Okay, we've been home now for a few days and are finally starting to get over our jet lag. Hopefully the waking up at 3am will stop soon. :) I suppose I was doing that in Ukraine too though so maybe it's unrelated to the jet lag.
I have a couple more days in Kiev to finish talking about and then we can get on to the post adoption process. :)
So...we woke up at 3am (on purpose) last Wednesday in order to be ready and out the door at 4:30. We all ate a little something, but not much since I knew we were getting fed on the plane. We cleaned up as best we could, I blogged a little since I had a few minutes and then we were on our way. Irina was waiting for us outside and we managed to get all the luggage and girls into her car. It was sad driving away and seeing Kiev for the last time. At least for now.
We got to the airport right about 5am and it was VERY busy. She got us in line to check our bags and then was off. It was a very long line and it was going very slowly. Every once in a while someone would say something and Ira would perk up and look at me. I had no idea what had been said though and she couldn't explain it to me so in line we waited. When it was our turn we got someone that was taking her time finishing up the bag that was left by the last person. When she finally started helping us she took forever with Ira's passport and such. She wanted to see the adoption info we were supposed to give the people at customs in SLC. By the time we finally had our bags checked and headed upstairs we had about 30-45 minutes before our plane was supposed to take off.
Security went pretty quickly. It was very discouraging though to finish with that and find a VERY long line to get through passport control. We waited and waited and I kept praying that time would move slowly so we could still make that plane. It was supposed to be boarding already. When we got up to the guy he started looking at our passports and then wanted to see the adoption paperwork. Not the same that I showed the lady downstairs, but the actual court decree, birth certificate, etc. I pulled that out and then he left. We waited and waited and waited. He finally came back and wanted to see the original birth certificate (I'd just handed him a copy) and then he stamped our passports and off we went. Since I wasn't sure he'd really given me back the birth certificate we had to stop and check to make sure I had that. I did and we were off to our gate.
There was still a lady there so we went up to ask what we needed to do, since it was already past time for the airplane to have left. She took our tickets though and told us to run. We ran down the stairs and there was a bus out there waiting (you take a bus to the plane) but the guy down there wouldn't let us out. She called us back up the stairs and another lady came and told us we'd missed the flight. Not surprising, but still. We were told to follow the first lady and she took us a couple different places that led us nowhere. Then she left us (I thought with the intent to return) and pretty soon some guy said to go backwards through security. I finally called Natasha to see what to do since the lady that had been helping us disappeared. She told us to try and talk to someone (that speaks English of course) and have them tell me what to do. She got on the phone with Air France and Delta on her end as well.
We were told by some people downstairs that we needed to wait until Air France opened at 10. By this time I felt like I'd been up forever but it was only 7:30. Irina and an interpreter showed up around 9:30 and got working on things. We waited until 10:45, when they REALLY opened, and then finally established this was their fault, not mine. They could only get me 2 tickets for Friday's flight and one "unconfirmed" which I took to mean as stand-by.
Irina took us to a new apartment and we were just supposed to call the airline lady later to see about the unconfirmed ticket. Since it had been such a long day we crashed to a movie. Well, the girls watched it, I think and I slept in the bedroom. LOL We were in an unfamiliar area so we went to the store that night, but that was about it. What a long day!
good grief. it sounds like a nightmare. you know the kind where you are trying soooo hard to move your feet but they are stuck? only this is reversed. you are moving so fast and so are your feet but the rest of the world is in s.l.o.w. motion. i hope you are getting lots of rest. i'd love to see you! i'll give you a few weeks to adjust:) glad you are home safe and sound and with little miss ira:)
ReplyDeleteI'd totally love to see you soon! Are you planning any trips down this direction? When is your fingerprint appointment?
ReplyDeleteHoly Cow. I think if this had happened to me and I was the one writing this entry, it would also include two pages of raging and descriptions of how crazy it made it.
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