‘My eldest mouthed to me ‘stop them’: Nikki Osborne’s ‘horror’ overseas experience with her kids’

I was in absolute shock. My fellow passengers stared in disbelief. My kids froze, sheer horror on their faces. This is Nikki Osborne’s real-life airport nightmare. 

Nikki Osborne says her family is still traumatised by the experience in Dubai. Picture: Mark Cranitch.

Today this article has a slightly different tone to my usual comedic insights because I’ve just had a travel experience which, to be honest, was far from funny.

I’ve just spent some time living and travelling abroad. While Europe is a glorious place to visit, I realised not far into our journey that Australia truly is a utopia and we are incredibly lucky to live on our safe, paradise island.

This became particularly significant when the ensuing events in Gaza instigated some civil unrest in France.

One day as we were driving to drop off a dog we’d rescued (that’s another story) our neighbouring town was cordoned off by a police blockade as they stopped and searched vehicles. Now I know the French love a good riot, but this felt different. Tensions were escalating.

It was time to go home to the country where the main news story at the time was a guy who used jiu-jitsu on a dog- thieving kangaroo. I made a quick call to Flight Centre and said, “Get me and my boys back to roo country, STAT.”

A few days later, we left. We had two big flights, the first 6.5 hours, then a two-hour layover in Dubai airport, before our final 14-hour flight to Australia. I’m sure you can imagine the scene, I’m a bit frazzled, my two boys were exhausted but looking forward to getting home.

While transiting through Dubai airport, we proceeded through airside security and headed towards our gate. They checked our boarding passes and passports, we travelled to yet another checkpoint. I handed security our three boarding passes and passports and instead of handing them all back to me, to my bewilderment, he identified and pointed to my two young boys, gave them their corresponding papers, then said to me, “Lady, you go through the gate to board your plane. Boys, you come with me.” What?! Hang on, what?!

My kids stared at me in visceral panic. I was about to be separated from my children and had been ordered to leave them behind to board the plane. My boys’ eyes widened in stunned silence.

I was in absolute shock, I looked around at my fellow passengers. For reassurance, for anything. They stared in disbelief. My kids froze, sheer horror on their faces.

They repeated firmly to them again, “You boys come with me for a random security check.” I went into mama bear mode and said, “Neeeeooooo, they stay with me or I come with them.” He insisted, “No, you go through the gate.”

At this point my youngest, who has special needs, burst out crying and my eldest mouthed to me, “Stop them”. The woman next to me said, “It feels like they’re trying to steal your kids,” which in that moment is exactly how it felt.

It’s 2.30am, in a foreign country, they have my boys, they have their passports, what do I have to stop them? We’ve seen the movies. We know that when it comes to foreign travel, things can turn on a dime.

As they led my kids away from me, leading them somewhere I couldn’t follow, I said “f--k this for a joke” and marched behind them. My vague protest was ignored.

What followed was an explosives test that my children were subjected to without me present. They’d brought other passengers. But they were adults.

Who in their right mind thinks it’s OK to separate young children from their mother? My youngest cried the entire 14-hour flight home. He’s still processing what happened. Needless to say, when we went through Australian security I almost hugged the woman when she joked about the kids smuggling an apple into the country.

Now home, my youngest, for comfort, took to the dog’s bed to sleep and says he’s never flying again.

What happened at that checkpoint was disturbing, and what Australians would call “bang out of order”.

To those of you travelling to Dubai, I hope this doesn’t happen to you.