I have to finish the last trip story, but before I do I need to get this down. I arrived here in Donetsk about an hour ago. It was quite a harrowing trip. Total of 22 hours to get here this time and I still have to travel to the orphanage tomorrow.
Arlin drove me to Dulles early because we had to drop off Ruslan, his flight left an hour before me. I didn’t want to get there any earlier than I had to, but we did. I helped Maggie get all the kids lined up and through security, all 29 of the, passports, boarding cards from Dulles to Frankfurt and then on to Kiev. And all their stuff!! You’ve never seen so many back packs stuffed to the gills, duffle bags, suitcases, I mean what are they doing, bringing everything but the kitchen sink back?? Tons of food, poor things, they don’t get it there. Julia’s 4 large $5 dollar peanut butter jars got taken out of her suitcase and she had to ditch them. Maggie says they LOVE peanut butter over there.
I actually boarded the same time the kids did on my plane the next gate over. Their flight had so many delays; they couldn’t get the bathrooms on their plane to work.
My plane was FULL, no extra room there, that’s for sure. And the woman that sat next to me reminded me of the woman in the Sound of Music who won an award, remember when the Von Tropp family was singing and they handed out the awards, and there was that one woman and she kept bowing to the host, Max and to the audience and back and forth??? Yeah, well, her twin sat next to me for 9 hours!! Entertaining to say the least, I had to load all her movies. Each time I watched a movie she, in German, wanted to see the same one I just saw and I had to load it for her and she laughed out loud, cried, sighed, kept smiling and shaking her head at me as if I knew what the hay she was saying… and she was up and down quite a bit, which was good, got me up and out of my seat.
Other than the almost crash landing in this airbus, the flight was uneventful. Yes, I did say almost. I gotta tell you, it’s the first time the captain of a flight ever said over the PA system, “Well…. (Pause) we landed safely.”
What? No, thanks for traveling with us, have a good trip, happy New Year, just, “Well, we landed safely”???I think he was as shaken up as the rest of the plane that applauded when we did finally land. The guy in front of me wretched for 30 minutes during the ordeal, I think he used his buddy’s barf bag as well, he lost every meal he ate on the plane that’s for sure. And the others that also pulled out their bags, I just closed my eyes, held on to my neck pillow and quoted Psalms, “Blessed is the name of the Lord, forget not all His benefits, he forgives all my sin and heals all my disease!” I knew I was going to heaven so whatever!
The pilot had warned us 45 minutes out, he wanted everyone seated seats up, tray tables up, seat belts “tight”, all flight attendants sitting and buckled in, we were in for a ride, heavy, high winds in Munich. We rocked and rolled for the entire time, the child a few rows back enjoyed the roller coaster, the adults who knew better were quiet.
The first approach, he let the wheels down, you’re just praying waiting to hear the sound of those wheels touchdown, hoping its any minute. You hear the engines back down like they do right before the plane hits and then the pilot went full throttle and pulled up!! That was a shocker!
He came over the PA and said the winds were too strong and shifting, he couldn’t land, and we would be circling around and making another attempt at approaching and landing. I didn’t like the choice of words… attempt. Leaves it open ended you know?
For Pete’s sake, there’s a jack hammer working down the hall from my room, they are still building the place I am staying in next to the airport. Can I have some peace here? It’s 5pm and I’m ready for bed, did not sleep a wink on the overnight flight.
We made the landing, thank God! Everyone clapped and cheered, is that a good thing?
Two hour layover in Munich, gates changed 3 times, and then off on a regional to Donetsk. Now I was REALLY praying. The winds were so strong they were rocking the plane as we were boarding (remember, we walk to the plane and stand while everyone climbs up the stairs to the plane in that wind and freezing rain, no jet bridges here) and the engine was turning with this noise like it needed to be oiled. These journeys take faith, that’s for sure.
The woman next to me, well, let’s just say she hadn’t seen a shower in a week. Who wants to eat?
And I was told that Lufthansa DOES bring the luggage inside and load it on a conveyor, it’s only Ukrainian airlines that throw it on wagons and pull it up to the doors with tractors. WRONG… I found mine pretty quickly and drug it in from the freezing rain, snow, and mud. Lovely.
Lord, but I’m here in my room. Although if truly the hotel is only walking distance, why did I go out a buy a suitcase with 4 wheels on the bottom? Who’s rolling anything over here? There was no rolling my suitcase the easy way because there is no smooth paved road, it’s gravel, pot holes, mud, snow, puddles of dirty water as it’s raining and it’s freezing turning to ice and snow… I carried the stupid thing and my laptop most the way! Wait until I speak to Dima next, “it’s walking distance Deborah” yeah, if you’re in combat boots and army fatigues!
But I’m here in my little cubbie hole, only took an hour to check in, and I was the only one in line, tells how that conversation went. Not the same when Dima’s around. He flies in from Kiev tomorrow, I have to –oh wait what? – WALK to the airport to meet him. Ya think you can have the driver pick me up?
