The last two days getting up to the point of departure were a nightmare. Nothing was working. No one was cooperating. Yet Lena was waiting, and in her own way I hoped she was preparing. Once my ex (yep, my ex) dropped me off at the ATL airport I said goodbye to all of my stateside troubles and didn't care about a thing as my mind evaporated into the long time mental fantasy of russian street signs, russian people, and Elena, exactly half-way around the world from where I was now. When I boarded the Aeroflot A310 at Dulles Airport, it was as if I stepped into a different world. A real dream. There before me, were beautiful... and I mean BEAUTIFUL stewardesses dressed in red, with black lapels... in short DRESSES! Wow. I wasn't so amazed at their beauty as I was at the fact that I was actually here on this plane reading russian placards and exit signs. There were these guys dressed in black uniforms... Aeroflot stewards? Whoa. They stand at attention in the aisles like Marines guarding an embassy.
What happened to this level of professionalism in the USA? At least for appearances sake?
For the first time in years, I had a smile so big on my face that I had to hide it....
Sit down in my assigned seat, which just happens to be the first seat on the left side just behind business class, which means no passengers in front of me, (oh yeah!), but the punch line is that this very beautiful russian girl who had immigrated to the US with her mother 13 years ago had a 10 month old baby in the window seat next to me. Masha came to America with her mother when she was 12, had gotten married a couple of years ago to a guy from California. She was definitely a "girl next door". Wonderful voice, more like a combo Russian/English/Valley girl thing... wow.... anyway, enroute to see her family for a month in Moscow, there was no way around it, that I was going to be stuck with this baby for the entire flight. (btw, we had a stop at JFK, and it still totally sux).
Initially, I wasn't very happy with it... but (dam I'm too nice sometimes I think) I stowed my whatever where it belonged and dealt with it. This baby, spent a LOT of time with me instead of his mom and he seemed to be quite entertained. (When you're a full time parent with an infant, you can sometimes loose sight of what a kid like this is actually complaining about, which in his case was he wanted to be boss and demanded attention - his way - not mom's). Needless to say, Masha and I became good friends quickly and said our goodbyes in Moscow after passport control.... besides that, the rest of the passengers up front loved me for letting them sleep by keeping this kid quiet. (somebody give me another sword to fall on).
Fast Foward to Sheremetyevo Airport. We get off the plane, and Masha knows EXACTLY what to do. Man she's good. Wham, we're right there in the front of the line at passport control, and the whole freakin plane is piling up behind us, along with a couple of others it seems. Fill out my customs form, exit into the main terminal, and say goodbye to Masha. She disappears after ensuring that I'm Ok and won't have a problem with getting to Sheremetyevo 1.
I met a guy at Dulles that was going to Novosibirsk, and we hooked up after the flight. He bypassed all of the taxi drivers and went to a rental car agent and got him to take us, along with this dude's complete house that he brought with him, to terminal 1. This is where it finally made sense to me. Sheremetyevo is just one stupid airport with a new and old terminal. The new terminal is where we come in, the old terminal, #1, is where I depart for points beyond Moscow, and located across the runway. What a bunch of crap cause all this time I've been over-thinking this thing and not paying attention to the words written on this simple subject.
Continued...
