How I Spent My Senior Trip

I'll bet the majority of you think this has something to do with school :)

Since I'm 60 and officially a senior...this was my "senior" trip.

 Many of you may remember that I lost a very close friend right after Christmas.  The job I have is relatively stressful (even though my company teaches how to release stress) and I've been trying to take a vacation since last October.  Something always came up and it kept getting put off (Travelocity was getting a bit upset at changes).

I finally managed to threaten my way into being allowed last year's vacation a couple of weeks ago.  While I had Travelocity on the phone (again) I began to think really hard about where to go.  I could visit a friend in Canada, go back East and visit my kids, or..."How much is a round-trip to Arkhangel'sk?"

Believe it or not, round-trip is less than Hawaii or most places inside the U.S.  "I'll take it!"

The day finally came a week ago last Friday.  I have a friend there that was going to meet me at the airport...Aeroflot was 4 hours late and I couldn't make International calls from LAX.  Combine that with the fact it's a 24-hour plane ride!  No question about it, I would miss the connecting flight from Moscow to Arkhangel'sk.

Don't get me wrong, Aeroflot is a very good airline, but they're not famous for being on time.  They bought me dinner at LAX while I was waiting for the flight (there had been major storms in Europe that caused the delay), and they put me up in Moscow at a 5-star hotel and fed me there, too.

In Moscow there are 3 main airports, Sheremetyevo 1 & 2 (about 5 miles from each other) and Domodedovo.  Of course I arrived at SVO-2 and flew out of SVO-1.  Like a typical tourist, a taxi driver accosted me outside the terminal and offered me the ride to the other airport...it was then that I got mugged.  NEVER TAKE A CAB IN MOSCOW!  The guy wouildn't let me out of the cab until I paid him 8,000 roubles (several hundred $ American).  There is a shuttle bus (avtobus) between airports for 30R.  I found that out coming back.  Don't even THINK about renting a car in Russia and driving unless you're NASCAR or INDY qualified.  The short ride gave and entirely new meaning to "terrorism"!  Even in Arkhangel'sk, the drivers are totally nuts.

It's only about a two hour flight between Moscow and ARH.  Don't get me wrong -- I love to fly; I'll fly anywhere.  I used to work for TWA.  There are very few things that will make me nervous about flying...not deicing the wings is one of them.  I had a seat directly over a wing and could easily see at least 1/2 inch of ice and an inch of snow on them...

Arkhangel'sk is a very picturesque city on the Dvina River in Northern Russia.  The only thing to mar the view is the plethora of Soviet Era apartment complexes.  These are large concrete structures that violate every building code I'm aware of in N. America.

Now understand that I speak enough Russian to be dangerous...but NOT at the speed they speak.  A Russian speaking normally makes a Mexican speaking Spanish seem rather slow.  Combine that with the fact that most of their words slur together, it really makes life interesting.  By the end of the week, though, I could hold a coherent conversation with my friend's 4-year-old grandaughter and could follow several of the television programs (there's nothing like "The Simpsons" or "CSI" dubbed over in Russian :) ).

I will tell all of you now, if you ever have (or make) the opportunity to visit Russia or the former Soviet Union, DO IT!  You would be hard pressed to come up with a more picturesque place to visit, or friendlier people who are thrilled when you even attempt to speak their language.  It's an experience you'll never forget.

The trip back was relatively uneventful (Aeroflot was on time).  I thought I was going to get caught in a major storm on Thursday in Moscow, but it had cleared by Friday.

I landed back at LAX and had to go through Customs before catching my connecting flight to Phoenix.  When they ran my passport (one of thos new electronic ones), it appears my ex-wife had taken out a warrent on me many years ago and forgot to pull it when everything got straightened out.

I got to be a guest of the LAPD for 3 days until this got straightend out.  That was not a high point of my trip.  All things considered, I was relaxed and rested.

I walked in the door at 7:00 Monday night and my phone was ringing.  It was a friend of mine.  While I was talking, my other phone rang and it was my daughter who was coming right over.  This was about 7:10.  At 7:20, there was a knock on my door -- the fire chief and a paramedic...my daughter was in a major accident (a tie-rod broke at 65 miles an hour and rolled her into a 10' deep ditch).  They had life-flighted her up to the major trauma hospital in Flagstaff.

When I got there 40 minutes later, the doctors told me they couldn't understand how she survived because she should have been killed outright at the scene.  She's in quite bad shape at the moment and will probably require at least 6 weeks in the ICU before they even consider putting her in a regular room, much less therapy.

So far, 2007 isn't turning out to be my banner year.