Full of relief and gratitude, the plane set off. We were heading out to start life anew in a vastly, perhaps even incomprehensible, place to most of you. Let me share just a few more of those last minute pictures we took on our last day in the Middle of Nowhere. I think they highlight quite well, the totality of the changes our family has made in the last month.










The plane to the capital city, where we’d be spending the next 30 hours, was the first taste of “western-ish” culture we’d had in a long, long while. Very likely 50% or more of our passenger manifest had probably never flown, and even a few, I’d venture to guess, had never traveled outside of their home “state”. Imagine their confusion when told they could not smoke, must keep their seatbelts fastened, and that a life preserver was under their seats. Ummm…. Why? Do they work for sand? (Still pondering that, along with the other bewildered fellow passengers.)

Of course, with the panic that had just consumed our last hour, I didn’t have time to make my usual 3 trips to the bathroom. I was even prepared with my own TP this time- my last trip out, and I was finally, after 10 years of forgetting it, prepared for that all-important last trip to the Turkish squatty. And I didn’t have time. Which meant as soon as the props were spinning, I had to go. Bad. Even without 2 cups of coffee loaded up. Now, I’d have to be forced to wait until that bane of my travel experience, known as the seatbelt light, was off. Well, at least I’d have free TP, free soap, and a pristine sink to wash my hands in. And, I was going to be first in there- you can count on that! Because customer #2 gets fresh loogies, tinkled on seats, and risks the mortal danger of coming out with TP stuck to their shoe.

Ahhh, cruising altitude; business done, it was time to get our grub. And actually, it wasn’t too bad. We had the choice of lamb meatloaf in a brown gravy with mashed potatoes, or chicken breast with tomato sauce. Mike got the lamb, and the rest of us got the chicken. Remember that. It was tasty, and I ate all of mine. I never eat the Albeni Bar, though. (We’ve been on a lot of these cross-country flights, and the Albeni never changes.) Too sweet. So I threw it in my bag, knowing that in 10 hours I was probably going to throw it away. Usually happens with Lufthansa ham and cheese sandwiches too. I guess I’m an airline food leftovers optimist that is frustrated every time.




Anyone need a scented baby wipe?? How about a refreshing tower?



During lunch, we were entertained by this little “sweetie pie”. Don’t let his cute little face fool you- he’s really a thief disguised in a 2 and a half foot body. His booty of choice? Other peoples’ lunch! I love progression of these photos! See, as a mother of 5, I knew exactly what was coming and had my camera ready.









The rest of the flight was rather uninteresting, except that in the in-flight magazine, I came across an article about Rotel!!! We had just talked about this on either my, Glenn’s or Magdalene’s threads (sorry, you 2, I seriously can’t remember where it popped up), and was so excited to see a write up about it! I wish I had taken a picture, but I was planning on taking a copy of the magazine, and then forgot. DANG! Anyway, if anyone is looking for an (frankly) odd way to travel across Europe, check out Rotel- the rolling hotel.

So, we landed and made contact with the lady who was supposed to meet us at the airport to collect about $1,700 from us for our shipping bill. In Kazakh currency, that equals about 6 inches of stacked cash. I was NOT liking the fact that we had to carry that much currency, but we made our connection with our creditor, and was relieved to know that we were not robbed, beaten, or murdered in the process. The very cool thing was that she asked us where we needed to go, and how we were going to get there. Miraculously, her husband agreed to take us the 1 hour drive to our friends’ house FOR FREE! I was VERY happy to also find out later that he, being the body guard for an ultra-rich Kazakh businessman, was likely not going to get robbed, beaten or murdered taking the money home. We did need another car for our trip across town, and this is what it looks like when men get together to figure out how to get 4 people and 5 boxes into a car. Only at my dinner table on Thanksgiving have I seen more consulting, gesticulating, ranting and re-arranging.






Finally, we were ending phase I of our long, long journey home.

And for some of us, a long, long journey it would be indeed. Because it all goes downhill from here. Meantime, I’ll let you ponder just what I had to run out for during the day, just what had to be cleaned before we left, and how the kids did walking out the door at midnight for our 3AM flight.

Until then, Have a Magical Day!!