Slowly moving on with our diary-like adventurous posts and the subject for today is our long journey to Russia. This wasn't the longest time it took us to get from point A to point B, but the longest we've ever travelled with a child and somewhat the most stressful.
We started off with an amazing attitude. I was ready to see my family, Sofi was so excited, no amount of words could do it justice and my husband was eager to change the routine of our days. We had such high expectations, so the drive to LA wasn't bad at all.
However, as soon as we got to the airport things just started happening.
First of all, our original plan was: go from the US to Finland, spend a few days there, meet up with our friend that we haven't seen since China and then drive to Russia. If you remember some of my previous posts, you would know that we had to re-apply for my husband's Russian visa and lost quite a bit of time in the process. Because of that, we didn't have enough time to get my Schengen visa as it could take up to a month. We called a consulate and explained the situation. The lovely Finnish lady helped us reach a decision that we just buy tickets from Helsinki to Moscow, making sure they go from the same airport and the same day and I'm golden because transit for Russians is visa-free. Great plan, right? Wrong.
Since the destination on my original ticket was Finland and not Russia, the system required information about a visa or residency, neither one of which I have. The airline could override this rule, but they could get in a lot of trouble with Finland if I turned out to be lying, so after numerous chats with numerous supervisors, we were told that they won't allow me to board the plane. It really was great considering I already find airports, airplanes and any kind of security checks terrifying and get anxious hours in advance.
Anyways, we ended up buying a whole new set of tickets last minute with the help of my brother-in-law. Our flight moved to late evening and had one layover in the UK.
Here is us trying to keep the cheers even though we're stressed and tired and one panic attack short, but don't worry, it'll catch up soon enough.
The airline switched to Virgin Atlantic, which was the best airline I've ever experienced to date.
Everything was very modern and comfortable, and more food options to choose from - not just 'chicken or fish' (seriously, they had a spicy vegan curry, which is more than I could have ever asked for).
The staff members were absolutely lovely and I mean it because when I started having a panic attack after taking off, they handled it pretty well with some guidance from my husband.
Sofia made friends with an elderly British lady and they kept chatting throughout our flight.
The only thing that couldn't have been any worse was sleeping arrangement. The little one couldn't get comfortable so she would wake up constantly with the worst attitude. Any position was not maintainable, so when she started purposefully hanging her legs over the edge, we just rolled with it.
As you can probably imagine, this didn't last very long, so for the remaining of our flight, she slept in my arms. It also meant that I didn't sleep at all, but hey they had a decent collection of movies to choose from.
The rest of the flight was kind of uneventful, because Sofi woke up in such amazing mood, being a weird child she is, and my husband handled her from that point so that I could get some rest.
A few interesting things happened after landing, like Sofi's first bus ride (Heathrow is big, Y'all).
As well as the Harry Potter shop, which I was not allowed to enter by my husband, because I couldn't contain myself.
Boy! Did we spend a lot of time there!
The little one was not fully potty-trained at that moment, so I ended up washing her underwear and changing her nearly every hour.
Here is me having a quiet breakdown while my husband is on a coffee chase. By the way, when you are feeling like s**t, sometimes if you ask a kid to give you 5 minutes of quiet they might actually have mercy on you. That was nice.
Having such a lucky few days I actually was on my period. If you combine that with potty-training, I was practically living in a bathroom.
Here is a picture to reflect on that. Fake it until you make it. Although, I enjoy the dark irony of bad days, so I suppose, I shouldn't complain. It's life. Not every day is going to be awesome.
The second flight was a bliss because Sofia straight up passed out.
And the sunrise looked like some sort of photo filter.
Oddly enough, even sleep deprivation doesn't dull the beauty of nature.
We landed safely in Moscow and were picked up by my uncle at ridiculous a.m. All three of us fell asleep in his apartment for a good 5 hours, but we still had a little time to explore the park nearby.
In the evening we jumped on a train and arrived at my hometown early next morning.
What I didn't account for are the infamous 'white nights' that we have in the north. Basically, once you get closer to the polar circle you get a glimpse of the half-year-night and half-year-day thing. Not fully, of course, but during winter days are very short and during summer night becomes almost non-existent. So the sun sets at 1 a.m. and rises again at 3 a.m., making everything in the middle look more like a late evening rather than the middle of the night.
It was only starting to occur at the time of our arrival, so we did get a normal night, but the sunrise woke Sofi up at about 3 a.m. and we had to basically whisper until 7 a.m. so two other passengers could get a decent sleep.
It was quite funny, not going to lie. Really puts your child's patience to the test.
To be perfectly honest, I was scared of going back. I left my town at 17 and didn't even remember the time when I didn't feel insecure or anxious or trapped. So there I was, at 23, much more mature and confident, but completely terrified that the town will bring back all of my insecurities. Memory is a curious thing. You could painfully miss something and at the same time reject it on a molecular level.
Spoiler: everything turned out great.
My mom and Sofia got so madly in love with each other than the rest of our time there spent pretty much in some version of a hug.
If I have to estimate, we probably spent about 2 days on driving, flying, waiting and stressing. We had a 2-year-old, a whole bag worth of little pants and knickers and an intense anxiety problem. And we survived!
I'll even go as far as saying that it was quite fun at times and will definitely be one of the things that I will never forget.
Have fun. Travel. And, please, enjoy every moment, even if it doesn't seem good at the time.
