Kenny and I arrived home at 9:45pm on Sunday evening, July 25, 2010. Our journey from Nizhniy Novgorod was a long one. We actually departed NN by train at 10:45pm (NN time which is eight hours ahead) on Saturday, arriving in Moscow at 6:25am where we were met by our driver, Eli, who took us to the airport. We waited at the airport from 7:20am until 12:45pm when our flight left for Washington, D.C. Our in air flying time was over 10 hours. Due to severe thunderstorms, we circled over Washington for nearly an hour. We landed at 4:25pm EDT, only to go through customs which required about 45 minutes, reclaiming our luggage and checking it again for Harrisburg. We missed our connecting flight to Harrisburg and the later flight was overbooked. So…our saga continues with attempting to get a rental car. After a rental car company told us that they had plenty of cars and picked us up by shuttle at the airport, when we got to the counter, they refused to sell us a one-way car, leaving us stranded. The manager agreed to having someone drive us to a neighboring company where, they, too, would not sell us a one-way rental. Frustrated, we returned to the airport to learn that another individual was getting off the phone with the first company where they had rented her a one-way car. Kenny called them. While I called another company who was delightful! Budget rental car couldn’t have been nicer to us about this situation, rented us a car, and we arrived home around 9:45pm…exhausted. The last 45 minutes home was the longest. I am hoping that when we bring Julianna in a couple of weeks that we can make our connecting flights.
Whew!
Now, we have a few items to put together before Dominic leaves with me next week. The US Embassy paperwork is really the paperwork that we have to complete since Sveta is doing all the Russian stuff. We will also be securing the most important Russian phrases that will ease our communication with Julianna at first.
Pictures and video will follow as soon as we are able. The change in time has me wide awake at 3:00am EDT on Monday morning!
Whew!
Now, we have a few items to put together before Dominic leaves with me next week. The US Embassy paperwork is really the paperwork that we have to complete since Sveta is doing all the Russian stuff. We will also be securing the most important Russian phrases that will ease our communication with Julianna at first.
Pictures and video will follow as soon as we are able. The change in time has me wide awake at 3:00am EDT on Monday morning!