April 25, 2006
Dear Friends and Family!
Christos Voskres! Voistinu Voskres! (Christ is risen!
He is risen, indeed!) We send you Easter greetings with the arrival
of Easter in Russia (this year, one week after the Western celebration).
In the midst of Holy Week by the Western calendar, I was struggling
to get home again from a visa trip that was quite full of challenges.
On March 31 we flew out of Moscow, bound for Barcelona. Visas
in Spain are significantly cheaper than in other European countries,
and spring on the Mediterranean is a nice break after the long
Russian winter.
I guess we should have known that first night that we were in
for an adventure. We were flying on Alitalia through Milan. Our
flight from Moscow left late, but it seemed like we would still
be in time for our transfer. As we landed in Milan, we discovered
an airport in confusion. All Alitalia flights had been cancelled
because of a baggage handlers' strike. Many hundreds of people
were stranded, and at 10:00 p.m., few airline desks were open
to help anyone. Shops and restaurants were closing down for the
night. No one in that airport wanted to be bothered with the mass
of disgruntled passengers. Al stood in one line for about an hour
before we were told to leave the gate area and go to an office
in the main terminal for a hotel voucher. We did as we were told,
only to find more confusion and angry agents shouting at everyone
to just go outside and board a bus—we would be taken to
a hotel.
We concluded that there were not enough hotel rooms in all Milan
for the number of people wanting them and decided to wait it out
at the airport. We got Meg and Emma settled on a stone bench and
then went and stood in another line for a couple of hours to try
to get rebooked. It was a fascinating wait as we watched the Italian
Carabineri (police) trying to maintain order, while various passengers
began shouting irately. When we finally got to the desk, the young
woman told us we would have to call for rebooking. Needless to
say, no one answered the telephone. By about 2:00 a.m., we joined
the girls on the bench to try to get some sleep. We can tell you
that the Milan airport is very cold at night. By 5:30, we were
up again, standing in line for rebooking. We even succeeded and
made it to Barcelona by midday. Of course, our luggage did not.
For all of you that have arrived in Russia without your baggage
and had to wait 24-48 hours for it, we now fully understand. |
