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Aeroflot Flight to Russia
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Four days before my flight to St. Petersburg I heard that an Aeroflot flight crashed in the Ural Mountains killing all 88 aboard. I imagined myself in the air listening to the flight attendant giving emergency landing instructions in Russian and thinking that I should have paid attention to this warning.
I boarded the Aeroflot flight from JFK anyway. It was part of a vacation package to Russia for $1900, the airfare itself was $900. When I saw a plane was filled almost entirely with Russian teenagers I assumed this was the cheapest fare available. The tall and leggy girls wore ballet slipper shoes and tight pencil-leg jeans, showing off rolls of flab at the waist. The boys sprouted hair stubble above their lips and pimples on their foreheads. I found myself seated next to a Russian boy who would not stop talking. He said that he was returning from his summer job working at a restaurant at the Grand Canyon along with other Russian teenagers who also had summer restaurant jobs in the U.S. "Have you ever been to the Grand Canyon? It was GREAT!" he said, reminding me of the adventurous youth I travelled with when I was his age.
When a girl came by to claim my seat I realized I was one row off. I moved to the seat in front, and a middle-aged Russian woman wearing a tight black T-shirt and jeans reminding me of the character Rosanna Arquette played in Desperately Seeking Susan sat next to me. She lived in New York and worked as a waitress at a Russian restaurant and was travelling to Russia to visit her other husband. I wasn't sure if I heard her correctly but I didn't ask. She invited me to her restaurant where she said half of the patrons were Americans who loved Russian food and culture. I felt bad that I didn't visit her yet because after two weeks in Russia I still did not find Russian food appealing.
My first experience with Russian food was the airline meal. It's probably not fair to say it was authentic Russian food since it was pretty much the typical airline meal when they were served on domestic flights. Except it was garnished with dill and a dollop of sour cream ten times thicker than I've ever had. After a few meals in Russia I started to notice that dill was the only spice or flavoring used, and it was used in every dish. Sour cream came with almost everything too. I wondered how these girls stayed so thin, I suppose they just didn't eat. The rest of the flight on the first leg to Moscow was uneventful; I tried to read a boring novel about Russian spies, I watched a bit of the airplane movie, after about nine hours my butt was killing me and when plane landed everyone clapped.
After we got off the plane at the airport, there were only five other people on the flight who were also looking for the foreigner's passport line. We were directed to walk along the perimeter of the building that was partitioned off from the rest of the interior. When we got to the passport control we waited in front of a makeshift room where the agent inspected our passports and buzzed each person through a vestibule that led to the main part of the airport. From there we walked to the lower level where we put our luggage through an x-ray machine and waited again in front of metal double doors. Half an hour passed until someone finally came with keys releasing us out into the sunlight. Then we were put on a van that drove for twenty minutes on a country road to another airport for flights to St. Petersburg.
I should have brought 'The Trial' by Kafka to read on the plane instead. Then I would have been prepared for the torturously slow and confusing travel procedures and uncomfortable surroundings. For the next three hours at the airport we suffocated in the cigarette smell, and endured the jack-hammering noise near our gate area. Kathie found a machine that changed dollars into rubles so I got $60 worth of rubles. We tried to amuse ourselves by trying to buy something in the vending machines for under 10 rubles, or 40 cents, but that wasn't too much fun because we couldn't find anything. There was orange juice in the machine for 100 rubles - I didn't buy it because I didn't think it would be worth it.
The only good thing about the flight to St. Petersburg was that it was short. We were unlucky enough to get the row with the unreclinable seats so the trays came up to our stomachs and I managed to spill juice over myself twice. The seats were tightly spaced so the pungent body odors in the plane were inescapable. I sat next to the window where I should have been looking out over the clouds but I couldn't keep myself from staring at the sealant that was falling off instead.
Latest Comments (2)
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You get what you pay for - and less in Russia (reply)
May 22, 2009 01:33 EST by hiwhthi
It might be worth it to pay more for another airline. My trip was definitely the budget package. The most interesting thing about Russia is learning about the history since the guides are all very good. As for Moscow outside of Red Square there wasn't anything about that city that thrilled me.
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Wow! (reply)
May 19, 2009 11:49 EST by adayaway
I've always wanted to see and visit Russia but, after reading of your experience, you have solidly confirmed I will not be going to Russia any time soon via Aeroflot! I am interested in learning more about your visit there because I'm still interested in Russia. Maybe a train from Germany would be better.
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2 votes 
This is a top pick!
