Security is the Name of the Game – 10/14/17

I am on my way! The day started off splendidly in a taxi ride to the airport with a driver who was smoking. Despite the smoke and loud Russian folk music at 6am I survived and arrived at the airport at about 7am. First thing walking into the airport was security. You wouldn’t even be able to go inside the airport to pick someone up without going through security.

Then there was the check-in where the lady said “hello” to me! I just lite up inside that someone was finally speaking English to me and I could avoid the awkward “I don’t speak Russian” that I have become so used to. It wasn’t until later that I figured out she saw my USA passport and most likely assumed by language.

After check-in there was more security. This one was the normal airport security except you didn’t have to take your shoes off. It was much quicker as well. Next there was a little gate where you had to scan your ticket to get through. Following that there was another baggage security. Passport control was up next. There were little barred gates that didn’t let you through until the officer opened them. I had my passport looked at for a good five minutes, but I made it through. That whole process from arriving at the airport took only about 20 minutes!

During my time before my flight I went in search of breakfast. It was about 7:30am, a normal breakfast time you would think. After about 10 places I finally found somewhere that had breakfast, well a small breakfast buffet at least. Lucky for me on a 2 hours and 50 minute flight to Frankfurt, Germany I was served a free breakfast. It seems you barely get a bag of peanuts for that amount of time on a US domestic flight.

Once in Frankfurt I had a five hour layover until my next flight. So I had plenty of time when I accidentally walked about a mile out of the way and in the complete wrong direction after I got off the plane. Once I retraced my steps I had to go through a passport check where the guard stared at me intently as if he didn’t really believe I was the person in my passport. I went through security again and then another passport control. Due to my detour, all the security points and how enormous the airport is, almost an hour had passed. I only have an hour layover on my return flight….hmmmm I will worry about that later! I was up to 8,000 steps just from all my airport walking!

I ate at a little Asian place where I asked for tap water. The waiter brought it and said he even added ice for me. It’s funny in the US many people complain about getting too much ice and in Europe it is so rare to get tap water with ice, it feels like a special treat. I’m so excited to be in a country where you can drink the tap water. After roaming around and killing time I finally got on my plane and had a short flight of less than 2 hours with a free sandwich.

And now after weeks of planning I have finally made it to my destination of………..