Ukrainian Orphan Airlift

This past week I had an opportunity to participate in another Orphan Airlift for New Horizons For Children (NHFC).  In June I participated in their summer airlift and brought a group of Latvian children from Riga to the United States.  This time around I would be escorting 87 children and 11 Ukrainian chaperones from Kyiv (Kiev) to JFK Airport in New York.  From there, the groups would fly on to different cities around the country, and I would take three girls from JFK on to DFW.

I left the states on Sunday afternoon and flew to Chicago and then on to Paris.  I had an A-12, my airline's version of a confirmed seat for employees, and was able to upgrade on both flights, which was nice.  We arrived into Paris right on time and the only hiccup was a terminal closing due to a bomb threat, so I took a shuttle bus around the entire airport to get over to 2B and my departure on Ukrainian International Airlines.  The flight from Paris to Kyiv was about 3 hours, but I slept thru most of it.

I arrived into Kyiv around 2:30pm and had a driver pick me up at the airport and take me into the city.  NHFC booked me into an apartment, which was nice, although a little more than I needed for a one night stay.  It was fully furnished and even had a collection of Ukrainian Playboy Magazines!

 

The location was great, just off of Maidan Nezalezhosti, or Independence Square, the sight of protests during the Orange Revolution in 2004.  After meeting the manager at the apartment, I had to go across town and pay for it since he didn't have a credit card reader on him.   The traffic was terrible so by the time I got back to the flat it was dark, but I still went out in the blustery cold weather and walked around the Square.  I "think" I was propositioned by a Ukrainian prostitute, because she was dressed provocatively in spikey high heel boots and a tight skirt, but after thinking about it, most of the women there are into heels, so she could have just been asking me if I had seen her lost cat.

I was getting pretty hungry, so I wandered around the corner from my flat to a place called Walter's that I passed on the ride into the city.  I had a spinach and ricotta cheese pizza and a big ice cold glass of Ukrainian beer.  I have no idea what it was called.

By this point, I was brain dead and tired, so I made it back to the flat and went to bed.  I woke up in the middle of the night wide awake and never really did go back to sleep.

I checked my email and learned that 5 children were denied travel because the government official who authorizes the trip was out sick.  Additionally, 10 kids were denied a VISA into the US, so they were going to make a last ditch effort the next morning to see if they could get them issued in time.

By 6am I was starving again, so I showered up and got packed and then walked down to the McDonald's at Independence Square, however, they don't open until 8:00am!  I think it's the only Mickey D's that isn't open early for breakfast.  I went back at 8 and gobbled down an Egg McMuffin and hash browns!  Whereas it was cold and dry the day before, it was now cold and wet.

At 8:30, I was picked up by Natasha and Tetiana (Tanya) and we made our way to the airport.  They are translators with the Ukrainian charity that partners with NHFC.  Tanya would be coming on the flight as a chaperone and also one of the three who would speak English.

The children started arriving in groups shortly after we made it to the airport.  Some had come all night via train.  

We were traveling on Aerosvit, a Ukrainian airline.  We asked for assistance in checking in the kids, and at first they were reluctant.  Once they saw how big our group was and that we would be half the airplane, they worked with us and started checking us in for the flight in groups.

For many of the kids, this would be their first airplane ride!

I sat across from these two kids: Mariya and Andrii, ages 7 and 13.  They are brother and sister and live together in an orphanage.  I was really touched by how protective Andrii was of his sister.  It hit me that they were all they had in this world and that at 13, Andrii was head of their little family.  What a hard reality to face at that age!

The kids were very excited and I have to give credit to the cabin crew for doing a great job of helping them all find their seats.  And we were very happy to see the final 10 children board at the last minute.  A U.S. congressman made a call to the embassy in Kiev and had the VISA's issued.  A courier rushed them over to the airport and the kids made check in with 5 minutes to spare!  Talk about answered prayers!

Unfortunately, Aerosvit is not set up to provide movies or music, so the kids really had no entertainment on our 10 and a half hour flight to New York.  They handled it pretty well for the most part.  I thought they would eventually fall asleep, but every child took black coffee when the crew came by with after dinner drinks, so they were wired the whole time.  The girls sitting in front of me kept reading me phrases from the Ukrainian/English phrase book!  It was published during the old Soviet Union days and had funny sayings like "The Soviets are show the world how to use the atom for peace"!

I sat next to Tanya, our translator.  We had to complete a customs form and an I-94 immigration form for each child and chaperone, about 100 in total.  We started after the first meal service (if you could call it a meal) and it took us about seven and a half hours to fill all the forms out.  I had nothing else to do, so it helped pass the time.  My hand was pretty cramped by the end of the trip.

