A Bizarre Six hours in Iran (Well, the Airport)

Christianne Risman, a 23-year-old British video producer and travel vlogger from Woking in Surrey, started traveling four years ago. Since then, she has backpacked across 25 countries, documenting her experiences on her YouTube channel, Backpacking Bananas. 

Risman spent 18 months in Australia and New Zealand. On her way back home to the UK in January 2017, she ended up in Iran  — but it was not part of her original plan. 

“I wanted the cheapest flight back home to London from Perth, Australia," she said. "I found one for £250 (which is very cheap) —  but it was going to take me 50 hours, stopping in Malaysia, Iran and Greece.”

Risman said she had never considered going to Iran, but she said she looked forward to the experience. Even if it was just in transit, she was sure she’d get some sense of what Iran was like, however brief.

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She knew she’d have to cover her head and had come prepared with a scarf, but was still a little surprised when the airline staff announced it as they flew into Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport. That had never happened on any previous flight she’d been on. “They told us all very strictly that Iran’s dress code required all ladies to cover their hair and body. I could tell some other passengers clearly had no idea this was going to happen, as I watched them frantically digging through their bags to find just anything they could cover up with. One girl wrapped her hair in a bath towel because it was the only thing she could find —  she appeared a bit embarrassed to suddenly be styling herself with bathroom attire.” 

One American woman, Risman said, was wearing a short, low-cut dress “and literally had nothing to cover herself with...she was not popular with airport authorities.”

Once they arrived in the airport, Risman said, the situation became confusing and a little unnerving. “We all piled into this big area and no one actually knew where to go or what to do. Eventually, after about an hour, two members of airport staff came and started collecting the passports of everyone in transit. There were people from various nationalities. As we gave them our passports, we told them where we would to be traveling to, which they wrote down on a scrap of paper. They did not tell us when they were going to be bringing our passports back.”

Risman said she and the other travelers in transit were told to wait in a room. They ended up having to stay there for hours without any explanation. “It was a very confusing experience and a bit worrying as no one ever fully understood what was going on.” She says she did make some friends with some of the other people waiting, including with two other British backpackers. “I guess we bonded over the fact that we were in this very unusual situation together.”

Since all of the other travelers were foreign, she didn’t have much of an opportunity to speak with Iranians beyond the people who took their passports and a few airport staff, who she described as friendly but not able to give her the information she needed. 

Finally, just an hour before her flight was due to leave, Risman’s passport was returned to her. “They brought everyone’s passports out in stages. No one knew why or what was going on. We have no idea where they took our passports or why they were gone for so long.”

Despite having a frustrating time at the airport, Risman says she’d like to visit the country one day. “I would like to explore Iran. I’ve heard it is absolutely beautiful. I am also very intrigued to understand completely different cultures. I want to be able to appreciate everyone’s way of life. I also enjoy challenging myself, putting myself outside of my comfort zone and trying new experiences — I feel like Iran would present a challenge for me.”

But, Risman adds, she would be very hesitant to visit the airport again, and she would certainly do her best to avoid checking in any luggage. “At some point on my journey, my luggage was lost and I never got it back,” she says. “I’m unsure if it was a fault of the airline or Tehran airport but with the suspicious activity that went on there, that’s where I believe the problem was.”