On Tuesday I boarded my flight to Kiev, settled in and went straight to sleep. I woke up about three hours later, glanced out the window and thought “shit, I’m going to miss my flight to Lviv” – we were still on the ground.
The flight took off shortly after that. For the first couple of hours, it was a lot like being in an over crowded restaurant. Everyone was milling around, talking, laughing, eating, and drinking. Eventually the lights went out, and everybody went to sleep. I stayed awake for a little bit, but the sound of snoring eventually lulled me into a restful slumber.
When I arrived in Kiev, I breezed through customs in record time and then waited an hour for my bag at baggage claim. Lucky for me, the girl behind the ticket counter spoke English and changed my flight to another one scheduled to take off six hours later.
While waiting around in the terminal, I met four American men all there to pick up their Ukrainian brides and bring them back home. Three of them claimed to be sincerely “in love” but the fourth was “just having fun.”
My flight took off twelve hours later. By that time the temperature had dropped from a mild 21 degrees Celsius to 4 degrees Celsius (about 70 degrees Fahrenheit to 39 degrees Fahrenheit) and, of course, I had forgotten to pack my jacket.
Finally I arrived in Lviv. My partner Dave, along with our favorite cab driver Antony, picked me up. We stopped at McDonald’s – which tasted the same, only stale – and then went to the apartment.
When we arrived at the apartment I had been traveling for almost exactly 36 hours. It felt good to get some sleep.
