[Teri M]

Wow - I thought I had a crappy time ....but I am wayyyy down at the bottom with my story - but here it goes.

Nov 2004 - we are the proud parents of a beautiful little 15 month old boy with eating problems (can't chew or swallow anything that isn't liquified) we have one bowl of pureed mashed pots & carrots for the ride to Moscow from Khabarovsk (8 hrs) We are flying back to Moscow - I am getting Strep Throat but had antibiotics - still learning how to be a mommy and we are 7 hrs into a flight to Moscow and dealing with 4 Babushkas wanting to hold and feed Alex and wanting to keep blankets on him the entire time, a drunk couple (they weren't a couple until about 2 hrs and 3 bottles of vodka into the flight) all but doing "it" in the seat in front of us. In between their love scenes she wants to hold Alex, and the man wants my hubby to drink with him and his other buddy. So not the most pleasant flight. No sleep for anyone.

So anyway - 7 hrs into the flight to Moscow - we hear the pilot say something that has quietened the whole plane. We didn't know what was being said. Luckily we had a "guardian angel" in the seat across from us - Igor spoke English and told us we were diverting to Nizhny Novgorod because Moscow is closed down. This was about Noon Moscow time...we couldn't believe it. We went to Nizhny Novgorod and tried to land in an ice/snow storm - had to pull up VERY QUICKLY and try again to land....scary scary scary....so we finally land and we sit on the plane for 1 hr - no info. Another hr - no info - then we learn that we will go to the terminal - we are waiting for a bus...another hr goes by - we are hot, tired, sick, hungry, and it is snowing/icing more and more. FInally after 3 hrs on the tarmac - here is the bus - so we load and go to the terminal - COLD COLD COLD. Our guide (Igor) told us where to go to stay warm and told us about "women & children room" - he finds it for us - and sure enough it is full of women and children in a nice warm room. Sweet hubby sat out there with all the Russian men pushing alcohol at him and him saying politely no....(he drinks - he just didn't think this was the time) - There are 18 jumbo jets full of people in this terminal as they were all diverted. I can't tell you how many people that was. Luckily there was snack bar (pringles of course) and bottled water. So I could take my amoxicillian and eat pringles. Alex had just enought food and formula to fill his tummy and go to sleep (Praise the Lord). He slept in a chair full of blankets that I brought from the plane - all the little beds and couches were full of kids and their Moms. I must say the things I saw in that room on how Moms discipline (beat) their kids - was sickening - I can still see it!!!.

Well as the time passed - more and more planes took off and the room started to clear out - after 5 hrs - then 8 hrs - then 10 hrs - we started to wonder if we would ever leave N.N. It kept snowing harder and harder - then it would be ice - then rain - then snow... Alex slept for 8 hrs straight (God was with us) I paced back and forth the entire time - sometimes I would sit on the floor next to Alex. I was getting sicker - but I took my meds every 6 hrs (had to up the dose). We had been there 13 hrs and we were the ONLY plane that hadn't taken off - everyone else had gone - the announcement from the airport terminal was that no more planes would take off until the morning (it was now 1 am Sunday morn - we had landed at 12 noon on Sat afternoon). So we bedded down - My hubby came into the warm room with me and Alex and we tried to all fit on a 1960's style couch to sleep. Not 15 minutes into getting comfortable - they call our flight. Apparently we had a high ranking member of the Duma on our flight - and he was pi**ed off that we didn't go - so he called everyone in Moscow and in N.N and the head of Dalavia airlines and guess what ??? they opened N.N up and we started to go thru passport control and then into the waiting area for the bus to pick up to take us out to the plane. We waited 45 min after going thru the lines in Passport control - then boarded the bus and waited - th bus didn't move - for 45 minutes - we were cramped and crowded beyond belief and sweating - with a hungry, scared 15 month old. We finally go to the plane. but they won't let us off - 15 minutes later - they turns us around and take us back to the terminal and we get off - and go back to our warm little room (which had to be unlocked which tookd 15 minutes) - we again bedded down and 30 minutes they call us again. So our friend Igor comes and gets us again and we go thru the passport control - wait - board the bus and go to the plane - we get on the plane and after 45 minutes - WE TAKE OFF in a blizzard and ice storm - but not before we are DE-ICED WITH HOT WATER- I prayed and prayed!! We take off and head to Moscow - 1hr away. We start to land in the snow storm - blinding white out - and the plane rocks and rolls and goes up & down and I know that God didn't take me 3/4 around the world to find my son only to let us die moments from Moscow. We land safe and sound - and something that is even more amazing - our xlator and driver waited at Domodedova for the entire 14.5 hrs.

Something we will NEVER forget - but a great story to tell Alex when he gets older (or when he is really being a beast and we need to add a little guild - he he)