Arrive at the desk, tag your bag, print your boarding pass, and head through security.

到達服務檯，給行李貼上標籤，列印登機證，然後通過安檢。

Finally, you make it through.

終於，你成功了。

Get the obligatory super-sized chocolate bar in duty-free and then time to find the gate.

在免稅店買了必須的超大巧克力棒，然後就該去找登機口了。

Board the plane and get ready for take-off.

登機，準備起飛。

That's all there is to it.

僅此而已。

It's all very familiar, but behind the scenes, there's a hidden world of complexity.

這一切都很熟悉，但背後卻隱藏著一個複雜的世界。

Take your suitcase.

以你的行李箱為例。

Once you've checked in, your baggage sets out on its own, long and secret journey before eventually joining you on board.

一旦你辦理了登機手續，子的行李就會開始一段漫長而秘密的旅程，然後最終與你一起登機。

Here in Dubai, they handle enormous volumes of luggage.

在杜拜，他們處理大量行李。

In just three hours during the morning rush, they process around 50,000 bags.

在早高峰的短短三個小時內，他們就處理了約 50,000 個行李。

Stacked like this, they'd reach as high as Dubai's Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.

像這樣堆疊起來，它們可以達到世界最高建築迪拜哈利法塔的高度。

Annually, the airport handles a staggering 57 million items. That's equivalent to 1,100 Burj Khalifas.

機場每年處理的物品數量達到驚人的 5700 萬件。這相當於 1,100 座哈利法塔。

And it's all got to be whisked through the airport.

而這一切都必須通過機場。

Every bag must get to the right plane at exactly the right time.

每個包都必須在正確的時間送到正確的飛機上。

To make sure that happens, each individual bag needs one of these: the humble bag tag.

為了確保這一點，每個行李都需要一個這樣的東西：不起眼的行李標籤。

So on your baggage tag, which we've all seen obviously, you've got things like your name.

我們都見過行李牌，上面有你的名字。

And then here we've got the DXB, which is a three-digit code for the airport that you're heading to.

然後是 DXB，這是你要前往的機場的三位數代碼。

But the really important thing is this mysterious 10-digit number along the bottom.

但真正重要的是底部這個神祕的 10 位數字。

This is like your bag's passport number, if you like.

這就像是你的包的護照號碼。

So the digits identify the airline, your particular bag's ID number, and then there's a special message digit which identifies the priority of the bag or any other information they need to know.

這些數字可識別航空公司、你的特定行李的 ID 編號，然後還有一個特殊的資訊數字，可識別行李的優先級或他們需要知道的任何其他資訊。

High priority, low priority, that kind of thing.

高優先級、低優先級，諸如此類。

This code is part of the universal language of aviation, an international system that knows no borders.

該代碼是航空通用語言的一部分，是一個不分國界的國際系統。

And it determines exactly what will happen to your suitcase after check-in.

它還決定著你的行李箱在辦理登機手續後的去向。

25 meters beneath the airport lies a bizarre subterranean world, a sprawling 85-mile high-speed railway network.

機場地下 25 米處有一個奇異的地下世界，一個長達 85 英里的高速鐵路網。

Costing around £500 million to build, this is the world's biggest luggage system.

該系統耗資約 5 億英鎊，是世界上最大的行李系統。

This place is absolutely enormous.

這個地方絕對巨大。

Everywhere you go, there are just miles and miles of these conveyor belts, of these trays that carry the suitcases moving along.

無論你走到哪裡，都有數英里長的傳送帶和托盤在運送行李箱。

It's really weird.

這真的很奇怪。

It's like some kind of post-apocalyptic fairground ride.

這就像是末世後的遊樂場。

But the strange thing is, you don't see any human beings.

但奇怪的是，你看不到任何人類。

It's completely automated.

這是完全自動化的。

It's like the robots have taken over. After check-in, your bag is spat onto a yellow tray.

