Trip 2, Day 17

I'm writing this post sitting in the lobby of the Courtyard Marriott where the free Wi-Fi is. I about cried last night when I saw our bed. It still has some Russian nuances, but it is the first time I've been in a place that even hints at screaming American.

Our translator and driver picked us up at our apartment yesterday at 6:00 to head to the airport. It's a good thing we left early because we needed it. Our handy dandy UTAIR airlines couldn't issue Andrei a boarding pass. I'm thinking at this point, "You have got to be kidding me. It took us over 30 minutes and 4 people last time to leave this 3rd world city. Is it all Americans or just us? The ticket lady calls her supervisor. We move out of line. The supervisor comes, looks at our itinerary, and makes a phone call to someone. Five minutes later he and our translator are conversing. Whatever she said isn't working. It appears we will have to go to the ticket window and get this resolved. Doug tells me to stay and watch our luggage which is just sitting on the conveyor belt. Our translator takes Andrei and Doug to the ticket window which basically is a tin booth across the lobby of the airport. This ticket booth does not operate very fast. They are at the window a long time--like 45 minutes long trying to get Andrei a boarding pass. It seems that this airline's computer system won't issue one the way our tickets were purchased. I'm watching Doug wipe the sweat off his forehead. Our translator brings Andrei back to me and says, "Come sit. This is going to take a while." Are you serious? "Yes." In a last ditch effort the lady looks up our itenirary by the number and figures out it is a companion ticket. They don't book it that way with their system. She leaves her post (with others behind Doug and our translator who are needing to pay their excessive baggage fee, but oh well.) She heads up some stairs with our papers in her hands. By now, our flight is boarding. I can't understand a thing that is being said over the intercom, but I know it is our plane that is about to take off. 15 minutes later the lady comes back down the stairs. Thankfully, she is able to put something into the computer, Doug pays $300 rubles, and we had back to the ticket lady to get our boarding passes. Now to navigate the absolutely non English speaking security. Elena can't go past the passport check point, so she is barking out instructions across the way (we're the only ones there). "Put on the blue booties!" "You don't need to pull all that stuff out of your bag!" Not the computer? Too late. "Michile, you go through the metal detector and then come back with Andrei. Doug you get everything into the plastic bins. No, your shoes go in the small one." I think I'm about to have a heart attack. We finally get everything back together, wave by, and head for the bus. It is full. So full that the doors will not close. Everyone sees Doug with our baby and no one offers to get off. I go back in and try to communicate that the bus is full. She doesn't understand. I take her to the window. She finally says, "Wait for 2nd bus." She goes out to get Doug. The full bus takes off and another one falls in line. We get on. We're the only ones on. It does not move. Did we get on the right one? We see some smokers come out. Good. They must be needing a smoke before getting on the bus to join us. They smoke and go back in. Now I'm really getting worried. Does the driver even know we're on here? I start stomping my feet so he knows someone is on the bus. Finally the smokers and the couple who had to pay the excessive baggage fee get on the bus. I'm breathing easier because I know that the excessive baggage couple is on our flight. We're the last ones on our plane, but we're on it. Andrei does really well. He sleeps in the middle seat for several hours. There was no passport control at Vnukonov Airport. I thought that was interesting. Maybe that's where all the trouble makers fly into...