Our Trip home

For anyone that may still be reading this---we arrived safely home after a long series of flights early Saturday Morning. Finally clear of jetlag--let me share our final adventure with you----at least our final adventure this trip.

About 30 minutes into our flight from UB to Moscow, we were told we had to turn back due to a technical problem with the plane. We landed safely, but were delayed by about 8 hours. (MIAT air apparently doesn't have a lot of spare planes hanging around---so this one had to get fixed.)

We arrived in Moscow about 8 pm and were put up, by MIAT I assume, in a "hotel". Although the front of the hotel seemingly just that, with all your hotel trappings (lobby, restaurant, business center etc) we didn't have the opportunity to actually see or use any of these things. Being without an official visa, we were escorted by security to a back entrance of the hotel. Surrenduring our tickets and passports we were then led up to the 5th floor, and locked in.

The the hallway and room had a decidedly less "modern Russian" and more Soviet atmosphere. I spent some of the evening with other detainees (other poor souls with broken and delayed planes) in the hallway, which I nicknamed the exercise yard. To the family from France, the guy from Egypt trying to let his family know where he was, our Turkish "guide" who had experienced this same thing, in the same hotel, just a few weeks ago and to the father and son from Holland trying to get to Thailand---I hope you all reached your destinations safe and sound.

No food that night--but a lady with a cart and a bucket(!) of porridge came in the morning. And hour or so later---security came again (tall, dour looking men in black suits and smoking---guess former KGB agents need work too!) returned our passports and took us back to the airport.

This was all mildly unsettling at the time---but mostly funny--in that weary I can't believe this is actually happening kind of way. Now that I'm home safe and sound--I have to admit, the traveller in me LOVED that it happened, it makes for such a great story : )