HAPPY ENDING TO A SAD STORY

[Apk1]

I followed up today with my travel agent to see if there was any news about Olga. They were very happy that we were able to help with translations and I think we gave good advice to the police officer on how to handle her itenerary for the return trip if and when she finds the money. They wanted to send her back the way she came; S.F to New York to London to Kiev.....I asked how can this young girl understand the many terminal changes that needed to be made? She does not speak or read English?? I told the officer you had better look into flying Aeroflot direct from San Francisco to Moscow, at least there she can ask questions to jump a shuttle or train to Kiev. After my wife explained that to her yesterday she finally smiled, at last someone understood the problem...she was very happy with the solution I came up with. The travel agent worked up a price: $760 Aeroflot one way to Moscow, going the other way through New York was going to cost over $1,000!
She will buy a train ticket once in Moscow and be in Kiev withen 24 hours...my wife thinks the train ticket will be around $80.00 USD.
  Some of you guys that want to save a few bucks getting to Ukraine might think about this...might even be fun?

todays news: police contacted a charity organization to solicit aid....and withen the day raised the money for Olga's return trip. The police station raised the money for her train ticket, I am not sure which organization gave the money for Aeroflot.

I want to thank those guys that posted thier concern and willingness to help, if there was no other way to get the poor girl home I guess I would have been a little more agressive in getting the ball rolling too...I do not have all of the facts about the situation with this girl, the police were doing an investigation and did not volunteer too much information to me except what the girl told my wife.
As Dan said...there is two sides to every story, we only heard one side of it.

[wilmc]

... in response to HAPPY ENDING TO A SAD STORY, posted by Apk1 on May 30, 2002

Thank you for sharing this story with us and for supporting the poor young lady that needed help.

I was really delighted to read all the helpful advice given and to know that many folks volunteered to help out with contributions.

There are a lot of great people participating in this forum.  Take a minute and feel good about yourselves.  

Now let's put our combined intellects together and think what we can do to prevent this from happening again.  How can the unsrupulous louses and just stupid people be prevented from messing up a beautiful process enabling good people from distant lands to find each other to share some love and happiness.  Is there anything we can do  without messing the process up with more regulations,  controls and bureacratic hoops.

Sorry, I guess I am just a hopeless romantic.

Again, thanks for doing the right thing!

[Rags]

... in response to HAPPY ENDING TO A SAD STORY, posted by Apk1 on May 30, 2002

I'm glad that you were there to help out and everything came out OK.

I think that I will approach my wife about notifying the sheriff's dept and local police that she would be available in an emergency as a Russian/Ukrainian translator. There's not a large Slavic community up here in the mountains but there could be someone passing through that needs help.

You would think that the Motown police would at least have the number of the Sacramento Slavic Community Center.

I hope that she has some cash for food and her train ticket between Kyiv and Simferopol. Then she will still have to take a taxi to get back to Sevastopol.

[Richard]

... in response to HAPPY ENDING TO A SAD STORY, posted by Apk1 on May 30, 2002

I'm glad to hear she's on her way home.