Seaboard92
Engineer
Planning
As I’m sure many of you know I’ve had a keen interest in Russia for a long time. For some strange reason ever since about 2012 I’ve had a gravitational pull that has pulled me towards Russia. In 2020 this pull became significantly stronger as I now had several Russian friends I was spending hours on lockdown with chatting with.
Well finally in June of 2021 they opened the tourist visas but I didn’t realize this till late August. Originally my plan was to meet one of my Russian friends in the Balkans for a few weeks. But like any travel I plan always subject to last minute changes because I can’t make up my mind usually.
So now knowing how the system worked for moving my days on reserve around I planned a trip to Russia. With no firm plan in place. I went about getting a visa and was all freaked out because when I hit submit I got no response. Then I learned the Webform is only for organizational purposes and that I had to print it out and bring it to the Visa Center.
Pre Trip: Trip.
So on Thursday the 8th of September work released me unnaturally early from a hot reserve trip from Bentonville, AR. Normally they will keep extending me till I reach my legal maximum. This time they let me go at 1011 in the morning. So I made a quick reservation on my phone for the next flight to National Airport in Washington, DC. I refuse to call it by the more popular name, just like I refuse to call Baltimore-Washington International BWI it’s Friendship Airport.
On the way to the gate I stopped At the Bojangles in B concourse because it didn’t have a line. But as one should know in the Charlotte airport that actually means nothing. It still took thirty minutes to get two pieces of chicken. But if you go to any other airport they can have the order in under two minutes. So then I got on my flight. First class was full but I managed to get row 8 A-C to myself. The plane had a mechanical issue so we ended up leaving about twenty minutes late.
I was a bit worried as the scheduled time in was 1:20 PM and the office I had to drop my stuff off at closed at three thirty. It was a quick smooth flight with no in flight service at all. Now note that on my flights I do a full service between CLT and Dulles. After that flight landed we ended up coming in around 12:49 PM to a gate. I was one of the first off and I raced to the Metro. I had a short five minute wait for a blue line train into the city. After that wait was over it wasn’t that long of a trip into Faragut West.
From there I had to get a passport photo made at the local CVS which cost about fifteen dollars and took about five minutes. After that I walked over to the office where the Russian Visa Center is on Connecticut Avenue not far from the White House. I went up to the 7th floor and after going the wrong way first found the office. I went straight thru to a young visa specialist who took my paperwork, helped me make corrections I needed and took my passport. She told me I could pick my visa and passport up on the 20th which was the day my trip was supposed to start.
I paid the 204 dollars (it’s 160 in cash. The service charge adds a lot) and was on my way. I notified my job I had no passport and continued back to National Airport. I then listed myself on an A319 flight to Charlotte and went thru KCM. KCM is a godsend in these busy airports. I was on the plane by three. This time the crew did a full service for the entire plane. Again I had Row 8 D-F to myself. We arrived in Charlotte and I drove home.
Planning round 2
So again as a non revenue passenger my plans are almost always in flex because I go wherever there is space. I didn’t have my final routing booked till the 14th of September with me leaving on the 20th. I had three days to split between Moscow and St Petersburg, and the full length of the Trans Siberian. My good friend Ксения planned the middle part of my Trans Siberian experience I had absolutely no control over that part which was ok with me.
So I made my flight reservations to Russia based on what had the highest likelihood of business or first class lie flats. Which made me schedule myself via JFK to Athens then on an Aeroflot B777-300ER to Moscow. I planned my trains on the corridor (Moscow-St Petersburg) based on what interested me the Red Arrow for her history and the Russian Superliners for the novelty of it.
As far as rooms I wanted to try a bit of everything with the exception of Platzkarte so I did Luxury Cabin on the Red Arrow, First class on the Superliner and the Irkutsk-Vladivostok train, and 2nd class on everything else. I also preordered some meals to experiment with the delivery to train function.
Pre Trip Day -7
Due to the way my work schedule is I packed for my trip seven days in advance. For this trip I packed four suitcases. My usual two for work, and my two for vacation. Now most of the clean items from my work suitcase were also slated to move into my vacation suitcase as I would leave straight from work. By now I have perfected packing and had all four bags packed in under thirty minutes. Then I went to bed.
Pre Trip Day -6
I was scheduled to sit Hot in Charlotte all morning which basically means I sit and maybe get a flight or maybe go home. But I also wanted to get my Russian lesson in. So I left my house at 0430 to be at the airport at 0600 in time for my lesson at 0700. I couldn’t find a quiet spot in the airport where I could have my zoom meeting without a mask, and not be around people. So I went to a hidden corridor everyone forgets about and did it in a men’s room stall.
Of all the weird things I’ve done taking Russian in a toilet stall has to be on the high end of an already crazy list. Towards the end of my lesson I got called to go to Fort Wayne Indiana and they assigned me a four day trip that would let me leave on time to get to Europe. Keep in mind I had been requesting that trip for awhile they finally gave it to me. So off I went to Fort Wayne. A fairly uneventful flight with an uneventful flight attendant.