Our arrival into JFK was pretty chaotic.  We had some kids with tight connections and some issues with luggage not being checked all the way thru.  Everyone made their connections except for two groups going to Charlotte and Cincinnati.  They just did not have enough time.  Once my Dallas group was ready, we headed over to the Delta terminal.  I had three girls, two sisters, Olena and Kateryna, and another girl, Mariya (or Masha).  I also had the Washington group with me, and helped them get thru security.  The kids were super excited to ride the Airtrans from Terminal 4 to 3!  Tetiana, another of the chaperone's was exhausted and terrified as it was her first time outside Ukraine.  She looks less than thrilled!

We had a minor issue on our flight to Dallas.  Due to headwinds, the plane was going to have to make a fuel stop in Nashville, but we ended up only being about 20 minutes late, arriving around 11:30pm.  I got the girls to pose for one last photo with the host families.

They'll be here for a month and then I will take them back to New York where they will meet up with everyone else and fly home to Ukraine.

Punta Cana

The month of November also took me on a trip to a new city, Punta Cana, in the Dominican Republic.  There isn't much there but all-inclusive beach resorts and our layover hotel was one of them.

We arrived just as the restaurants were closing and we quick changed and ran down to try to start enjoy our all inclusive meals, but they shot us down.  We ended up going to the lobby bar and enjoyed a few rounds of drinks until we closed that place down. 

By this time we were starving and the only place we could get food was the all inclusive 24 hour room service.  We grabbed all the complimentary waters and beers in the mini fridges from everyone's room and headed to my room, the in Preferred Club section.  It wasn't any different except for the hot tub on the balcony.

We ordered two of everything from the room service menu and by the time the food arrived we were ravinous. 

We did not leave until the next afternoon so we all met up at the beach and enjoyed some of the nice weather.  I stayed under the covered hut and read my book. 

Not a bad way to spend a layover, for sure!

Avila

Catching up with blogging from 39K feet as I deadhead from Dallas to JFK.  We get 50% off the inflight internet rate, so I thought I would give it a try.... Gotta say, it's pretty cool (even if we are bankrupt).

Last month I had a two day layover in Madrid.  During the low season, the flight only operates five days a week so two trips per week have a longer layover.  I was fortunate to get to fly the trip with several of my friends.

After a little power napping upon our arrival, we all met up for tapas and dinner.  We made our way down to a tapas bar I had been too the week before called La Discubierta.  It sits right across the street from a brothel.  We call the entrance the "Hooker Door".

They have calamari that is incredible as well as "papas con dos salsas", potatoes with two sauces.  One sauce is a creamy garlic aoili and the other is a spicey tomato sauce.

Our food journey continued at the Mercado San Miguel, an old converted wharehouse off the Plaza Mayor that now houses different food and drink stalls.  I had some delightful sangria!

The eating continued at Casa Mingo, an Asturian restaurant I have visited many times.  We enjoyed a lovely meal of pollo asado, tortilla, sidra, and a regional dessert called Tarta de Santiago.

The next morning it was up at the crack of down to catch the train to Avila.  We left out of the Charmartin train station.

It was pretty early in the morning and some of us fell back asleep.

We arrived into Avila in the late morning.  I decided to wake up with a chocolate covered churro.

It's a sleeply little town known for it's medieval castle walls that surround the old city.  Work on the walls began in 1090.  The city rose to the height of prominence under the Catholic monarchs in the 16th century, but had entered an era of decline starting in the 18th century.  Today about half of the walls have been restored and reinfoced so as to allow visitors a chance to walk around the perimeter.

Santa Teresa of Avila is the patron saint of the town.  She was a Carmelite nun who also was a reformer of the church and a dabbler in mysticism. 

The total distance of the wall is 2,516 meters and covers 31 hectares of land.  The wall is 3 meters thick.  There are 88 semi-circular towers along the wall and 2,500 merlons, or little parapets that stick out of the top of the wall.

It was a rather chilly day but at least it was sunny and the weather cooperated.  We enjoyed a lunch at a restaurant called Barbacana.  We originally went upstairs but realized we were in the expensive section so we went downstairs and ate at the bar like the lowly commoners that we were.

By the time we got back to Madrid the wind had pretty much gone out of our sails.  We had all planned to go to dinner together, but by the time we got back to the hotel, I could barely manage to walk into the room before collapsing.  Too tired!

But all in all a fun trip and a nice change of scenery with good friends.

My Beach Week

Just in time for the cold weather, I had a week of fun in the sun.  My week began with a trip that had a long layover in St. Croix, in the U.S. Virgin Islands.  I had never been there before.  It was a beautiful island and our hotel was right on the beach.  I had a wonderful view while I was eating breakfast!

The layover was long enough to allow me a chance to walk around the property and enjoy some of the warm weather.

We spent the second night in Miami and while I was on that layover, I was able to pick up a Maui trip for later in the week.  The week started at one beach and ended 5,900 miles away at another.

