The flight

I still can’t believe how smooth everything went. After two days of frantic packing and trying to fit our entire lives into the baggage allowance and under the weight limit, I found myself with two extra suitcases, one of which was heavier than it should have been, and a few very questionable carry-ons and “handbags” that weighted more than other people’s suitcases… Of course, there was no way we could fit all that in the old faithful Billabong, so I had to ask Sam to pick us with his van. We stopped by Ruth’s, where the Memorial Day BBQ was in full swing, stuffed ourselves one last time on American soil and headed to the airport to find a longest line I have ever seen waiting to check-in on our very flight.
But…
The line moved much faster than I thought it would. A nice-looking girl going around was handing carry-on luggage tags. She didn’t agree with me on the size of Roxy’s “handbag”, which was, in fact, a huge backpack. We had to reshuffle and leave my film camera with Sam. But my own over inflated backpack and Vicky’s heavy one passed. Altogether, I had to pay a fraction of what I expected for the extra luggage. The security check-in went smooth, too – even though my laptop was carefully checked for explosives and my shoes for diamonds and drugs. J
The flight was long and tiring, but with very little turbulence along the way. For the first part of our flight, it was still light outside and the views were magnificent. From LAX and the Pacific coast…





We flew over the Angeles National forest…


Over strange-looking round thingies in Nevada…




Glaciers off the shores of Northern Canada…



Greenland…





Iceland….



And of course, the British isles.



The London Heathrow airport looks very big and messy compared to LAX. You exit the plane and follow the signs to transfer to another terminal. And you walk-walk-walk, and then walk some more, and then some, and then at some obscure location across the bathroom some chap tells you “ the bus will arrive momentarily”, which is in 20 minutes, and then you ride-ride-ride, in and out of building, across all the airport service facilities, out in the fields, back into the airport again, and then walk some more….and more, and more… and of course the gate for your flight is not on the information screen, so you have to walk back and ask the customer service, and they tell you it’s gate 23 but they don’t know why it’s not on the screen, and then you run back because it’s 25 min to your flight departure time, and the gate 23 is boarding to Bangalore, India, so you look around and you notice that the whole room is filled with forlorn-looking Armenians, so you sit and wait and 15 min to the flight they finally announce British Airways flight to Yerevan, and all Armenians start pushing each other as it is the national custom and miraculously everyone gets on the plane in 15 min and it takes off almost on time. Phew!


The second plane we took wasn’t a jet, just an aerobus, the turbulence was more noticeable, but still pretty tolerable. It was going to Yerevan and then to Tashkent (Uzbekistan) so mix of people on the plane was quite interesting. Toward the end of the flight a few, ahem, gentlemen were drunk and flirting with the flight attendants (who didn’t seem to mind). Otherwise all went well again, we landed uneventfully and didn’t even had to go through customs! Our rented car was waiting, and even though it took the two guys who came with it some brainwork to fit us and our luggage into the advertised “comfortable minivan”, they eventually did and we arrived at out rented apartment soon after 1 am. Yoo-hoo!


Some confused first impressions:

Faces staring at us from behind the glass while we are waiting for our suitcases. People are gathered along the glass wall that separates the secured arrival area. They are pushing each other, trying to spot a loved one a second sooner. Now I know how fish feels in an aquarium…
They finally got enough sense to relocate all the casinos out of the city, so now they are crowded along the 15 km “highway” to the airport right outside the city.
The American Embassy got themselves a new building, and quite a big one. They say it’s the biggest US Embassy building in Europe. Why does the smallest country get the biggest embassy? Beats me… (Any taxpayers reading this? It’s your tax dollar in all it’s glory. I’ll be posting a picture as soon as I get one.)
Lots and lots and LOTS of traffic. This ancient city wasn’t built to handle so many cars.
People stare. Even before they hear us speak English. Not because we look different. They stare at each other too. I am kinda used to it and don’t care anyway, but the kids feel uncomfortable.
Cafes everywhere, and the closer you get to downtown, the more cafes you see. The park across the street from my building is so full of them, you can’t walk straight and have to make your way around. Like mushrooms after the rain. It’s the new Yerevan craze…