Back in Anapa

I know, it's been a while since I last blogged. I was busy in Seattle, what with wedding preparations and all. I was spending a lot of time with Marcia, too. Thanks to everyone who took me out for lunch or let me stay at their place, it sure is appreciated. I made it back to Russia OK. Long trip, I had to stay at Sheremetyevo for 18 hours. I didn't feel like going into the city with my 120 lbs of luggage and am too cheap to use short term storage at the airport. The second and last flight of the day to Anapa left 50 minutes after my arrival in Moscow, so I had a long wait until the next flight in the morning. I mostly stayed in the cafe lounge on the 4th floor of Sheremetyevo 2. The food at the cafe is fairly cheap and it's quiet and out of the way. Not a bad place, except for the cockroaches in the back corner.

When I checked in for the flight to Anapa I got into an argument with the Aeroflot lady about my luggage. If you're coming from America they're not supposed to charge you for the second bag, but she kept insisting that I had to pay the excess baggage fee. I had bought my Anapa tickets separate from the rest of my tickets, which may have been the problem. After 30 hours of travel I was in a bad mood and really didn't want to pay the ~$120 fee, so I decided to fight it out. The check-in line got all backed up, of course, because there was only one lady serving Anapa. The couple behind me started getting all huffy and then started yelling at me and the Aeroflot lady. The Aeroflot lady ignored them, I made the mistake of trying to explain the situation to them (in Russian). My explanation obviously didn't suit her and she started making fun of me for being an American. Then she turned around and told everyone else in line about the American boy who brought too much stuff and didn't want to pay the fee. Fun. My language skills must be improving, I managed carry on this argument in Russian with the Aeroflot people for almost 20 minutes (with 3 different people). It eventually became clear that they weren't going to let me onto the plane without paying and they had already taken my luggage, so I paid up. Yay. Welcome back to Russia, I guess. Luda picked me up from the airport and even brought me lunch (thanks, Luda!). After almost 40 hours of travel/waiting I was very happy to roll into bed at my place.

BTW, the picture shows what the cafe on the 4th floor of Sheremetyevo 2 looks like at 1 am.

Back in the USA

I made it back to the USA safely. Things went well, except for one minor oversight that turned out to be costly. Somehow, I overlooked that my flight to Frankfurt left from Domodedevo airport and not Sheremetevo airport. I flew into Sheremetevo from Anapa and made the transfer to the international terminal. I was expecting to hunker down at the international terminal for the next 12 hours when I noticed that Lufthansa ticket booth had been closed down. After checking my ticket confirmation and talking to the lady at the airport info desk, I found out that my flight the next morning left from Domodedevo airport and not Sheremetevo airport. Domodedevo is 60 miles from Sheremetevo, on the opposite side of Moscow. I ended up taking a taxi to the other airport, I didn't feel like trying to find my way on the metro and bus during rush our with 60 lbs of luggage. The two hour taxi ride (traffic was good) was pretty expensive. Grrr... Other than that, travel went well. It took about 40 hours, total. Fortunately I got a little sleep at the airport and on the flights in between. The lovely Marcia picked me up in Seattle. After three months apart, it was very good to see her. We got dinner at an Indian/Nepali restaurant in Seattle. I went to bed shortly after dinner and slept for 12 hours. I thought it would feel pretty strange being back in the US (the reverse culture shock thing), but so far so good. The only strange things so far are that people on the street smile and say hello and that drivers don't try to run me over while crossing the street. My brain is still confused as to which time zone it's supposed to be in. I think I'll take a nap, hopefully that will help.