Travel Nightmare

So here is how it went down for Kelly and me.

At 7:30 am, local Moscow time, on December 25th, we get in a car to go to the airport for a 10:30 flight to Kiev, Ukraine where we would then take a 2:00 pm (local Kiev time) flight to JFK in NYC. At the Moscow airport, I asked why we were not getting a boarding pass for the NY portion of the trip and the rep said we would get it in Kiev. This is not what happened on the flight over. I guess my spidey senses were up already.

At about 11:15 am (local Kiev time 1 hour behind Moscow) we land in Kiev, Ukraine. We quickly find out that there is a problem and that there were people already waiting 24 hours for their flight to NYC, one of whom is Garrett. Trying to speak with the Aerosvit representatives was impossible. They were rude, and always tried to speak to Ukrainians and Russians first. Many would not form a line of any sense and just cut you off when you tried to speak with the reps. Quite rude to be honest.

By about 2 pm (Kiev time), we knew we were in trouble and started trying to find ways to get out of that airport that day no matter the cost. By 3:30 pm, we were trying desperately to get on to either a flight to Amsterdam or Paris and spend the night in either airport to catch a flight to the USA in the morning. Unfortunately, this left us with requiring a rep to escort us past security to buy the tickets because they departed within a couple of hours. The Aerosvit representative were nowhere to be found and pretty much useless in all ways imaginable. Needless to say this did not happen.

So now it is becoming late in the day and we are being told that our plane will leave at midnight. So I go about trying to make certain we will be on that plane when it leaves. This was a chore and it was not until about 9 pm that I am told we will be on that flight when it departs. Of course, it has now been moved back to a 2:00 am (on the 26th) departure. We originally thought this was a second flight rather than the same flight from earlier which was delayed because it was being fixed. I finally get a rep to admit that this is the case, but that we would be on it when it left.

Every time a rep came in to say something, the locals would get in an uproar. At this point, many had been there near two days. One of the passengers punched the rep because he did not like the information the rep was providing. I was walking around at this time but Kelly saw it happen.

At around midnight, we once again decide we have to try and find another way out of this airport. When the flight was pushed back from 2 am to 4 am, it was official. We would find another airline that could get us out of the Ukraine, no matter the cost. There were options but because we were now within four hours of early departures, we could not get tickets on Travelocity, Expedia or Orbitz. So I purchased two tickets on British Airways leaving at 2:00 pm that afternoon (26th). They were more expensive and got us in later than the others we looked at but had no way of getting anything earlier.

Then a woman using my laptop says she got something on Lufthansa's website and may be able to buy them for a 6:50 am flight. It was about 4:20 am at the time. Garrett goes first and actually gets confirmation. I ask Kelly and she says, "do it!!! Get me out of here." So I buy us two tickets and decide I will deal with the British Airways tickets later. We are now scheduled to fly out Kiev at 6:50 am to Munich, Germany. From Munich we will fly to Newark and land at 6:40 pm (local Eastern time).

Again, we have to get a rep to get us through customs. This time we have little problem. The reps during the night were much better and more helpful than those during the day. Some others who have been waiting were already given tickets for later flights out of Kiev and had grabbed their luggage. Garrett, Kelly and I, escorted by the Rep who was punched earlier, head through security and down to get our luggage. I grab a red suitcase that looks like Kelly's before realizing it is not hers. We search for hers but it is not there. Someone else already grabbed it. Probably the person who owned the luggage I grabbed because they were so similar in color. In essence, Kelly's luggage is lost. It included gifts although luckily only a few small ones. It also had all of her clothes and some books we had for Katerina. (We are currently trying to recover it but suspect it will not happen.)

Kelly and I must now get our boarding passes and get back upstairs to the waiting area. With Garrett's help translating at times, we get through passport control and back up to the waiting area about five minutes before boarding time for our flight to Munich. We fly to Munich with no problem although Garrett learns that he must check alcohol because the European Union, nor the USA, will allow it to be carried on to the airplane.

The Munich airport is absolutely the nicest I have ever been in. Although based on our experiences in Kiev, it would not have taken much. It reminds me of Eddie Murphy's bit about even crackers tasting great after not eating for days. We had some great food and then waited for 6 hours until the Newark flight departed at 3:00 pm (local Munich time). While we ate breakfast, I used Garrett's Skype account to contact Travelocity who reimbursesus in full for our British airways tickets. First really good thing to happen in the last day and a half. Kelly reads on her nook, while Garrett and I sleep on chairs. They actually offered cot rentals if you wanted. After the rudeness we encountered in Kiev, the Germans were incredibly nice. Everyone we dealt with, no matter why, was very courteous at the Munich airport.

The flight departs with no problem. A Spaniard is nice enough to switch seats with me so Kelly and I can sit next to each other. The plane was huge and we each got to watch a movie of our choice out of 12 or so. The screens were on the chairs in front of us. My screen was a bit beat but Kelly's had a very good image. I watched 500 days of Summer and then Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. I tried to sleep as much as possible so I could drive a rental car home from Newark. Kelly watched a few movies. An hour outside of Newark, we are told new travel rules in the USA (thanks to the idiot who tried to blow up the plane in Detroit) required all carry ons to be stored in the above containers. We had no problem with it but apparently some people were not happy about it.

The Captain puts on the seat belt sign as we approach Newark because of turbulence from the storm on the East Coast. We break through the cloud and fog and can now see land as we approach the runway. The turbulence is jostling the plane left and right and up and down. At probably 25-50 feet above ground, the plane is still being jostled by the turbulence. It is the worst turbulence I have ever landed in. It was scary and all I wanted to do was be on American land at this point.

Happy to finally get through passport and customs, Kelly and I head to rent a car and figure to be home by about 9 pm. All Five car rental agencies are all sold out of cars. I felt like screaming. How could it get any worse at this point? We end up catching a cab to Grand Central Station to take a train to Bridgeport. Second good thing to happen to us occurs here. We beat the train departure by ten minutes. And it was was nearly a direct (only 2 stops instead of about 12-14) before our stop.

Once in Bridgeport, we take a cab home. We get into our house at 10:30 pm eastern time which was about 47 hours after we left the Hotel in Moscow. Happy to make sure the cats were all well, the fish tanks still standing, and the rabbit still hopping around. We showered and went to bed.

So in a nutshell, It was supposed to be a Moscow to Kieve to JFK and then a van home. It ended up as Moscow to Kiev to Munich to Newark to a cab to Grand Central Station to a train to Bridgeport and then finally a cab home to Monroe, CT. And boy was it great to finally get there.

A story we will some day explain to Katerina to help her understand everything we went through to get her home. I laugh now because there is not much else you can do with such a situation. We have decided we will always buy direct flights to Moscow after this nightmare.