就像機器人接管了一切。辦理完登機手續後，你的行李會被吐到一個黃色的托盤上。

Each tray has been chipped with a unique ID, and a computer tracks which bag has landed in which tray.

每個托盤上都有一個獨一無二的 ID，電腦會追蹤哪個行李落在哪個托盤上。

So each tray is specific for each bag? - It is, yeah.

所以每個托盤都是給特定的行李箱的？- 是的，沒錯。

So instead of tracking that bag, we track the tray. - You track the tray instead, I see.

所以我們不追蹤那個包，而是追蹤托盤。- 我明白了，你們追蹤的是托盤。

That tray has an ID which allows us to track it 100%.

托盤上有一個 ID，我們可以對其進行 100% 的追蹤。

The human being tasked with keeping an eye over this vast system is baggage manager Graham Pollock.

負責監控這個龐大系統的是行李管理員 Graham Pollock。

What we have around various points in the baggage system are what you see here are some read stations.

我們在行李系統的各個點都有你在這裡看到的是一些讀取站。

This thing here? - This thing here.

這個東西？- 就是這個。

This sensor will pick up the information from the tray.

該傳感器將從托盤中獲取資訊。

So the tray knows where it's going, it will tell this part of the baggage system, and here I am, please send me to this location, and then the baggage system will then divert it to the necessary open point.

所以托盤知道它要去哪裡，它會告訴行李系統「我在這裡，請把我送到這個地方」然後行李系統就會把它轉移到必要的開放點。

The computerized brain of the luggage system plots every inch of your bag's journey to the aircraft.

行李系統的電腦大腦會記錄下你的行李被送上飛機的每一寸軌跡。

If your flight's leaving within an hour, the computer sends your baggage straight to the loading area.

如果你的班機將在一小時內起飛，電腦會將你的行李直接送到裝載區。

But for those of us with better timekeeping, our bags end up here, the early baggage storage system.

不過，對於我們這些時間觀念比較強的人來說，我們的行李最終會放在這裡，也就是提前行李寄存系統。

If you've checked in a little bit too early, what happens is the bags will wait here, and then as soon as it's time for them to make the journey to the aircraft,

如果你辦理登機手續的時間稍微早了一點，行李就會在這裡等待，一旦到了上飛機的時間，

a little red robot shuttle will whizz along here, pick up the tray and put it on the conveyor belt system, and then away it goes.

一個紅色的小機器人穿梭機就會在這裡呼嘯而過，拿起托盤放到傳送帶系統上，然後就走了。

Look, there goes a robot.

看，機器人來了。

The sheer volume of baggage moving through here is breathtaking.

通過這裡的行李數量之多令人歎為觀止。

It simply can't be allowed to fail, so it's monitored constantly from the control room.

它根本不允許出現故障，所以控制室會對其進行持續監控。

There are more people working here than on the entire length of the conveyor system.

在這裡工作的人比整個輸送系統還要多。

Copy the double 86, and 374, you need to clear it fast, please.

在這裡工作的人比整個輸送系統還要多。

If it's taking time, let me know, please.

如果需要時間，請告訴我。

Can you just explain a little bit about how this works?

你能解釋一下這是如何運作的嗎？

Because it looks like a full-on, something you might find in a railway network.

因為它看起來就像一個完整的、在鐵路網中可能找到的東西。

It looks incredibly complicated.

看起來非常複雜。

Basically, you can see right now, red, yellow, and green.

基本上，你現在可以看到，紅、黃、綠。

Green shows the system is normal, basically, the green color.

綠色表示系統正常，基本上就是綠色。

So red shows a fault.

所以，紅色表示故障。

And there's also yellow as well, so what is yellow? - Yellow is basically a queuing, where the bags wait.

還有黃色的，那麼黃色是什麼？- 黃色基本上就是排隊，行李就在那裡等著。

So it's basically like a traffic light.

它基本上就像一個交通信號燈。

Green, good, yellow, I might have a problem.

綠色，可以過；黃色，可能有問題。

Red is like, "Argh!"

紅色就像「啊！」