We Made It!

After 27 hours of travel, we have arrived at the world's tiniest hotel room! Seriously, Brian and I have to move aside to let the other one pass when navigating the room. And we are in twin beds! We booked a queen or king room, but they had none left when we arrived, so we are in twins. Ugh! Oh well, I think I could sleep in a barber chair tonight and not wake up. I am beat.

We had a five hour layover in Atlanta, where luckily, Brian was able to meet Uncle Bill. Things were so crazy getting out of town, that Brian didn't make it to the bank before it closed. Uncle Bill had to go to his bank and get us crisp money and meet us at the Atlanta airport. Brian gave him a check, but thank goodness for Uncle Bill!

This is Brian in the Atlanta airport, trying to get some work done while we wait. Doesn't he look so happy!?

We did not sleep much on the plane from Atlanta to Moscow. I watched three movies, The Other Boelyn Girl, Definitely, Maybe, and Atonement. Don't bother watching Atonement unless you need a reason to kill yourself, it's seriously depressing! I am also about half way through the book Charlie loaned me called Mountains Beyond Mountains. It's great!

We arrived in Moscow around 10:45 AM. We had to transfer to Terminal 1 to catch our domestic flight to St. Petersburg. No biggie, just a different terminal, right? There's a shuttle. WRONG! This is Russia folks, nothing is as easy and straightforward as it would seem. LUCKILY, I had chatted with a girl from Moscow on the plane and she said she would help us hire a car to get us to the other terminal, which was about ten kilometers away. Lucky we had her because she starting haggling with the drivers right away when we walked out. The first guy wanted $100 to take us, she told him what for and said keep walking. So she called her friend, who said she would take us in her car. But then when she was about to put our things in her car, another driver came up and asked our friend, Lena, if we needed a car. This time she negotiated to pay about $20. BIG DIFFERENCE! Anyway, we were blessed to have come back to Russia with enough Rubles to pay the driver, however, when we were evaluating our Ruble situation, she and her friend both started pulling out money to pay him. Talk about a good samaritan. Brian and I said we will have to remember that and pay someone else the kindness if we are ever in that situation in the US. It was very nice of them to help total strangers this way, but luckily we did not need to borrow money because we had enough.

Then we got to the Terminal 1 with our FOUR checked bags and THREE carry ons (people who know us are laughing because we HATE to overpack... boy, did we overpack!) Anyway, we got to the right terminal, but then we had to pay the equivalent of $120 for excess baggage fee. We didn't realize that there standard was different and since we met the 50 pounds per bag limit for international, we never thought about it. Oh well! Live and learn. We were just blessed that we had it to pay, we haven't gotten to exchange money yet, so that was all leftover stuff from last trip.

One funny thing that apparently is also different in Russia is that when we were in the air over St. Petersburg waiting to land, the girl next to me ANSWERED HER CELL PHONE! It rang, she answered, said a few words, and then hung up. Then she proceeded to text about three people while we were landing. That was not a very happy feeling considering how they always say that it MIGHT interfere with the navigational system of the plane. Oh well, we're here and we're safe!

So, I am in serious need of a shower, some food, and a bed! We are exhausted. I want to try to get some good sleep tonight because I know tomorrow will be a crazy day. I hope (and feel certain) we will get to see our M and M in the morning. Also, my friend Natalia is here visiting her parents so I am going to try to connect with her. Maybe we can stay up a little later tomorrow and take in some of the White Nights.

Paka for now!