Monday, February 5, 2006

It's about 11am when we touch down in Moscow. There is snow on the ground but not as much as I thought. It's cold so we finally decide to take out our new down jackets.

We were the only international flight landing so we breezed through customs. It is really hard here to look at someone and not smile. They are not a smiling type of country. Oh well. Got through customs and headed over to get our bags. When we checked in back in LAX, the gal at the united counter asked if we wanted to check our bags all the way through. We said sure. After we had done it, we were worried because it had to not only change planes but also airlines. It was too late to do anything about it. As we were standing there looking for our luggage, it became apparent that our bags were not going to be there. My carryon was the only thing there. We had planned for this so we were prepared. We went to the counter and filed out claim to try and find our bags. We left out of there and were to wait for someone to pick us up. We found the guy with our rented cellphone but no one there from the agency. We waited about 10 minutes when a young man walked up to us. Guess us Americans stick out like crazy. He told us we were going to wait for the other couple and they were arriving at 1:30. Steve went off to try and resolve the luggage thing. He found the Delta counter and the woman gave him a number. He called and they only spoke Russian. We decided to wait for the young man to come back so he could help us. His name is Ilya. He arrived awhile later with the other couple. Steve had spoken to her via email. It was finally nice to meet the people. They were John & Cristina Westover. They were 1 of 3 couples that were traveling with us.

We picked up our belongings and headed outside. There, 2 cars took us to the domestic airport to catch our flight to Orenburg. It took us 2 hours to make it there due to traffic. It's worse than the 91 with a SIG alert. Once there, we met the other 2 couples, John & Maggie from Ireland, and Ann & Dave from Rhode Island. Again, I had previously spoken to Ann on the phone before we left. It was nice to have people there that you felt you already knew a bit.

We all walked over to the ticket counter and Ilya purhased all of our tickets. For a 2 hour flight, it cost us $500/person. WOW! We forked it over and since we had so much time to kill, found a place to sit down and eat. By this time it is about 3pm and our flight isn't scheduled to leave until 8:30pm. While eating, our coordinator Andrei walks in. It was very nice to meet him. We had heard some very different opinions on him so we were really unsure. He seems like a nice man.

Once it gets close, we pack up and head toward our gate. Low and behold, it's running late. It's now going to leave at 9:30pm. This is the never ending travel day, My hair is now stuck to my head and I am feeling rather gross and sticky.

The time finally arrives to board. We have to go outside, get in a bus and it will take us to the airplane. It's cold and windy outside so we bundle up.



Steve getting on the bus!



Getting on the plane!


We board the plane for our 2 hour flight. It was really uneventful. We all sort of slept a bit. Once we land, we walk down some stairs off the plane and the coordinator and ilya take us to 4 waiting cars. We are told to wait there until the bags come. They then come and get the guys and tell them to come but tell us woman, "woman stay, men, get bags!" It is now 2am. It's about a 20 minute drive to the Orenburg hotel. We are all ready to sleep in some type of a bed. We pull up and it looks pretty decent. They get us all checked in and tell us that we need to be in the lobby ready to go by 8am. It's going to be a short night.

Steve and I go upstairs and get settled. He takes a shower and I have to wash my only pair of underware in the sick and hang it to dry. Thank you very much REI and my clotheline that I brought. I rinse off and we both fall into bed. Tomorrow, will be a very interesting day.