The Flights - An Adventure too

Who said the flights can't be part of the adventure. I don't think I have written much about the flights in my past trip journals, but they can be an adventure in themselves sometimes. Other times sort of ho hum. I fly 4.5 hours to Wash D.C, then 6.5 hours to Amsterdam, then 2.5 hours to St. Petersburg (thats Russia, not Florida....uh oh, wonder where my luggage is going?, hope its not in Florida)

Out of San Diego, since warnings were "get there 3 hours early" I had Phyllis take me there at 5:30 since all the mass transit is asleep at that hour! (She was great sport about it, thanks hon!) Of course, everything went smoothly and I was checked in by 6:00. Either the systems are getting better or I'm getting luckier.

Luck ran out, at least by perception. We get on the plane and pilot says "3 out of 4 of the "labs" aren't working"..Lab is bathroom in flight vernacular. Full plane, one lab, means worse situation than if one engine didn't work. They fix them thank goodness and we are off. Smooth flight to Washington DC. Then I find out that my connecting flight to Amsterdam has been delayed an hour. Our plane is in Philadelphia. Lot of good that will do me!
I'm worried about making my connection to St. Petersburg. My flight to St. P is a like once a week type flight. I ask a Dutch student in waiting area bout the problem. "you'll never make it" oh oh, time to panic. Call travel agent (thanks Shirley P!) for a back up plan. Seems KLM has lots of flights if I miss this one. Then talk to an experienced flight attendent, after we get our new plane lined up. She says "no sweat", but what seat do you have .."40g" ..she says uh oh! way in the back, and laughs...haaaa

So a tiny stressed, but worry about that later, I fly to Amsterdam. I trade my seat to get closr to the door to run when we arrive, and I get seated next to Chris. Chris is a chemical engineer from Holland. He is a chemical weapons inspector for an organization affiliated with the UN. Wow !! does Chris have some stories. He also is an adventurer like me. Told me about his last trip to East Africa, etc. Well we end up yakking all night!! never sleep, but the flight went extremely fast.

Flight attendent, not Dutch student, was right, I had one hour to spare at Amsterdam airport. No sweat.

I take the flight to St petersburg. Its a Russian Jet, no Boeing plane here!!! a 737 clone but about 30 years old. We are bussed out to the tarmac where we walk up the gangplank, in the mist, and board the plane. But all in all, nice plane. Food was great, first class seats were funny..just one clostrophobic row.

Sat next to a Russian woman and her cute, very good two year old baby. She spoke excellent English, so learned abit more about St. Petersburg and the recent collapse of the Soviet Union, what life was like.

After clearing customs, there was my Russian friend and family greeting me at the gate!
You know, its kinda nice to have someone meet you at the gate, specially when its in a strange place. All smiling big. And we did a big Russian-meets-American bear hug.

The airport is south of the city. The Bolotin's live about an hour in the north. So we drove thru the beautiful city of Saint Petersburg on the way. I got my first glimpse. Wow, monuments, palaces, churches. I have a lot to see here. Sveta, Vadim's daughter speaks English very well. She interpreted along the way.

We reached their apartment in about an hour. Nice one room flat on the 7th floor of a large complex off a main street. Tonight a family home cooked meal and good conversation.

Hey, I can't believe it, I'm in Russia !!!!.
Will fill you in more tonight. See the flight can be an adventure too.

Bill
billwilson@pocketmail.com