"For whom the bell rings" a Tehran Travel Page by CliffClaven

Tehran was a fascinating experience. Until the telephone call in the middle of the night announcing a death in the family.

The girl in the Emirates office the next morning acted with sympathy, efficiency and speed as she rewrote old Cliffie's ticket without hesitation and without charge to ensure that he was on the next flight from Tehran to Dubai, with an immediate connection to Europe. Little more than 24 hours later, old Cliffie was trying to contain his own grief as he consoled deeply stricken relatives.

Will he ever return to Tehran? Probably not. It's hard to erase the memory of the insistent ringing in the night, the fumbled reach for the receiver and the stark news of death crackling down the line from thousands of miles away.