In Maui, I was lucky enough to connect with some of my frequent travelers that I have had on my previous Maui flights.  A while back I had a nice lady named Lisa and her partner Debbie on my flight.  While chatting, Lisa and I discovered that we were both big Words With Friends addicts, so we started playing Scrabble together.  Lisa always said to let them know when I would be back on the Island and they would show me around.  When I told her I was coming, they immediately offered to come and take me to dinner, as their guest.  We went to Mama's Fish House, probably the nicest restaurant on Maui. I had Ahi Steak for dinner that was out of this world!

So while everyone was freezing in the colder weather at home, I was enjoying some warmer climes and getting to know new friends!

Occupy London

My first trip back after vacation was a London trip.  I needed to go to the Olympic store and get a few things and I was hoping to go to St. Paul's Cathedral.  They were having a service commemorating the 150th anniversary of Hymns Ancient and Modern.  Because of the Occupy Movement, St. Paul's was closed to services and the service had been moved to Southwark Cathedral.  After we got what we needed at the St. Pancras station Olympic Store, we headed over to St. Paul's to see the protestors.  

The whole set up was very clean and organized.  The tents were very orderly and there was designated fire lanes, a library, a prayer tent.  

After our visit with the protestors, we made our way over the Thames and down to Southwark Cathedral for the service.

While not as big as St. Paul's, the cathedral was still impressive and the music for the service was wonderful!

We tried to get in to see War Horse, but after waiting in the return queue, we did not have any luck so we went over to Covent Garden for a pub dinner.  It was a nice evening.  The next day, Melissa and I were the talk of the crew with our spiffy London 2012 Olympic Lanyards!

Spelunking and the Blue Lagoon

We left Sellfoss early the next morning and made our way back to Reykjavík.  Along the way we stopped at a greenhouse where we learned a little bit about the Icelandic flower industry from Axel, who's family runs the business.  It was kind of interesting to learn how they have used the greenhouses and artificial light to turn it into a year round growing season.

On our way back to Reykjavík, we stopped at a pseudo crater who's name I cannot recall, but I did get a photo with Steini and our Viking caps.  Original Viking hats did not have the horns sticking out of the side like we imagine.  That was a 19th century invention for the opera.

Once back at Reykjavík, we had the afternoon to go around town and do a little last minute gift shopping.  

Marty had a little shoe malfunction when the sole of her boot started to come apart.  The hotel in Sellfoss had tried to tape it back together for her, but with the rainy afternoon in Reykjavík it started to come apart.  We stopped at an art supply shop to buy some heavy duty tape, and Stu performed the necessary repair.

While our intentions were good, the tape only stayed on about 20 minutes.  At that point, it was really starting to rain so we made our way to the original Ice Bar, to drink some Brennivín in a sub zero room, but when we got their we learned that the bar had "melted" a few weeks before at the end of the high season for tourists.

Our alternative was an English pub that was playing Beatles music.  We left Stu and Marty there and went and did some more shopping.  We wanted to explore the possible venues for the Iceland Airwaves concerts, but all the "name" bands required a ticket.

We ate dinner at unique little diner called The Laundromat Cafe.  I had some chile con carne that was out of this world!  After making our way back in the rain, we soaked to the bone as you can see.

Because of the colder temps, there was not more white water rafting excursions after September, so we went to the Blue Mountains to go spelunking instead.

After signing all the necessary legal wavers, our guides took us down into a hollowed lava tube known as the "End of the Road Cave".  We only went about 10 to 15 meters below the surface during our hour long tour as the lava tubes do not sit that far down below ground.

The cave gets it's name because of the dead end of the lava tube.  At the end of the cave are the remains of a baby sheep that probably wandered into the cave or was chased in by a predator, and was trapped.  They estimate the remains are several hundred years old.

The spelunking was a bit stressful for me, with it's small closed-in environment.  After the traumatic experience, what better way to unwind than at the Blue Lagoon, the famous geo-thermal spa located outside Reykjavík.

The waters contain both sulfur and silica and many people go to the lagoon because it helps people with skin ailments.  Water temperatures average between 98 and 102 degrees.  The lagoon is fed by the water output of the nearby geothermal power plant and is renewed every 2 days. Superheated water is vented from the ground near a lava flow and used to run turbines that generate electricity. After going through the turbines, the steam and hot water passes through a heat exchanger to provide heat for a municipal hot water heating system. Then the water is fed into the lagoon for recreational and medicinal users to bathe in.

We spent our last morning in Iceland with a visit to the National Museum.  Susan, Rocky, Paul and I stole away for an hour to have one last hot dog at the famous hot dog stand.  When we made it back to the museum, we had some amazing hot chocolate and saw some of the exhibits before heading to the airport.

After some drama with the VAT refunds, we boarded our flight for New York and a mere six hours later, we were back in the United States.  We spent the night near JFK and then made our connection home the next morning.

The trip to Iceland was an amazing experience and definitely in my top 5 of places I have been in the world.  We were pretty lucky with the weather for the most part.  There was only a few rain days and while it was cold, we were dressed appropriately, so we were comfortable.  The scenery was amazing and the people couldn't have been friendlier.  I suggest that anyone interested make the journey!