Day 2 for us (or is it 3?)

Jet lag has us all screwed up. We have gained 8 hours so far - 7 more to come later today. We're up and getting ourselves packed and ready to go. As soon as we eat breakfast we'll head to Arbat St. to exchange currency, maybe some shopping or internet time if we can.

Well, We're in Moscow. Landed at 1:15PM - the VIP package was worth it. We were through passport control & customs in less than 1/2 hour. If we had to wait on line it would have taken at least an hour, probably longer. (We got there at a slow time, it could have been a whole lot worse than it was.) And we would have not known that we only need to declare our valuables if over $10,000 total. We're both pooped - Rain is asleep already, but we only got like 1-2 hours sleep on the plane. We tried some real Russian vodka with dinner at the bar in the hotel. The airport (Sheremetyevo-2) was not bad. Small, not too modern, but not bad either - kind of reminded me of a bus terminal. Sure there were lots of people for hire (Some legal cabs, some not), but we had arranged for transportation through AllWays. Again, worth it. Someone was waiting for us right outside. They took us to the hotel and got us checked in. Tomorrow morning we'll hit Arbat St. and exchange some currency and maybe hit an internet cafe or shopping till our coordinator picks us up at 12:00. Then hopefully a little sightseeing before off to the airport to Khabarovsk.

Wow, what a long strange trip it has been. In the last 24 hours I've watched the sunset in New York and watched sunrise somewhere over Europe. I've tried Russian white wine and experienced trying to use the bathroom during international flights, huh - no dignity there. The flushing toilet sounds like it is going to suck you out of the plane. Take off was an experience, kind of frightening, kind of cool. I might get the hang of it. The air food is still a little bizarre, cold fish and parsnip? Salad as a side dish. I passed. And Nicholas Cage movie in Russian I couldn't follow. Yes, I followed Lisa's advice and dressed in layers. Thanks Lis. Soon we'll land in Moscow. Cool, I look forward to a new land and a thousand opportunities, as we cruise at 33,000 feet it does feel like a big bus. You're right Fred.

We took off at 8PM EST (4AM Moscow). Rain handled the takeoff pretty well. Once in flight we broke out the CD player - the headphones and splitter were a good idea. Had to crank it up most of the way to hear it over the plane but it kept us occupied till after dinner. Airline food is not all that bad. I had the fish - Rain had the beef. It even included lemon cheesecake for dessert. We tried the white wine - wasn't really to our taste, but it was kinda neat seeing a Pepsi can in Russian. We tried to get some sleep but weren't successful. I think with the excitement of flying half way around the world, the noise of the plane, etc. made it difficult. I know I got an hour or 2 of sleep. I tried watching the in flight movie. The airline had the audio on one channel in Russian and another in English. I kept flipping back and forth. It was kinda neat. Not sure what movie it was but it was a Nicholas Cage movie. Looks like the sun broke the horizon at about 10:15AM Moscow time. No sign of the ground, only clouds below us. I set the camera on night mode and got some pre-dawn pictures from 33,000 feet. It was real neat to see. I'm glad I was awake for that, though I know I'm gonna be tired when we land - should be around 1PM Moscow time. Rain is still trying to sleep. The plane is slowly waking up, I see a few people reading, one or two have the shades up letting light in. I'm trying to be courteous and keep mine most of the way closed. So far we hit pretty calm air, just the occasional flutter from the jet. Of course at 33,000 feet there isn't much air to get rough and at nearly 550mph I think it would take alot to toss a 737-300. I'm not sure but I think we're somewhere over Sweden by now - maybe a little farther along. Pilot just put the seatbelt sign on. Looks like turbulence ahead.