Siberia, Russia Part 2 Where Are We and What Day Is It?
Standing in the airport in San Diego, I began to wonder exactly how long it was going to take to get to the city of Chita in Siberia. The combination of a vodka hangover, three flights, one train ride and a jump over the international date line didnt help. At first glance, it looked like a total of two days, which wasnt bad for going to the other side of the earth.
I should have paid more attention in math.
The itinerary for getting from San Diego to Chita read like this:
1. Fly from San Diego to Seattle.
2. Meet charity representative and other professor.
3. Fly from Seattle to Anchorage.
4. Fly from Anchorage on Aeroflot [gulp] to Khabarovsk, Russia.
5. Take train from Khabarovsk to Chita.
How bad could it be? Very, very, very bad. Did I mention bad?
Day 1
The flight to Seattle was no problem. I met Tom Dickinson, the founder of Siberian Intercultural Bridges, but we couldnt find the other teacher. Turns out the flight to Anchorage wasnt till the next morning, so it didnt really appear to be a problem. Around midnight, our attitude changed and...