traveling and moving: chicago to frankfurt to kyiv to moscow

My flight from Indianapolis to Chicago left on time, and arrived on time. I took an uber to Kelley's house, then relaxed. By relax I mean I spent the rest of the day on the couch. The only time I moved was to bake a really really yummy blueberry pie Kelley had in the freezer for me.

I even slept on the couch that evening, hee hee.

The next day I stayed on the couch for a bunch of hours. It was really nice to relax and not do anything in particular. I made sure to eat, and watch TV I wouldn't be seeing once I left the States. Of course the food included more slices of the blueberry pie, drowned in whip cream.

Since Kelley and Jon were on a diet that did not allow for carbs, I felt it was my duty to eat the entire pie, so they had no temptations once I left.

I walked to the post office to mail some of the envelopes of post cards I hadn't handed out during the summer. I'm not sure the postal clerks believed me when I said the envelopes had only postcards inside. I've never met anyone who buys, writes, and sends postcards like I do.

That night, I slept again on the couch, after eating more pie.

Is it bad to eat pie for more than one meal in a row? I had the last slice for breakfast the next morning, after sleeping on the couch again.

Eventually I managed to get moving, then walked again to the post office with the last of my envelopes of post cards. The postal clerks from the day before remembered me, and were surprised again, since I had more to send. It's a habit that costs me more money than I should spend, but I know how much I love receiving real mail, so I want to do that for other folks.

That night Kelley and Jon and I went out to a nice dinner at a chain restaurant called Beni Hana. They cook food on a flat top in the middle of the table with customers sitting all around. It's part show, part meal. Good food, great company.

After dinner we stopped by Walmart so I could stock up on a few things I knew I'd want after leaving the States. I might have bought 2kgs of mini Reese's Cups. Soooo good, and soooo unnecessary. Swiss Rolls might have ended up in my basket too. It's a good thing my pack was only so big...

The next morning I finished packing, shoving everything in to make it fit. Kelley drove me to the airport, I arrived in plenty of time to check in.

I was able to get my bag checked all the way to Kyiv, even though that wasn't the normal policy of the airlines; this is because I had a really long layover in Frankfurt.

I landed in Frankfurt early the next morning, after connecting in Atlanta. Since I knew I had all day, I stayed in the airport for a while, relaxing and using the airport wifi to keep in touch with the world.

Eventually I took public transport into the city center, so I could walk around and see a new place. It was only a day layover, but a few hours is better than no hours. I also thought that keeping moving during daytime hours would help me get onto European time faster than just laying around all day.

The s-bahn ride into the city was fast (only 20 minutes or so,) and easy. I'd downloaded maps while on wifi, so I had a clue where to go once I landed at the train station. Since I had just a few hours to explore, I figured I would walk along the water, toward the old school city center.

The walk was nice, part of it took me through a local festival taking place along the riverbanks. I went over part of the bridge, and got to watch the end of a canoeing race, which was fun.

From there I continued walking, all the way to the old city center. The contrast of the old area with the new area was quite startling. Think modern, geometric buildings across the street from stately, grand, classical old buildings.

I wandered through a couple churches, neither of them very big. I watched people everywhere I went, as there were heaps of people out enjoying the festival and the good weather.

I saw the platz in the middle of everything, which is quite picturesque. The photographer side of me wanted a photo without people, but that definitely wasn't going to happen; not even with the patience I've gained while waiting for the exact photo I want. The sides of the platz were filled with tables for cafes, they were mostly filled.

I walked through a part of city call, making note of the skylight in the ceiling. That passageway took me to another church. I was only able to go in the entryway of the church without paying, and since I didn't have euros on me I didn't/couldn't buy a ticket. Oh well.

When I got back to the train station I bought ice creams and water and juice. Of course it was too much to eat at once, but since I was super thirsty and hungry my eyes were way bigger than my belly. The next s-bahn to the airport came quickly, it was a lot more crowded on the way to the airport than when going into the city.

I waited at the airport for a few hours, made even longer when we boarded late. Not too long after we boarded, there was an announcement made that said we wouldn't be able to fly since there is a curfew at the airport and we were too late. In other words, we all had to deboard. Sigh.

It was supremely frustrating when I realized we had boarded at 2230, and the curfew was at 2300. No flights are allowed to take off after 2300. In what world did they think there was even a chance of everyone boarding and getting settled and taking off within 30 minutes? Argh.

I was lucky that my passport allows me entry into the country of Germany without a special visa, as it allowed me to deboard, go through the airport, pick up my voucher from the Lufthansa desk, and check into the hotel across the street from the airport. People who didn't have the ability to cross through borders like I do had to stay the night in the airport.

Anywho, I got to the airport and checked in (at nearly midnight,) then ran down to the special buffet room they had set up for all of us. I ate as fast as possible, then went back to my room to try to sleep. Since I was still on time zones from the States it didn't really work.

My alarm went off waaay too early, and I raced back down to the food room to grab a bit of breakfast, then race back to the airport. Fortunately, that flight took off on time.

When I arrived in Kyiv I discovered my bag had not made the journey with me. In other words the effort of checking the bag all the way through back in Chicago ended up costing me waaaay too much time and trouble. ARGH.

To make it even better, the guy at the luggage counter told me the bag wouldn't come until the next afternoon or evening, which was awful timing for me. My flight out of Kyiv departed the next day, in early evening. In other words, I couldn't wait that long.

I ended up having to take a taxi back to the airport early the next morning, to pick up the bag. Then race home again, pack up my entire life in just a few hours, and take it all to the post office.

My taxi driver in Kyiv was awesome, as he helped me fill out all the forms needed (in triplicate!!) to mail all my stuff to Russia. Then he drove me back to the airport where I started my move to Russia!!

I spent that night in the airport in Riga. Since I'd been there before I knew exactly where to find chairs to doze on, and which ones were close to a plug. I also knew there was free wifi, so I wasn't too bored.

The next day just after noon my flight took off, and a few hours later landed in Moscow.
My new adventure awaited!!