--- Sunday 8/19, Warsaw, Poland ---
The flight from JFK was a rather smooth, but cramped flight, as the rather large gentleman sitting next to me reminded me of Sgt. Schultz (Hogan's Hero's). The food was excellent, for Economy Class, and I was allowed to sample not only 1, but 2 different Polish beers that one of the stewardesses recommended to me, when I asked to try them. The one she most highly recommended was "Zywiecs", or something like that! She said it was "ze-best"!
Now, since I've never been to Europe, I know very little Polish language. I can say "hello", "goodbye", "good", "Thank you" , "Happy New Year", and "I miss you" in Polish. I'm told my pronunciation is good, but this will hardly suffice in a foreign land. Knowing that my connecting flight to St. Petersburg isn't until tomorrow, I'm in no real hurry to get to the foreign transfer counter. I arrive at the counter to find about 10 or 12 people in line ahead of me. For whatever reason, maybe the excitement of the past 30+ hours, or all the dern food that LOT crams down your throat,…but my first urge in Poland was to go sample some of that outstanding Eastern-bloc toilet paper I've been reading so much about. I walk down the stairs & find a men's room. I'm in there for about 6-8 minutes and wonder why not a soul came in while I was in there. Gee, how many airports in America can you say that about?
As I make my way back up the stairs to the foreign transfer desk, I'm checking out the nice airport they have in Warsaw, and the occasional stunningly beautiful women that work at this airport. When I get back to the desk, I'm the only one there. A middle-aged woman named "Elzebieta" proceeds to examine my tickets. After several minutes conversing in Polish with one of her co-workers, etc., she tries to tell me that my ticket has been cancelled & I must purchase a new ticket. I explained the situation (again!), and she wanted to take me down to the Delta/ Air France desk, where she said Delta should take care of this situation. I told her that I had been over & over this again in New York, and if I had to purchase a new ticket, then why did they fly me to Warsaw? She consults with another co-worker (in Polish), and tells me that we will need to speak to someone of higher authority in the LOT Polish office upstairs, and at the cashier. She proceeds to escort me towards the baggage claim area. I still haven't seen my luggage in 3 days, and I'm probably in serious need of changing my underwear & socks about now. She checks my baggage claim numbers & goes inside a locked area where she emerges & exclaims that my baggage is here, but it's already locked up & can't be retrieved. After a few words with the cashier, I am escorted to the executive offices upstairs where she consults with some guy who seems a bit overdressed in a Captain's uniform, instead of business attire. He has Commander shoulder boards on, and after discussing the situation with "Elzebieta", he tells me that my return date is listed as the date of my newer reservation. I told him that I would really just prefer that they reinstate my original itinerary, and let me return on the 25th. This has probably taken about 30-40 minutes and they finally tell me that they will approve my flight to St. Petersburg on Monday, but I need to call their office in St. Petersburg to straighten out my return flight dates. My gawd, why can't this issue be resolved once & for all!? Why does each office keep deferring me to the next one!?
Ok, Elzebieta tells me that I'm all set to fly out tomorrow. That part of my itinerary has a stamp, and an "ok" kind of receipt taped to my ticket. She gives me instructions on how to purchase city bus tickets to a good hotel that's only a few stops down the road from the airport. I manage to get on the right bus, and find the Hotel Gromada just a couple kilometers from the Warsaw airport. My flight the next day for St. Petersburg leaves the next day at 10:50am, and you can bet your butt, I'm going to be at the airport at about 7:30 at the latest. I'm not taking ANY chances, and I'm leaving plenty of margin for error.
The hotel room was comfortable, but a bit small, and I never did figure-out the shower thingie! There was no switch or button or anything that I could find that would divert the water from the regular faucet, to the hand-held shower thingie. I took 2 showers there (or very shallow baths I should say), as I never did find what diverts the water to the hand-held handle. Ok, that evening, I decide to hand-wash my underwear & socks, as it's Sunday evening, and no hotel laundry is available. At this point, I need to telephone St. Petersburg to inform at least 1 if not both Nina's of my impending arrival tomorrow in St. Petersburg. The hotel desk explains to me in mediocre English that they don't know how to connect me by phone to Russia. The U.S. is ok though, as I just have to dial "001" as the country code. I called Phil to ask him if he could e-mail his lady Nina to inform her of my arrival tomorrow. His lady Nina R. has arranged for most details of my visit, but I needed to get word to her that I would probably (barring any more headaches), arrive tomorrow. Immediately after I hung-up with Phil, I was able to change the country code sequence, and I was able to call Nina R. with no problem in Russia. I called Nina S. too! This is the woman that I would be seeing the most of when in Piter.
--- Monday 8/20, Gromada Hotel, Warsaw, Poland ---
I retired to bed early on Sunday night, as I can't sleep much on aircraft. I was up at the crack of dawn,…and Dawn has a pretty nice crack in Poland. I think the sun started coming up about 4:30am. I had a 6:00am wakeup call scheduled, so I decided to lay in bed until the phone rang. I was up, showered, and at the airport by 7:30am. There wasn't anyone waiting in line for check-in. I inquired about my luggage which I informed them was still in lock-up somewhere, and I've been wearing the same clothes since Friday,…4 days now! After being cleared through check-in, & passport control, I found a nice shop that had some men's shirts on sale. I purchased a new shirt, and proceeded to ditch my 4-day smelly shirt into the cleaning lady's push buggy. I found a nice restaurant that had a beautiful breakfast buffet, and I decided to have scrambled eggs, and the most undercooked bacon I've ever seen served in a restaurant in my life. I like my bacon a little rubbery, but this bordered on trichinosis.
I browsed the duty-free shops on the concourse, and was breathing a sigh of relief. It looked like nothing was going to stop me now from getting to St. Petersburg. Ah yes, victory at last! I haven't even had to pay extra to this point. My flight leaves in less than 2 hours, so I decided to sit down in one of the chairs on the concourse,…life is good. I've been watching this most beautiful young woman in all of Poland parade back & forth between someplace & the information desk that is about midway on the concourse. I'm in full view of the manually operated flight status board thingie, that is overhanging the concourse. I'm watching the letters & numbers almost magically rotate at high speed with the utmost efficiency, and come to a stop where they need to be correctly displayed. As I'm looking at the status board, my jaw drops in absolute horror! On this board I've been watching it says "Flight 1683, Time 10:50am, St. Petersburg, Remarks "CANCELLED!!!"
"Oh, my frickin' Gawd"!!!… I'm thinking. What could possibly be the problem now!? Is this the Polishes' idea of some kind of joke!? I'm practically beside myself at this point, and I'm literally starting to talk to myself. I gain my composure and I approach the information desk where a nice blonde & the other girl "Anna" is working. I pointed to the board and asked, "is 1683 cancelled"!? They both conversed in Polish, made a call or two, and were frantically checking their computer monitors. Anna then motions to me that she would be back in a minute. I'm now thinking, "This is just freaking great!" By the time I get to Russia, it will be time to turn around & come back. I might as well just catch the first flight back to New York! Nothing is going my way!
So, will our hero EVER get to Russia!? Tune in tomorrow!
--- To be continued ---
