Tuesday

Well of COURSE Tuesday morning I was still running around doing last minute scrambling. I was mostly done, and could've left and just bought what I needed when I got there, but I really would rather not. So I zipped to Target as soon as they opened and then ran back home with my items to jam them into my suitcase. Then, off to Whole Paycheck for some in flight snacks, except, lo! They're closed due to an electricity problem. More running around.

Got to the airport with plenty of time. Had forgotten how irritating that whole security thing is (Ooooh, look out for my scary jamba juice!) but hit no real lines to speak of. Treated myself to a quick massage minutes before I stepped on the plane. Ahhhhhh. :)

Surprisingly, the flights weren't bad at all. The first leg of the journey, I was of course waaay back in economy (I loves me a 747), *but* I had a bulkhead seat, which gave me a bit more legroom and I could bend down and actually reach things off the ground when I needed them (as opposed to having the tray table on the seat in front of me jammed into my sinuses when retrieving a pen off the floor.) No back or sciatica issues (whoo hoo!) and a front row seat for all the movies played ("The Visitor", not a feel good movie but very good; "Miss Pettigrew", entertaining but forgettable; "Get Smart", somewhat predictable, but still pretty damned funny). So that was nice.

The layover was painless if not completely confusing for my body clock, and I immediately passed out on the second leg of the trip. You know the kind: where you are basically sitting upright, your forhead pressed into the window/wall at an awkward angle, your mouth hanging open? Yeah, that was me. For some reaason, I was only one of about 4 women on the plane. It felt more than a bit odd. I'd almost go so far as to say unnerving. Read a local magazine, but was a bit lost, I'll admit.

Cities are cities are cities, no matter where you go. Coming into land, looking down over the rivers and roads and towns, I could've been anywhere. But I wasn't just anywhere.

I was in Moscow.