The day draws near (Travel and Arrival)…

We left our house at 1:25pm on Saturday (running a little late for a 4:30 flight from JFK). No traffic, so things were going our way. 1st flight was about 9 hours and was uneventful. We left JFK at 4:35pm and arrived in Moscow at 9am (2am back at home).

At JFK, we had been told that our bags were checked all the way through to Vlad. Thank goodness we checked (ignoring guidance from Russian-speaking passengers to proceed directly to Passport Control) as it turned out the bags had not been checked all the way through. Wouldn’t that have been lovely to have no clothes for us or Victoria! Haha… Oh well, snafu avoided and we were on our way to the Domestic Terminal (Terminal One) in Moscow. Of course, we had no idea where Terminal One was. So, that was interesting, but we had 10 hours to figure it out.

We grabbed our bags, passed customs, and literally fought our way through the most persistent, endless sea of taxi drivers we have ever seen. Our connection was with Aeroflot, so we found their counter and were told that they had a free shuttle to Terminal One (which was a 15 km drive). Still hounded by taxi drivers, we worked our way outside (pretty cold) to wait for the shuttle. We arrived at Terminal One and went to check in and check our luggage…only to find out that we would not be able to check our luggage until 5pm. But, hey, what’s a little 6 hour wait with 6 bags!! Hahaha…

It took a while, but we finally found seats. At this point, we were falling asleep on our feet, so we took turns napping. The pre-check in side of the terminal was VERY cold (keep your jacket buttoned to the top, with hats and gloves kind of cold), but we passed the time and 5pm finally came. We headed through security and on to check our overweight bags (we seriously tried not to over pack, but this was our first time packing for 3!).

We headed out of Moscow shortly after 7 pm on Sunday for our 8.5 hour overnight flight to Vlad, which is another 7 time zones away. We touched down in Vlad at 10:40am on Monday (8:40pm on Sunday at home). Since we were coming in domestically, we hopped off the plane on the tarmac and took a bus to the terminal. Irina, our adoption coordinator here in Russia, met us with a big smile and a warm hug. She really is an awesome person, who works tirelessly to bring families together. As Steve staked out his spot to get our luggage, Irina was filling Sharon in on the events of the days to come.

On our drive from the airport to the hotel (about a half hour), we told Irina about the mounting excitement at home. When we asked her if she had seen Victoria recently, she mentioned that she saw Victoria when she gave her the presents that we sent her for her birthday/Christmas (coloring books, crayons, and a photo album with stickers and pictures of all of us on our 1st trip last September). Victoria was very excited to receive presents and the children in her group were abuzz, asking her “Vika, who sent you these presents?” The answer was one that we are not likely to ever forget; she smiled and said “My parents.” (umm, that would be us! Hahaha…).

We arrived at the hotel at about noon on Monday (10pm on Sunday at home). Total elapsed time, door-to-door, was about 32.5 hours (46.5 hours if you include the time change). We are excited, but physically drained. We grabbed a meal, where we met Lisa and Andrew, a couple from Vancouver who are adopting a little boy. On our way back to the room for a short cat nap, we met Daniella and Chris, a couple from Georgia who adopting a little girl. Our short nap actually turned out to be about 5 hours. Oh well, we missed dinner again (a recurring a story from our first trip). It is now about 11:15pm and we are settling in for an actual night of sleep.

As for the days to come, we will see Victoria on Tuesday (St. Patrick’s Day), some time in the early afternoon. During this visit, we will be accompanied by a court appointed Social Worker, who will observe us with Victoria. This will also be our chance to speak with the Orphanage Director and Doctor to see how our little girl has been doing over the last 5 and a half months. Our date in court is set for Wednesday at 4pm (2am at home). That’s about all that we have for now. It is time to get some rest, so we can be at our best when we see our daughter tomorrow!!!