On my layover I wandered around what I have dubbed as Hoosier Denver. It is a lovely downtown. I had ice cream at a local place and proceeded to watch trains by the former Nickel Plate Station only one local came by. But it was such a nice park where I could dip my feet in a fake stream. I then walked over to the Pennsylvania Station and tried to find a place to railfan on the former Wabash and Pennsylvania Railroad main lines to no progress.
Pre-Trip Day -5
I drove home by the former Heritage USA because my mother and I watched a documentary on it and I wanted to see it. When I got home we had to rush my grandmother back to the hospital. Pretty much as soon as I ate lunch. She was then admitted from the emergency room again for a few days. My mother and I watched some Three’s Company to calm down after that.
Pre-Trip Day-4
I started my work day at 0400 to take my four day trip by driving into Charlotte about an hour and a half. My plane had a light load for our 79 mile why is this a flight flight. We were delayed at the gate due to a maintenance problem with the flaps on our plane. But we still arrived on time because somehow we got a quick taxi.
However in Greenville we had a major delay of 2.5 hours because something had broken for the fifth time and now was the time to replace it. So they had to ferry a new plane into from Charlotte. But in the process they took me off my good four day trip completely and released me when I returned to Charlotte. So I drove home frustrated and worried I would miss my flight to Europe.
Pre Trip Day -3
I had to wake up at 0500 to check my phone to see if I had a flight. I didn’t have a notification so I went back to sleep. At 0530 I had one so I got dressed and left by 0545. So weird to drive thru Rock Hill at daybreak. I ended up going to Flint, Michigan home to my best friend. I had an easy flight with a classmate of mine. For lunch we went to Culver’s afterwards I went to a movie about Aretha Franklin. My god did she have a difficult life. I also dealt with a problem with one of my Russian friends. I didn’t see my best friend because his work extended him however.
Pre-Trip Day -2
I left flint at 0 dark and early back to Charlotte. An easy flight because most of the passengers were asleep. Then they extended me to Harrisburg PA for the night. On my three hour layover I went over to a same day Covid test place and got my test done for 200 dollars. Previously in the month before I requested that flight for the sake of going to Hershey Park. This time I opted to stay at the hotel as no point in paying that money before vacation to better places. I went shopping instead to get the gifts for my Russian friends. They all wanted American candy they don’t get so an easy run to target works.
As I’m sure many of you know I’ve had a keen interest in Russia for a long time. For some strange reason ever since about 2012 I’ve had a gravitational pull that has pulled me towards Russia. In 2020 this pull became significantly stronger as I now had several Russian friends I was spending hours on lockdown with chatting with.
Well finally in June of 2021 they opened the tourist visas but I didn’t realize this till late August. Originally my plan was to meet one of my Russian friends in the Balkans for a few weeks. But like any travel I plan always subject to last minute changes because I can’t make up my mind usually.
So now knowing how the system worked for moving my days on reserve around I planned a trip to Russia. With no firm plan in place. I went about getting a visa and was all freaked out because when I hit submit I got no response. Then I learned the Webform is only for organizational purposes and that I had to print it out and bring it to the Visa Center.
Pre Trip: Trip.
So on Thursday the 8th of September work released me unnaturally early from a hot reserve trip from Bentonville, AR. Normally they will keep extending me till I reach my legal maximum. This time they let me go at 1011 in the morning. So I made a quick reservation on my phone for the next flight to National Airport in Washington, DC. I refuse to call it by the more popular name, just like I refuse to call Baltimore-Washington International BWI it’s Friendship Airport.
On the way to the gate I stopped At the Bojangles in B concourse because it didn’t have a line. But as one should know in the Charlotte airport that actually means nothing. It still took thirty minutes to get two pieces of chicken. But if you go to any other airport they can have the order in under two minutes. So then I got on my flight. First class was full but I managed to get row 8 A-C to myself. The plane had a mechanical issue so we ended up leaving about twenty minutes late.
I was a bit worried as the scheduled time in was 1:20 PM and the office I had to drop my stuff off at closed at three thirty. It was a quick smooth flight with no in flight service at all. Now note that on my flights I do a full service between CLT and Dulles. After that flight landed we ended up coming in around 12:49 PM to a gate. I was one of the first off and I raced to the Metro. I had a short five minute wait for a blue line train into the city. After that wait was over it wasn’t that long of a trip into Faragut West.
From there I had to get a passport photo made at the local CVS which cost about fifteen dollars and took about five minutes. After that I walked over to the office where the Russian Visa Center is on Connecticut Avenue not far from the White House. I went up to the 7th floor and after going the wrong way first found the office. I went straight thru to a young visa specialist who took my paperwork, helped me make corrections I needed and took my passport. She told me I could pick my visa and passport up on the 20th which was the day my trip was supposed to start.