Have a great day. I'll see you next Thursday.
We started off with an amazing attitude. I was ready to see my family, Sofi was so excited, no amount of words could do it justice and my husband was eager to change the routine of our days. We had such high expectations, so the drive to LA wasn't bad at all.
However, as soon as we got to the airport things just started happening.
First of all, our original plan was: go from the US to Finland, spend a few days there, meet up with our friend that we haven't seen since China and then drive to Russia. If you remember some of my previous posts, you would know that we had to re-apply for my husband's Russian visa and lost quite a bit of time in the process. Because of that, we didn't have enough time to get my Schengen visa as it could take up to a month. We called a consulate and explained the situation. The lovely Finnish lady helped us reach a decision that we just buy tickets from Helsinki to Moscow, making sure they go from the same airport and the same day and I'm golden because transit for Russians is visa-free. Great plan, right? Wrong.
Since the destination on my original ticket was Finland and not Russia, the system required information about a visa or residency, neither one of which I have. The airline could override this rule, but they could get in a lot of trouble with Finland if I turned out to be lying, so after numerous chats with numerous supervisors, we were told that they won't allow me to board the plane. It really was great considering I already find airports, airplanes and any kind of security checks terrifying and get anxious hours in advance.
Anyways, we ended up buying a whole new set of tickets last minute with the help of my brother-in-law. Our flight moved to late evening and had one layover in the UK.
Here is us trying to keep the cheers even though we're stressed and tired and one panic attack short, but don't worry, it'll catch up soon enough.
The airline switched to Virgin Atlantic, which was the best airline I've ever experienced to date.
Everything was very modern and comfortable, and more food options to choose from - not just 'chicken or fish' (seriously, they had a spicy vegan curry, which is more than I could have ever asked for).
The staff members were absolutely lovely and I mean it because when I started having a panic attack after taking off, they handled it pretty well with some guidance from my husband.
Sofia made friends with an elderly British lady and they kept chatting throughout our flight.
The only thing that couldn't have been any worse was sleeping arrangement. The little one couldn't get comfortable so she would wake up constantly with the worst attitude. Any position was not maintainable, so when she started purposefully hanging her legs over the edge, we just rolled with it.
As you can probably imagine, this didn't last very long, so for the remaining of our flight, she slept in my arms. It also meant that I didn't sleep at all, but hey they had a decent collection of movies to choose from.
The rest of the flight was kind of uneventful, because Sofi woke up in such amazing mood, being a weird child she is, and my husband handled her from that point so that I could get some rest.
A few interesting things happened after landing, like Sofi's first bus ride (Heathrow is big, Y'all).
As well as the Harry Potter shop, which I was not allowed to enter by my husband, because I couldn't contain myself.
Boy! Did we spend a lot of time there!
The little one was not fully potty-trained at that moment, so I ended up washing her underwear and changing her nearly every hour.
Here is me having a quiet breakdown while my husband is on a coffee chase. By the way, when you are feeling like s**t, sometimes if you ask a kid to give you 5 minutes of quiet they might actually have mercy on you. That was nice.
Having such a lucky few days I actually was on my period. If you combine that with potty-training, I was practically living in a bathroom.
Here is a picture to reflect on that. Fake it until you make it. Although, I enjoy the dark irony of bad days, so I suppose, I shouldn't complain. It's life. Not every day is going to be awesome.
The second flight was a bliss because Sofia straight up passed out.
And the sunrise looked like some sort of photo filter.
Oddly enough, even sleep deprivation doesn't dull the beauty of nature.
We landed safely in Moscow and were picked up by my uncle at ridiculous a.m. All three of us fell asleep in his apartment for a good 5 hours, but we still had a little time to explore the park nearby.
In the evening we jumped on a train and arrived at my hometown early next morning.
What I didn't account for are the infamous 'white nights' that we have in the north. Basically, once you get closer to the polar circle you get a glimpse of the half-year-night and half-year-day thing. Not fully, of course, but during winter days are very short and during summer night becomes almost non-existent. So the sun sets at 1 a.m. and rises again at 3 a.m., making everything in the middle look more like a late evening rather than the middle of the night.
It was only starting to occur at the time of our arrival, so we did get a normal night, but the sunrise woke Sofi up at about 3 a.m. and we had to basically whisper until 7 a.m. so two other passengers could get a decent sleep.
It was quite funny, not going to lie. Really puts your child's patience to the test.
To be perfectly honest, I was scared of going back. I left my town at 17 and didn't even remember the time when I didn't feel insecure or anxious or trapped. So there I was, at 23, much more mature and confident, but completely terrified that the town will bring back all of my insecurities. Memory is a curious thing. You could painfully miss something and at the same time reject it on a molecular level.
Spoiler: everything turned out great.
My mom and Sofia got so madly in love with each other than the rest of our time there spent pretty much in some version of a hug.
If I have to estimate, we probably spent about 2 days on driving, flying, waiting and stressing. We had a 2-year-old, a whole bag worth of little pants and knickers and an intense anxiety problem. And we survived!
I'll even go as far as saying that it was quite fun at times and will definitely be one of the things that I will never forget.
Have fun. Travel. And, please, enjoy every moment, even if it doesn't seem good at the time.
Have a great day. I'll see you next Thursday.
No comments:
Post a Comment