Trying to figure this out..... When I was 11....1982...I flew from NYC to Frankfurt to New Delhi with a 3 hr stop in some Middle Eastern country. All I can recall is that there was a lot of sand and it was hot as hell. I was flying as an unaccompanied minor and was mostly asleep (did not sleep from NYC - Frankfurt - whereever I was) so I dont recall what country I was in. Any ideas? I'm thinking Jordan.
Could have been Abu Dhabi, or Muscat. Just about every place in that area of the world is covered in sand and is very hot. rofl.
Since it was 1982, that limits out a lot of places. Can't be Dubai since Dubai was just an average city. Abu Dhabi was the main city in the UAE at the time. Might not be Jordan because the only major Jordanian airline, Royal Jordanian didn't fly to New Delhi at the time. But I'm not certain of it Can't be countries like Saudi because they'd never let an unaccompanied minor walk around. And a lot of the other smaller countries aren't major stopping points to go into India. I'd venture to say either... Abu Dhabi Muscat (which at the time was more common as a stop over, not anymore) Bahrain Amman (assuming they flew to New Delhi at the time)
Since you mention 1982, I doubt it was Dubai, whose airport didn't have many connecting flights at the time.
That's the only airport I remember where you could see the sand dunes right from the windows of the airport. That airport was literally in the middle of the desert. I'm guessing that's it as well.