Uneventful trip as usual.
Arlin drove me to Dulles early because we had to drop off Ruslan, his flight left an hour before me. I didn’t want to get there any earlier than I had to, but we did. I helped Maggie get all the kids lined up and through security, all 29 of the, passports, boarding cards from Dulles to Frankfurt and then on to Kiev. And all their stuff!! You’ve never seen so many back packs stuffed to the gills, duffle bags, suitcases, I mean what are they doing, bringing everything but the kitchen sink back?? Tons of food, poor things, they don’t get it there. Julia’s 4 large $5 dollar peanut butter jars got taken out of her suitcase and she had to ditch them. Maggie says they LOVE peanut butter over there.
I actually boarded the same time the kids did on my plane the next gate over. Their flight had so many delays; they couldn’t get the bathrooms on their plane to work.
My plane was FULL, no extra room there, that’s for sure. And the woman that sat next to me reminded me of the woman in the Sound of Music who won an award, remember when the Von Tropp family was singing and they handed out the awards, and there was that one woman and she kept bowing to the host, Max and to the audience and back and forth??? Yeah, well, her twin sat next to me for 9 hours!! Entertaining to say the least, I had to load all her movies. Each time I watched a movie she, in German, wanted to see the same one I just saw and I had to load it for her and she laughed out loud, cried, sighed, kept smiling and shaking her head at me as if I knew what the hay she was saying… and she was up and down quite a bit, which was good, got me up and out of my seat.
Other than the almost crash landing in this airbus, the flight was uneventful. Yes, I did say almost. I gotta tell you, it’s the first time the captain of a flight ever said over the PA system, “Well…. (Pause) we landed safely.”
What? No, thanks for traveling with us, have a good trip, happy New Year, just, “Well, we landed safely”???I think he was as shaken up as the rest of the plane that applauded when we did finally land. The guy in front of me wretched for 30 minutes during the ordeal, I think he used his buddy’s barf bag as well, he lost every meal he ate on the plane that’s for sure. And the others that also pulled out their bags, I just closed my eyes, held on to my neck pillow and quoted Psalms, “Blessed is the name of the Lord, forget not all His benefits, he forgives all my sin and heals all my disease!” I knew I was going to heaven so whatever!
The pilot had warned us 45 minutes out, he wanted everyone seated seats up, tray tables up, seat belts “tight”, all flight attendants sitting and buckled in, we were in for a ride, heavy, high winds in Munich. We rocked and rolled for the entire time, the child a few rows back enjoyed the roller coaster, the adults who knew better were quiet.
The first approach, he let the wheels down, you’re just praying waiting to hear the sound of those wheels touchdown, hoping its any minute. You hear the engines back down like they do right before the plane hits and then the pilot went full throttle and pulled up!! That was a shocker!
He came over the PA and said the winds were too strong and shifting, he couldn’t land, and we would be circling around and making another attempt at approaching and landing. I didn’t like the choice of words… attempt. Leaves it open ended you know?
For Pete’s sake, there’s a jack hammer working down the hall from my room, they are still building the place I am staying in next to the airport. Can I have some peace here? It’s 5pm and I’m ready for bed, did not sleep a wink on the overnight flight.
We made the landing, thank God! Everyone clapped and cheered, is that a good thing?
Two hour layover in Munich, gates changed 3 times, and then off on a regional to Donetsk. Now I was REALLY praying. The winds were so strong they were rocking the plane as we were boarding (remember, we walk to the plane and stand while everyone climbs up the stairs to the plane in that wind and freezing rain, no jet bridges here) and the engine was turning with this noise like it needed to be oiled. These journeys take faith, that’s for sure.
The woman next to me, well, let’s just say she hadn’t seen a shower in a week. Who wants to eat?
And I was told that Lufthansa DOES bring the luggage inside and load it on a conveyor, it’s only Ukrainian airlines that throw it on wagons and pull it up to the doors with tractors. WRONG… I found mine pretty quickly and drug it in from the freezing rain, snow, and mud. Lovely.
Lord, but I’m here in my room. Although if truly the hotel is only walking distance, why did I go out a buy a suitcase with 4 wheels on the bottom? Who’s rolling anything over here? There was no rolling my suitcase the easy way because there is no smooth paved road, it’s gravel, pot holes, mud, snow, puddles of dirty water as it’s raining and it’s freezing turning to ice and snow… I carried the stupid thing and my laptop most the way! Wait until I speak to Dima next, “it’s walking distance Deborah” yeah, if you’re in combat boots and army fatigues!
But I’m here in my little cubbie hole, only took an hour to check in, and I was the only one in line, tells how that conversation went. Not the same when Dima’s around. He flies in from Kiev tomorrow, I have to –oh wait what? – WALK to the airport to meet him. Ya think you can have the driver pick me up?
Uneventful trip as usual.
RSS Feed