We boarded our Russian plane, Aeroflot. They name each flight after an important Russian figure from literature, science, or the arts. We picked our seats prior to our trip and of course got a window and aisle seat near the wing. I am fascinated by the wings of planes. I don't remember who each of our flights were named after but I liked the idea of it.We settled back in our seats which each had monitors in front of them and giant monitors at the front of the plane. While we were taking off we got to watch just what the plane was seeing as it took off which was pretty awesome. You could sit in your seat and pretend you were flying. Of course take off is not my favorite part of a flight. In fact with each flight I held onto TC's hand so tight he may have felt like if I held any tighter the bones would start cracking. Once we are in flight though I am much better. It is just that moment of take-off. Yikes!
We managed take off though and the 1950s flight attendants came around for drinks. The first leg of our journey was a 9 hour flight to Moscow and then a two hour layover at Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport. I had never been to Moscow. The flight home was going to have an almost 11 hour layover and we had hoped when we were planning our trip that during that layover we would get to explore Moscow. Unfortunately, if you are an American you need a visa to even leave the airport and enter Moscow, even for 10 hours. We did not realize this until a week before our scheduled vacation so that was not possible. It also is a long complicated process and just on principal I probably would not have done that anyway. Luckily the layover once we arrive at Moscow for the first part of our trip was only a little over two hours.
We spent the flight eating airline food which included seared salmon, TC enjoyed the lamb. It was not bad for airline food. It was a lot fancier than I would have thought. I had a glass of terrible white wine to start. The red wine was better but not five star. Overall, the dining and drinking experience was very airline with the small surprise at the attempt of fancier cuisine. My first experience with Aeroflot on such a long, cramped flight was not going to badly. Other than the rude Russian flight attendant who did not appreciate the fact that I did not speak fluent Russian it was still the plane that was taking me to London. TC was braver and tried out some of the Russian words we had been trying to learn for weeks. The same rude attendant was still not appreciative but her co attendant was very nice and smiled with delight at the attempt.
So, what helped us get through a 9 hour flight. There were a few things. One was the map. We were able to track where our plane was flying. It was so exciting to think about the places below us like Canada, Iceland, Finland, etc. Since we left mid afternoon we had a lot of light to see below us for several hours of the trip. Once night fell it got more difficult but seeing the lighted areas surrounded by dark areas was still a sight. It was like looking at a telephone operator's old fashioned 1910 phone board where one side was lit up and one side dark.
A second item was watching all the people. As a writer I am an avid people watcher and here I got such a mix of cultures. The third thing that got us through our flight, and the one that got us through the most on that long trip, was the Walking Dead. I recently discovered the show Walking Dead and have been trying to catch up on it. I love it so much that even though I did not quite finish season three before the trip, I bought the whole fourth season. That was a God send. The monitors in front of us did have movies on them and quite a few movies but nothing beats the allure of zombies.
Towards the end of the 9 hour flight after it had been dark for a while I did start to get sleepy. We were about to land though and sleep was not really possible. TC was not sleepy. When I tried to close my eyes he was excitedly taking pictures of the windmills you could see below us. It is so impressive to know that Finland and Norway have these areas where there are so many of the modern windmills. The funny part is that there is an area in the ocean that seem like a small city of windmills in the ocean. There was so much to see and I was starting to get tired but ready to land in Moscow and then head on to the final flight of our trip and land at Heathrow...London Baby!
We finally landed in Moscow. It was warm, very warm, in the terminal. We found the international transfer area. This is where we had one of the funniest moments of our trip. We were standing in line where a very Russian woman was standing in what looked like a toll booth and would look at your passport and let you pass through to go to the security check. She was an older woman probably in her 50s and had dark brown hair that was a bit curly and big like a 1960s bouffant style. She looked a lot like a middle school lunch lady who glared at you as she scooped out a wad of mashed potatoes and slapped them on your tray. She did not smile and was actually very intimidating. I would not want to fight with her. However, she was the most amusing person too. She would look at everyone's passport and most passing through did not speak Russian. Instead of just saying go ahead and pass through to security she yelled at everyone, "Go! I say Go!" Then waving her hands wildly to dismiss them to pass the gate and get out of her sight. It was so funny watching this I could not help laugh...until it was my turn. Expecting her reaction though I did not give her a chance to yell at me and immediately scuttled my butt out of the gate and toward the security check. I remain unscathed from the Russian wrath of the passport lady.
