At the airport- Gardemon, Norway
Vanessa, Lisa, Victor, Patrick & me
At the airport- Gardemon, Norway
Vanessa & Lisa
At the airport- Gardemon, Norway
Patrick & I
At the airport- Gardemon, Norway
Andrey
Vanessa waiting eagerly to board the plane
Lisa going to board the plane
Victor & Vanessa on the plane from Oslo to Vienna
Lisa on the way to Vienna
View from the plane near Vienna
View from the plane near Vienna
View from the plane near Vienna
Victor & Patrick on the plane to Dnepr
Andrey & Vanessa on the plane from Vienna to Dnepr
At Babushka's & Djedushka's place
Lisa, Victor, Vanessa & Patrick on uncle Igor's bed watching cartoons
At Globa park
Lisa, Domi (5), Julie (8) & Vanessa
At Globa park
Jan & Michal
Patrick at the 4d movie & game machine senter
Patrick with Julie (8), Victor & Danny (8)
Dnepr home
Vanessa & Vlada (10)
Dnepr home
Patrick, Julie (8), Victor & Danny (8)
Dnepr home
Vanessa, Vlada (10), Lisa with Domi (5), Christoffer (8), Timy (12), Ella (12), Ola (11), me & Mira
Dnepr home
Vanessa, Vlada (10), Lisa with Domi (5), Christoffer (8), Timy (12), Ella (12), Ola (11), me & Mira
Dnepr home
Domi (5), Victor (5), Vlada (10) & Vanessa
Dnepr home
Lisa, aspiring ping pong champion
Dnepr home
We left at 4:30 am on the 23rd (Thursday) to the airport. My brother Danny drove us, through snow & slippery roads. We'd taken all our personal luggage as hand luggage so that we could bring clothes to the home in Dnepr. There were no big lines, so we were able to check in easily. Each of us, kids included, had a small suitcase on the plane, so they pulled those around through the airport.
Because of the snow & ice, after boarding, they drove the plane to an area where it was spayed down with some cheminals to take away ice & prevent freezing. They had a whole train of snow plows on the runways continually clearing them. Vanessa & Patrick have never been on a plane, so they were naturally excited about it! We got food on the plane: eggs with ham & buns, vanilla pudding, drinks (as much as you want.. which the kids made good use of by pushing the button for the stewardess to come & give them more juice).
We were late landing in Vienna, so we had to run to catch our connecting flight to Dnepr.. Andrey left me at the customs control while he ran to our gate to get them to hold the plane. We made it! And it was funny to see, as soon as we got on the bus that would take us out to the plane you could see the change of styles. The women, all with high heel boots, fur coats, tons of makeup & their hair all done up.
The plane from Oslo to Vienna was very full, but this one to Dnepr was half empty, so it was more relaxing. The kids could sit where they wanted to, and they didn't need to wait as long for food & drinks.. this time we got a special box with food, as they didn't have us registered on this flight til the last minute. There were olive breadsticks, salami sticks, cream cheese, chocolate & dark bread.
I haven't visited Ukraine the whole time since we moved to Norway in May 2006, & I expected that things had probably changed for the better, as when we left there were lots of new building sites & roads being fixed. But I found it to be exactly the same. Starting with the runway.. bumpy.. holly.. You really get a culture shock right away. It took me a couple of days to get used to things again.
At the airport the customs guys saw all our suitcases & pulled me over, maybe thinking to get something from us "rich foreigners", but another guard came up & told them to leave us alone as we have 4 kids. Waiting for at the arrivals gate was Andrey's brother- Igor, & Micha, Dana & Jan from the Dnepr home. It was good to see them!
The guys from the home picked up the suitcases for them & then we went with Andrey's brother to their parent's place where they were all waiting for us: Babushka, Djedushka, Zenia, Babushka Lida.. They got to see Lisa & Victor in December when Andrey travelled to Dnepr, but they hadn't seen Vanessa since she was 3, & Patrick since he was a baby. It was a happy family reunion!
We spent the rest of our time there visiting with Andrey's family & the home in Dnepr. I enjoyed the trip very much, & the so did the kids. They had tons of fun with the kids in the home! They were already planning our next trip when we left.
We had a smooth trip, & felt that it went better than expected!
0 comments:
Post a Comment