Posted by Dani in Thursday, February 18, 2010 late morning – Moscow time
In case you are wondering just how long it takes someone to get from their driveway in Greenville, South Carolina to the Crocus Expo Center in Moscow, Russia the answer is 20 extraordinarily long hours. I kept telling myself that it was better than going by boat and land. That might take months and brings with it all sorts of potentially hazardous complications, like hitting an iceberg somewhere off the coast of Iceland, for instance.
So Mike and I started out our journey in our suburban garage, fresh and full of energy. We loaded up our suitcases, laptops, camera, and snacks into the trunk of the Maxima and hit 85-N to Charlotte. I even picked up a Venti Peppermint White Mocha breve along the way. All was good. We were going to Moscow!
In usual fashion, I talked Mike’s ears off with boring groomer chatter during the entire 1 1/2 hour drive to Charlotte Douglas International Airport where he dropped me off at the curb along with all of our travel belongings. While I stood in line at the Delta counter, Mike enjoyed a few blissful minutes of quiet, alone time on his way to the long-term parking lot and subsequent shuttle ride back to the terminal.
Passports, visas, and tickets all in order. Next stop, Chilis Too for a quick bite of lunch before boarding the plane. I have flown enough in the past 2 years to know that the 6 1/2 peanuts they offer as a onboard snack do not satisfy even the smallest of appetites. So we got some real food. A salad. Okay, so whatever, some of you are thinking a salad is not real food. But you have to think ahead in these situations and realize that your only exercise for the next 18 hours or so will consist only of walking five rows back to the airplane bathroom and struggling not to touch anything the whole time you are in there.
Some time later, later than scheduled, we arrived in snow-covered NYC. The scenery from above was beautiful and made me a tad sad that the only part of NYC we were going to experience that day was the inside of the ugly monstrosity known as the John F. Kennedy Airport. But save the tears. This was merely a stop on our way to the final destination: Russia.
Immediately upon boarding the plane it felt as though we were in Russia already. Sure the plane had “Delta” blazed across it’s side, but I think we were about the only Americans on board except for maybe a flight attendant or two. Everywhere around us could be heard the rapid-fire dialect of the Russian language. They really do talk fast. I told Mike that I think the announcements coming over the intercom from a unseen stewardess (oops, flight attendant) hidden somewhere deep in the bowels of the plane was really just a bunch of made-up gibberish. There was no way anyone could talk that fast and make any sense, I told him. I figured the Russians onboard thought she was talking to us and we Americans thought she was speaking to them. I figured out the truth of it all, though, because I am really smart.
These are my words about the flight from JFK to Moscow: long, cramped, uncomfortable, long, exhausting, dry, chapped lips, hunger pains, really long, I hate airplane bathrooms, are we there yet?
Okay so they played 3 movies and then some old sitcom reruns. And I got some work done. And we tried to sleep a little bit. Tried but didn’t exceed.
And then the sun was out in full glory as we flew straight into the sunrise. Flying over the sea north of Ireland was beautiful. Finland was breathtaking from our bird’s eye view. And then we were over Moscow. Snow, snow, snow and everywhere snow. Frozen bodies of water and more snow. Beautiful and foreign all rolled into one.
Just when you think you are THERE you remember you have to go through immigration and customs. It is never a good thing to have long lines of sleep-deprived people all holding heavy bags and wishing they were somewhere else. Fortunately our bags made it too. I have this knack for having lost luggage, so I fully expected this to happen when we arrived in Moscow. This would mean all sorts of inconveniences and issues that I was not equipped to deal with at that particular moment.