I did not fare so well at the security check. Security checks in America are large rooms with long lines and intimidating security individuals that pat you down and look through the scanners at your carry-on bag. The security check in Moscow was such a small area with only one scanner. I took my shoes off and my belt and did everything I should. My carry-on was my laptop bag and it got its own bin. I pushed everything through and walked through the scanner. I checked out but the man watching the screen at my bag shook his head, glared at me, and said, "No, do again. Go! Do bag again." In his best Russian English. Oh boy! Once again I was the one getting checked. Once again it all ended well and he finally let me pass once I turned my bag upside down so he could see what was on the other side.
I was just happy to be that much closer to London. A two and a half hour layover and then a four hour flight and we are there. The terminal we were in had narrow lanes full of people making it feel crowded...crowded and hot. It was very warm in the airport and we were already so tired that even my carry-on felt heavy. There are these AC tubes that look like hair curlers throughout the place. The problem is most do not work. We found one though that shot out heavy cool air and we claimed it as our own. We leaned against it in fatigue and just sighed. TC named him Philip. Philip was a God send.
After we cooled off for a bit we did manage to go into one of the small kiosks to look at all the Russian wares like the nesting dolls, magazines, newspapers, and crystal all etched with Russian images. Putin's image was everywhere and there was even a nesting doll of Putin. We had one mission though...water. I picked out two bottles of water that I recognized, Evian. Went to go pay and give my credit card to the old Russian lady at the counter. She was not like the transfer lady though. Oh she was about the same age and had the same curly bouffant hair type only in blond but she smiled. She was so nice but when I went to pay she started speaking in fast Russian to me and I could not understand a word. We were having communication issues. Finally we realized she was recommending the Russian water bottles because they were fewer Rubles than the Evian water. Plus, now we have a memento in Russian.Then it was back to stand by Philip until our flight was going to leave for London. We did not have as long to wait this trip and finally boarded the flight to Heathrow. It was the same type of plane, named after another famous Russian, with the same 1950s style attendants. This time though fatigue was certainly settling in on us. Luckily this flight was only a little over three hours. Once again Walking Dead got us through those hours and there was little excitement on the flight and we made the quick hop over to Heathrow.
We had arrived! My fatigue abated a bit in the adrenaline rush of excitement. Of course that excitement soon faded when I saw the line I would have to wait in for customs. It looked like it was five miles long...it was probably only two miles long. I jest but it was very long. Once we got closer we had to snake back and forth stepping closer and closer. We learned that we could have purchased an attachment to our passport that would have allowed us to use the England/EU line versus the international line. It would have been worth it. There wasn't anyone in the England/EU line. We made it to the customs lady though. She was very sweet and welcoming. She told us of some sights and said it was unfortunate we were only going to be in London for four days. I had hoped she would stamp my passport but instead she just approved us through.
We walked out of customs and the airport and stepped outside and realized...We are in LONDON! The air felt the same but the sight already looked different. The first thing we saw were the cute taxi cabs that looked old fashioned or like bowler hats with wheels. The sounds were different. It was not loud, American voices we were hearing but smooth, clipped British accents. We got into the taxi line where I was asked, "Where are you going love?" Ahhh, I love British people already. The taxi driver pulled up and opened up the front door to put the big red monster in a space next to him. When I told him we were heading to Hotel Regency in Kensington on Queen's Gate Road he replied, "Jolly good. We're off." I couldn't believe what I was hearing, or even saying. "Queen's Gate Road, Kensington."I smiled to myself as we zipped along on what felt like the wrong side of the road in delight. Welcome to London.
To be continued...First day in London - magic, beauty, amazement, and walking, walking, walking.
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