The evening’s events unfolded without purpose. I had it in my pocket with no solidified or even any thought through plans on when, where or how to ask. In hindsight, it was actually quite perfect. The night sky was clear and drowning out the faint thumping sound of the local discos was the mellow crashing of waves from the Sea of Azov. Also, I’m a sucker for women in skirts.
. . .
Visiting Eastern Europe kinda seems like wanting to visit Canada. It’s there. It’s so close. Both seem to have such an incredible, diverse history (except Canada). But we rarely seem to make the effort to cross the border. Also, why the hell would anyone ever want to visit Canada?
A long layover in Kiev,
is spent entirely watching girls. And by ‘watching’ I mean ‘stalking.’
Then we board this:
Something clearly below FAA standards, and staffed with a pilot who looks remarkably similar to Tom Selleck, only slightly older with a decent looking mullet. The male flight attendant took it a bit further. Slightly heavier man with the top two buttons of his shirt undone thus exposing his man-chest and oversized silver neck chain.
The interior of the plane, organized in a 2 x 2 seating arrangement boasted 3, maybe 4-decades old dark wood panelling, light, faded cloth curtains for window shades, and completely absent of any interior lighting. Your seating assignment was the usual number, followed by either an ‘А’ or ‘Б’ on one side, and a ‘В’ or ‘Г’ on the other side of the isle, which translates from Russian to English as an ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘V’ or ‘G’ respectively. Now you can see the potential for confusion if you’re assigned to the Russian ‘B’ row and the ensuing conflict that may follow.
Guess who got assigned to that seat letter?
On both flights.
It took almost 13 hours journey just to travel from Switzerland to Zaporozhye. Hometown of Ms. Baku.
That's not her.
. . .
Visiting Eastern Europe kinda seems like wanting to visit Canada. It’s there. It’s so close. Both seem to have such an incredible, diverse history (except Canada). But we rarely seem to make the effort to cross the border. Also, why the hell would anyone ever want to visit Canada?
A long layover in Kiev,
is spent entirely watching girls. And by ‘watching’ I mean ‘stalking.’
Then we board this:
Something clearly below FAA standards, and staffed with a pilot who looks remarkably similar to Tom Selleck, only slightly older with a decent looking mullet. The male flight attendant took it a bit further. Slightly heavier man with the top two buttons of his shirt undone thus exposing his man-chest and oversized silver neck chain.
The interior of the plane, organized in a 2 x 2 seating arrangement boasted 3, maybe 4-decades old dark wood panelling, light, faded cloth curtains for window shades, and completely absent of any interior lighting. Your seating assignment was the usual number, followed by either an ‘А’ or ‘Б’ on one side, and a ‘В’ or ‘Г’ on the other side of the isle, which translates from Russian to English as an ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘V’ or ‘G’ respectively. Now you can see the potential for confusion if you’re assigned to the Russian ‘B’ row and the ensuing conflict that may follow.
Guess who got assigned to that seat letter?
On both flights.
It took almost 13 hours journey just to travel from Switzerland to Zaporozhye. Hometown of Ms. Baku.
That's not her.