I paid the 204 dollars (it’s 160 in cash. The service charge adds a lot) and was on my way. I notified my job I had no passport and continued back to National Airport. I then listed myself on an A319 flight to Charlotte and went thru KCM. KCM is a godsend in these busy airports. I was on the plane by three. This time the crew did a full service for the entire plane. Again I had Row 8 D-F to myself. We arrived in Charlotte and I drove home.
Planning round 2
So again as a non revenue passenger my plans are almost always in flex because I go wherever there is space. I didn’t have my final routing booked till the 14th of September with me leaving on the 20th. I had three days to split between Moscow and St Petersburg, and the full length of the Trans Siberian. My good friend Ксения planned the middle part of my Trans Siberian experience I had absolutely no control over that part which was ok with me.
So I made my flight reservations to Russia based on what had the highest likelihood of business or first class lie flats. Which made me schedule myself via JFK to Athens then on an Aeroflot B777-300ER to Moscow. I planned my trains on the corridor (Moscow-St Petersburg) based on what interested me the Red Arrow for her history and the Russian Superliners for the novelty of it.
As far as rooms I wanted to try a bit of everything with the exception of Platzkarte so I did Luxury Cabin on the Red Arrow, First class on the Superliner and the Irkutsk-Vladivostok train, and 2nd class on everything else. I also preordered some meals to experiment with the delivery to train function.
Pre Trip Day -7
Due to the way my work schedule is I packed for my trip seven days in advance. For this trip I packed four suitcases. My usual two for work, and my two for vacation. Now most of the clean items from my work suitcase were also slated to move into my vacation suitcase as I would leave straight from work. By now I have perfected packing and had all four bags packed in under thirty minutes. Then I went to bed.
Pre Trip Day -6
I was scheduled to sit Hot in Charlotte all morning which basically means I sit and maybe get a flight or maybe go home. But I also wanted to get my Russian lesson in. So I left my house at 0430 to be at the airport at 0600 in time for my lesson at 0700. I couldn’t find a quiet spot in the airport where I could have my zoom meeting without a mask, and not be around people. So I went to a hidden corridor everyone forgets about and did it in a men’s room stall.
Of all the weird things I’ve done taking Russian in a toilet stall has to be on the high end of an already crazy list. Towards the end of my lesson I got called to go to Fort Wayne Indiana and they assigned me a four day trip that would let me leave on time to get to Europe. Keep in mind I had been requesting that trip for awhile they finally gave it to me. So off I went to Fort Wayne. A fairly uneventful flight with an uneventful flight attendant.
On my layover I wandered around what I have dubbed as Hoosier Denver. It is a lovely downtown. I had ice cream at a local place and proceeded to watch trains by the former Nickel Plate Station only one local came by. But it was such a nice park where I could dip my feet in a fake stream. I then walked over to the Pennsylvania Station and tried to find a place to railfan on the former Wabash and Pennsylvania Railroad main lines to no progress.
Pre-Trip Day -5
I drove home by the former Heritage USA because my mother and I watched a documentary on it and I wanted to see it. When I got home we had to rush my grandmother back to the hospital. Pretty much as soon as I ate lunch. She was then admitted from the emergency room again for a few days. My mother and I watched some Three’s Company to calm down after that.
Pre-Trip Day-4
I started my work day at 0400 to take my four day trip by driving into Charlotte about an hour and a half. My plane had a light load for our 79 mile why is this a flight flight. We were delayed at the gate due to a maintenance problem with the flaps on our plane. But we still arrived on time because somehow we got a quick taxi.
However in Greenville we had a major delay of 2.5 hours because something had broken for the fifth time and now was the time to replace it. So they had to ferry a new plane into from Charlotte. But in the process they took me off my good four day trip completely and released me when I returned to Charlotte. So I drove home frustrated and worried I would miss my flight to Europe.
Pre Trip Day -3
I had to wake up at 0500 to check my phone to see if I had a flight. I didn’t have a notification so I went back to sleep. At 0530 I had one so I got dressed and left by 0545. So weird to drive thru Rock Hill at daybreak. I ended up going to Flint, Michigan home to my best friend. I had an easy flight with a classmate of mine. For lunch we went to Culver’s afterwards I went to a movie about Aretha Franklin. My god did she have a difficult life. I also dealt with a problem with one of my Russian friends. I didn’t see my best friend because his work extended him however.
Pre-Trip Day -2
I left flint at 0 dark and early back to Charlotte. An easy flight because most of the passengers were asleep. Then they extended me to Harrisburg PA for the night. On my three hour layover I went over to a same day Covid test place and got my test done for 200 dollars. Previously in the month before I requested that flight for the sake of going to Hershey Park. This time I opted to stay at the hotel as no point in paying that money before vacation to better places. I went shopping instead to get the gifts for my Russian friends. They all wanted American candy they don’t get so an easy run to target works.