KIV: Take Two

The next morning, we were up again, well before the proverbial crack of dawn. Again we met our driver and loaded all of the suitcases and carry-ons into the car, and again we drove to the airport. Again we had checked our flight status online. And again, we said Good Bye to favorite Chisinau landmarks as we headed out of the City Center.

This time, the flight was on time. However, when we went to check in at the desk, we were told that the papers that we were holding were NOT actually tickets. It was merely a reservation that had not actually been booked. I pleaded with them not to let the plane to Kiev depart without us on it, to no avail.

After more than 6 hours of searching and negotiating on Sunday, all we had gotten was a meaningless slip of paper.

It took another 6+ hours to find a solution on Monday. All kinds of itineraries, stopping at cities throughout Europe and North America were floated as possibilities. Intially we were told we could not get out of KIV before January 4th . . .

So it was another stressful morning, with no breakfast or lunch . . . . as several AirMoldova staffers tried to find us a way home.

We seemed to be caught in a classic "Catch-22." If there were 2 seats on a plane, then it was on an airline that AirMoldova did not have a contract with; if it was an appropriate plane/airline, then there would not be 2 seats available. And so it went on, for several hours.

We finally were re-booked on flights, and then we inquired about a hotel reservation. Despite my pleas, we found ourselves homeless in Chisinau.

I will spare you further details of the drama, only to say we are so grateful that our Swedish friends opened their home and welcomed us to stay with them!

Peggy was a real trooper over the course of these many hours on Sunday and again on Monday. She had fun on my laptop and coloring at the AirMoldova desk. Here she is pictured in a tiara that she picked out at one of the newsstand kiosks in the airport. It was 80 MDL, which is pretty outrageous, but she was being so patient as we worked through these travel plans that I just could not say No. In fact, later that night when I was looking for something in my laptop bag, I found all of these pictures that she had drawn for me while sitting in the AirMoldova office. "I love Mom" with hearts, flowers, butterflys. It made me feel bad that I was so tied up in trying to get our flight and hotel reservations sorted out that I was oblivious to the fun she was having.

We once again packed all of our luggage and carry-ons BACK into the car, and this time, we (and all our luggage) were dropped off at our friends' house. It was like deja vu all over again.

But we were happy knowing that we had actual *tickets* for flights on Wednesday. And I knew Peggy was going to have so much fun on this extended sleep-over playdate.