Travel the World for...

The mobility of peoples and goods, and information, has tremendously increased with the advent of modern transportation systems. It can be disrupted, severely in some occassions, as we have witnessed in the past week, but in general a lot more peoples and goods are moving from one place to another, for one purpose or another.
Some travel for businesses, others for holidays, or combine both. Nakamora's travel in the past week was of the latter type. In the process, he got stuck in Dubai, stayed three days in Vienna, and spent the weekend in Prague before due to fly home.
Still others travel the world for medical treatment, hence the term medical tourism; for recreation, hence recreational or sports tourism. Still another class, Nakamora thought, are those who travel, or being made to travel, for a living. A construction worker he met in Dubai mentioned that he has worked in a construction project in Malaysia in Bandar Baru Bangi, in Penang, and in Klang, along with a host of other countries. As he looked up at construction workers next to steel bars, scaffolds, and reinforced concrete columns at construction sites in many cities he wondered how many buildings have that worker be involved in, and in how many places has he travelled. He must have his own views and viewpoints of the city; views that are different from us altogether...

General purpose 'everything'

He is tired, no doubt, sleeping, oblivious to the noise and happenings around him. But what is that he is sleeping on? It is a cart, it is a bed, it is a place to rest, a single item with many uses.
The idea of 'multipurpose' or 'general purpose' equipment perhaps originated from an old practice of maximizing the benefit of an item by diversifying or extending its uses; like what we see in that picture. It saves money, and if we don't have much money we have not much choice but to make do with what we have, and hence the cartbed - a multipurpose cart. It can't be a multipurpose bed. The name after the adjective multipurpose should be the orginal name the item is used for, not the name of items its uses are extended to.
When resources are limited, we tend to be creative.

Someone's Loss...

is someone else's gain. Disruption in air travel due to the Icelandic volcanic ash costs airlines millions of dollars in lost revenue and due to extra operational costs incurred in the logistics of relocating and pacifying stranded passengers. Leaving passengers on their own or just giving them minimal treatments can tarnish image and long-term businesses. In fact, Nakamora opined that, the ability to effectively and efficiently handle situations like this is the hallmark of professionalism and service quality, of airlines or any other ventures.
On the other side of the equation, hotel industry at the city where passengers are stranded records bustling business. Occupancy rates jump. But, this is not the whole story. Would be travellers cancelled their trips, taxi cabs loss passengers going to the airports or to the city, some passengers chose to stay put at the airport, etc. There are losses, but who else gained?

Accidental Tourist

Being thrown into an unpleasant situation can turn out to be a pleasant experience; an opportunity waiting to be exploited. That was what happenend at the start of the weekend as Nakamora travelled to Europe and stranded in Dubai.
Planes were grounded as ashes spewed into the atmosphere by the explosion of Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland drifted into the air. Most airports in Europe, including Flughafen Wien was closed.
Unsettling the wait as it was, staying at a hotel courtesy of the airline gave good opportunity to wander around the city. Doesn't matter the lack or absence of clothing for change and unshaven for three days, moving around Bur Dubai and other places gave a good introduction to the city for future exploration. It feels like an expensive city, especially when the extended stopover was not in the budget.
The temperature was hot, around 33 deg. C, but the air is dry and occassional winds at some parts of the city can be cooling. Cafes with shawarna-based burgers and all kinds of fruit juices with inviting names like "fifty-fifty" and "abadi," which is a combination of two or more fuits with or without icecream on top, are abound. Spending time in one can be a nice eating experience.
Overall, it was an interesting time; but could have been much better if it was planned, Nakamora made his assessment. He hopes to come again, but not due to a stranded flight.