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It’s been a while since I’ve posted on here. I should be posting on here at least every other day. Josh and I are finally home (in Thailand). Our trip started on April 21st and ended on May 4th. We planned on staying in the Ukraine for the entire trip (originally bought return tickets for the 9th of May) - but we cut the trip short. I’ve now learned about the importance of planning and organizing a trip before you depart to the destination! I bought our tickets on a whim, and actually became a bit afraid before we left. Nervous about the unknown, about traveling with my little man Josh (who is 3 yrs old) and about delivering the custom-made shirts to Leonid Stadnik, the World’s Tallest Man. I felt like going on an adventure and once the tickets were booked, there was no turning back.

We flew from northern Thailand to Bangkok and stayed there overnight (with my mom who was visiting Thailand). From there, we took our first flight on Aeroflot/Russian Air into Moscow. The flight was approximately 9 hours long. We had some serious turbulence that shook and dropped the plane a few times. It was the worst turbulence I’ve experienced in all of my travels by air (in my entire life). Josh was fine though and it didn’t bother him - bothered me more!

After arriving in Moscow, we went into the transit lounge to wait for our next flight (which would take us into Kiev, the capital of Ukraine). I approached the desk, feeling exhausted and handed the lady our e-ticket printout with our passports. She told me we could not go through and needed to be seated. Josh was in a strange sleep-deprived rage and had a fit, throwing my papers on the ground. Before sitting down, the lady told me that I did not have enough information or documents to support the fact that we were going on Aerosvit (or next flight) to the Ukraine. I showed her the paper, with the confirmation code and final confirmation of the ticket and purchase.

She said it wasn’t enough and that I needed to look through my papers and find “it.” I had to produce another document! I was thinking some sarcastic thoughts….like..”What am I a computer or a printer?” - “How will I produce a document for her out of thin air?” LOL..it was strange so I just sat there. I had nothing else. As I sat there (and Josh continued to jump all over the chairs in the small waiting area behind the transit counter) - a man approached me and was looking over the paper I gave the woman. He looked at the confirmation code and counted the number of numbers and letters in it - then said “Oh this is fine, it’s the confirmation code.” So, he took us through past the woman and told her it was fine. He then escorted us to an office (which had no sign on the outside of it) and told me to be back at that office two hours later. He said two hours from then, someone in the office would personally escort us over to our next flight because it was at another terminal. It was strange, but fine. So we wandered around the small transit area and I was on a mission to find a ATM machine. We were hungry and thirsty. There were a handful of ATM machines but all of them were turned off and unplugged. I asked a maintenance man and he said that none of them worked. Everywhere we wandered to, the one thing that stood out to me was how many people were smoking. Smoke filled the air and it was allowed everywhere.

After an hour and a half, the man who escorted us earlier walked past and saw the dreary tired looks on our faces. He asked if we wanted to go wait in the office, and he brought us there. He was very caring and helped us out so much. We sat there in the office and waited another 45 minutes. Everyone spoke to me in Russian. A man walked in and asked me something in Russian and I said, “Oh it’s ok.” I was assuming he was asking me if it was alright to turn on the lights in the office and I was too tired to say I didn’t speak Russian, just said that it was ok. Sometimes body language can say more than words. Finally, a lady entered and told us to follow her. She took us out of the office, into a basement and then onto a bus. It was just her, the driver and Josh and myself. We drove and drove on for about 30 minutes. I had no idea where we were going and had never been to an airport that had a terminal halfway across the city! As we approached the building, we passed a huge array of private jets. I’ve never seen planes like these before - and there were so many of them! We were brought inside and upstairs into a waiting area (it was totally separate from the airport gate waiting areas that one is normally at). There were nice comfy seats, couches and a tv. The people who were waiting in there looked quite wealthy. It turns out (I didn’t know it for sure at the time) that they were waiting for their private jet. After another two hours of waiting, we were taken into another basement, where someone put us through an old security machine and we waited. The people who were waiting for the jet came along. We all went outside into another van, which took us to another area of the airport. We got off and I nearly followed them right onto their plane (that would have been nice! LOL) when we were finally stopped and told where to go. Through this time, hardly anyone explained what was happening or why we were having such an ordeal. We were last on our Aerosvit plane - and had no seats to sit in. People were all sitting in our seats, so we waited in the back as the flight attended moved some guys around. Not sure where they went (as I saw no open seats at all) but they were moved!

I hope I am not boring any readers with this story! It’s just that so much happened on this trip - every moment was an adventure - some good and some bad.

Finally arrived in Kiev, Ukraine and realized that our original hotel that was booked was overbooked. I had no idea there was a convention of some sort and EVERY single hotel (I mean EVERY ONE) was booked up until the end of April. So after checking out every single possibility, from the cheapest to the most expensive choices - we were left with ONE place. Kiev-sky Backpackers Hostel in Ukraine - a dorm room with 6 beds. I did what I could and booked it and arrived quite late. It was smaller than small - with lots of people crammed into a tiny space. But, we literally just needed a place to rest for the night.

The Next Morning was HELL. We awoke, showered and spent some time chit chatting with backpackers. They were so great to talk to! Then suddenly the door opened up and a man walked in. He was the manager of Kiev-Sky Backpackers hostel. He said something along the lines of “What are you doing here with a kid? You can’t be here. You have to leave.” I told him of our predicament and also that I booked and paid for the hostel already. I told him that no where on his website did it say anything about an age requirement and there were no terms or conditions. He yelled at me in front of Josh numerous times. He sarcastically told me that he would find us a dirt cheap place to stay at. I didn’t need that - I had the money for a place but all were booked. I didn’t ask this jerk for our money back - rather I grabbed our stuff, told Josh to get his jacket on and I carried three suitcases and my son down three flights of stairs and outside into the cold. I was overwhelmed with emotions due to a lack of sleep and extreme concern for where we would stay (and from all the previous hold-ups in our travels).

A few minutes prior to the manager of the hostel arriving, a guy named Paco (from Spain) was checking into the hostel. When he saw the way we were treated, he left and I heard the door slam behind us after we had exited the building. I was going to walk off (although I had no where in particular to go to) but I decided to turn back and talk to him. He was so sweet, so caring and said that in all his travels around Europe, he had never seen anything like that before. He was angry so he left. He helped me out too by writing down some places for us to stay at (so I could at least have some place to tell the taxi driver). Poor little Josh was probably stressed out as well, and Paco gave Josh a big Twix candy bar. That put a huge smile on the little man’s face and made him (and me) feel better. Before Paco left, I took down his email and I started to walk the opposite direction when he asked me, “Is there anything else I can do to help you?” And, I replied by telling him no and thank you - we are ok. I tried with all my might to hold back my feelings and emotions but at that second I started crying. What a mess!!! I could not hold back all the tears - I felt embarrassed but so mentally drained that I could not stop. I apologized to him but he didn’t mind - he was so nice. Poor guy - a total stranger. He was the angel on our trip and I really appreciate him being there for us (total strangers). …after the drama, things subsided and changed for the better. I must continue this post later …..to be notified of Part 2, please signup to be notified by email of my posts.

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