So I got back to the States at around 2 am on the 25th (well, 26th I guess). The original plan was to leave the dorm in Moscow at around 8:00 am, head to the SVO airport, leave at 12:05, get to New York at around 2:00ish (yeah, really fast plane - like 5600 miles in around 2 hours), leave New York at around 4:30, and finally get back to the Sunshine State at around 7:30ish.
Things did not go according to plan, to say the least.
I woke up at around 7 am Moscow time, got dressed, put my computer away and got my luggage all together. The other two people leaving and I got downstairs and such without incident (though we had to give back our electronic passes, so my idea to come back in 30 years and infiltrate the university was thwarted.
We set off for the airport and got there without much trouble - it only took about 45 minutes.
Nathan and I decided to go ahead and get something to eat at the TGI Fridays in the airport since we were both on the same flight and we had about 3 hours to kill. I guess he didn't realize what time it was because he decided to start the morning off with a half-liter of Heineken. Once they brought it out, he wondered aloud why in the world he did that, but drank some so the whole situation didn't look awkward.
After we ate we headed to our gate and started to wait. I guess we because of those bombings a few weeks back, security was ramped up. I think there were three different significant security checkpoints. Unfortunately, the soviet lighter I was bringing as a gift was found and thrown out (I don't know why I thought it would be ok to bring that in my carry-on). And so we started waiting. This is where things started to get irritating.
We got our new boarding passes (our guy at the baggage check place didn't know what the hell he was doing). Since this flight was getting delayed, I was worried that I wouldn't make my connection in New York (I was only going to have an hour and a half layover), and I guess Delta agreed, since my second boarding pass now had a departure time of 8:00 pm. Yep...so not only was my first flight going to leave an hour late, but my layover in NYC went from an hour and change to 4 hours. Great.
So we eventually board and head across the world. Actually, this time around, the flight wasn't nearly as bad as the first time.
We arrived and got our baggage. It was surreal being able to make small talk again with guards and stuff. Good people, dem New Yokas.
Anyway, we went to eat some pizza and then recharge our computers. I bought a copy of ESPN the magazine and we started to wait. Nathan headed to his gate at around 7:20, so we said our goodbyes. And I waited. And waited. They began boarding at around 8:20-30, but that sure as hell didn't mean we were leaving at 9ish. OH NO IT MOST CERTAINLY DIDN'T.
I managed to get some sleep despite a screaming baby - about an hour's worth. I wake up...and we're still sitting there. We didn't actually take off until like...11:00. I kid you not. This is why I didn't get back until the wee hours of the morning. So what should have been me arriving at 7:30 to have dinner with the family turned out to be me being up for 26 hours, with bloodshot eyes and no dinner. Fun stuff.
It's good to be back.
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