May 24: The Flight

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We started our day off in the middle of the night. My flight to Russia would be in 16 hours and we had a long drive. My mom, my little sister and I drove off stopping a couple of times for gas. I believe my mother forgot to close the gas tank at some point.



At 7 in the morning, we made it to the San Clemente State Beach. We all had planned to spend a couple of hours at the beach before heading off to the Los Angelos Airport (LAX). The weather, unfortunately, was not merciful upon the three of us. The cold winds, cloudy skies, and light rain loomed over the beach and we could only do so much. In the end, we spent around an hour and a half before driving off to the airport.



In 3 hours, we made it to the gigantic airport, and tried to find a parking spot in the not-so-gigantic parking lot. We finally found a place to park after a really long time, after following a man to his car. Now parked, we soon grabbed my luggage and headed off to the bus stop. I have never felt so victorious in my life.



We took an airport bus to where we needed to go: the international terminal of the airport. My mother, my sister and I had gotten off the bus and we could already see foreigners around us. It was a facinating things for me to see people from all over the world come here. Four hours before the flight we headed inside and found the register for my flight to Russia. We had to fill out some documents before anything else. My mother soon discovered that she did not take neither my United States passport and my Russian passport. Having no passport made me get scared. My mother had to rush back with my little sister back to the car to get them. I waited for an hour, worried to bits and thinking negatively, until my mother and my little sister came with my passports. That gave me some relief.



The lady at the register was a new recruit and had us standing for an hour while she rushed off left and right to ask questions, and we only finished an hour later. Still having another 2 hours to go, we stopped at a little coffee shop and ordered 2 pomegranate blueberry smoothies and 1 cookie and cream frappuccino, and talked about what is to be expected when I get to Russia. Since I had no flight experience and would be by myself, my mother payed for an escort to take me through the airport and onto the plane. The hours flew by and it was soon time to say goodbye. I had a hard time keeping in my tears.



What I'd thought would happen through security never actually did. The escort practically gave me the ultimate short-cut ticket. I went through security 4 minutes and made it to the gate in 6 minutes. We even picked up a couple of airplane passengers who didn't know where the gate was for the flight to Russia.



I had to wait 10 minutes before it was time to board the plane. The escort put me on the plane first and I got to meet the crew who would help me get to my next flight. Soon, the plane filled and it was time for lift off. Here I come Mother Russia.

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