people can still breathe. This would be a benevolent initiative.

Brother, bon voyage then! Next time you drop by Abu Dhabi, it should be long enough for me to bore you with all the things I wanna show off.