The flight home

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Yes, it has taken me a few days to add the final blog entry. I think that once this entry is complete and published, that indicates the end of this trip. I enjoyed this trip so much more than I expected, met some absolutely incredible people, experienced a beautiful Country, and honestly, just did not want this trip to end!
I admit that I briefly thought about the implications and trouble I'd be in if I "accidentally" missed my flight home!

The return flight home

Weather: Ok, so it DOES rain in Ukraine!

Leaving Kiev

2:00am - Wake up to meet my driver for the drive back to Boryspil Airport
Weather - it's POURING!!
Driver arrives at 2:40am. This is the same driver that picked me up from the airport upon my arrival!

Arrive at the airport about 3:10am. Flight leaves at 6:40. I thought we had to be at the airport 3 hours prior to departure .. NO! I only had to be here TWO hours prior!
I manage to stay awake, and waste enough time to finally see the gate announced for my flight from Kiev to Moscow being announced at 6:00!!
I had attempted to do the online check-in for my return flights. For whatever reason, I could not successfully get past step one on the website without it constantly giving me an error.
So ... I do 'in person' check-in. Ah, no! The website had registered me checking in online, but did not produce any boarding passes for me!! Security is called, I try to explain to him what happened .. he's not hearing it. He asks where my boarding pass is .. I explain, AGAIN, that the website gave me an error before a boarding pass was produced. Without a word of explanation, he turns, WITH MY ELECTRONIC TICKET IN HIS HAND, and runs off!!!!
He finally returns about 15 minutes later, and THEN decides to explain that he had to call Moscow and have my check-in canceled so that they could do an in person check in there. I honestly thought that my earlier considerations about "accidentally" missing my flight in order to stay in Ukraine was actually going to happen .. but not "accidentally"!! LOL

25 minutes later, I board the plane. It's now 6:25.
6:40 .. lift off from Kiev :o(
We reach cruising altitude, and the meal was immediately delivered. The meal consisted of a small sandwich, some sweets, juice, and coffee.
Not a minute after finishing eating, and they are collecting the trays in preparation to begin descent.

Moscow

Weather update: rain!
9:00 - arrive in Moscow.
Now .. I find out that I'm an idiot, and have no idea how Duty-Free shopping works!!
I did not purchase anything at Duty-Free in Kiev, since I figured we had to stop at Moscow, that's where I had to make my purchases.
Find a really cool bottle of Russian Vodka. Really nice, gold logo on the bottle, very classy looking bottle ... 40oz for $13! Nice! This will make a great souvenir, and allow me to finally experience REAL Russian Vodka. Bring the bottle to the cash, only to have her explain to me that since I was on a "transit" flight, I was not permitted to purchase any bottles greater than 100ml. All purchases had to be made in Kiev so they could be packed with the luggage going directly to Toronto. ARGH! No vodka for Dave!!!! Will know better next time!

Already have boarding pass for flight from Moscow to Toronto. Wander around the airport for 40 minutes, and boarding call is made at 10:40 - ????? The flight is scheduled to depart at 10:55!
We finally taxi to the runaway, and lift off at 11:40. Almost an hour late.

30 minutes in, drinks are served.
An hour after that, lunch. Lunch consists of fish, rice, bread, and white wine. Shortly after 13:00 .. nice and relaxed after a few glasses of wine :o)

According to the digital map projected to the front wall of the plane, it's 14:11 Moscow time, 6:11am Toronto time, and we've just cleared England. I believe the information showed that the expected arrival time is now 14:30 Toronto time. Mind you, depending on where you looked, the "Toronto local time" is either one hour ahead of what it actually is (according to my iPod), or an hour behind. No two clocks are showing the same time - I'm going by the time shown on the iPod.

9:30 Toronto time, and the projected map shows we are flying over the southern most tip of Greenland. I think we have another five hours of flying time. Sleep is non-existent!

Entering Canadian airspace

10:30 Toronto time, breakfast is served - ?? Damn, my stomach has no idea what time of day it is anymore! LOL
Pancakes or omelet. The pancakes (crepes) were fantastic! According to map, we're approaching the northern point of Newfoundland.

12:38 - we're now above central Quebec, somewhere north of Montreal. Estimated time of arrival in Toronto is now shown as 13:45.

Toronto

13:45 - we touch down in Toronto! Only approx 30 minutes late. Not bad.
Not much trouble coming through immigration. A few typical questions of where I was, who I was visiting, what I was bringing back, etc etc .. pretty text book.
Get through immigration, and I see Karrie and Laura standing in the crowd .. holding a sign reading, "Mr. and Mrs. (???) Loeffen"!! LOL Nice!!!!!!!


Home .. shower .. and return to my regular life. *sigh*
I can't wait to return!!!!

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