Moscow - Here we Come!

As with any journey, ours started with massive amounts of preparation. Fortunately (or unfortunately for Nathan), I always feel most comfortable when I can get things done in advance. With the adoption process there are so many times that you feel 'out of control', getting packed and being prepared for our travel seemed like a way that we could control time instead of time controlling us. For months, I have been 'lurking' on various Russian adoption boards collecting bits of advice to make the most of our trip.

We departed for Moscow on March 22nd from Chicago O'Hare. The counter agent seemed grumpy and we hoped this wasn't foreshadowing of all Delta employees.

Nathan and I always start every international voyage with spicy gin Bloody Marys. These drinks were first introduced to me by my folks, John and Toni Platt. (Yes, they are a fair bit of fun.)

We tried to pack light but with two bags of gifts for the orphanage, the orphanage workers and various toys to tempt Alexander with, we failed miserably. My trendy red bag and computer roller bag were almost heavy enough to send me straight to the hospital. I'll know better for next time - I'm thinking roller backpack. Fortunately, we won't be taking my laptop for the next trip. I may go through computer withdrawal but I won't come home with a hernia.

Traveling Delta coach was certainly not our idea of the most comfortable way to travel. The flight from Atlanta to Moscow is 10 hours! YIKES! I find that I'm 'Done' at about 5 hours no matter what. We did manage to get a little sleep with the help of a couple of Tylenol PM. We saw Harry Potter again and saw the Family Stone which was pretty funny.

We arrived at Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow and made it through passport control without incident. All our bags arrived (making this airport better than Charles De Gaulle which snags at least one of my bags every time I travel through it) and, after researching carefully decided against our adoption agency's advice to declare our video camera and computer. We skated through customs in the 'green' line and met our Cradle contact. Our driver assisted us with the ocean of luggage that had made it's way to Moscow and we headed towards our hotel. Unfortunately, there are two Marriots on Tverskaya and we started at the wrong one. No worries - we hopped back into our car and headed to the Marriot Grande.

The Marriot Grande is a lovely hotel with very comfortable rooms. We saw a man with a toddler in the elevator and were sure that he was with his newly adopted son. We smiled thinking that this would be us soon.

We toasted our arrival in Moscow with two glasses of Russian champagne (yes, we were a bit scared as we hadn't heard that Russia had a great champagne region or any champagne for that matter) and a brie sandwich. We received our rental cell phone from Peace Travel to insure that we had no issues contacting our doctors while in Kaluga. We got a good night's sleep to get us prepared for our voyage and, more importantly, to meet our son, Alexander.