What a start to vacation!

I leave school at about 4:30 and rush home to clean up a little and get ready to roll. Sonia and I agree to meet out front at 6 to get a taxi. Sonia has an extra suitcase just for food. Taxi comes, starts for the airport, asks us if we want to pay with cash or credit, and Sonia realizes she has forgotten her wallet. She rushes back in l her apartmen5, finds it, and we get on our way again. We get to the airport and check in and wait for Fouad. He gets checked in and we head through security. Of course, the plane is late. When we finally take off at 9:20, I fall asleep immediately. But I did wake up for the sandwich. I have to give it to Aeroflot, they serve food on every flight. We get to the Moscow airport and don’t really have long to wait to board for our 12:05 a.m. flight to Krasnodar. I feel asleep right away again and slept for two hours. We get an Uber right away and give him the address. The first thing I notice about Krasnodar is that it’s raining! Not snow, rain. Then it occurs to me that the airport is right at the edge of town. And I also notice that the streets are lined with big, beautiful trees. No leaves yet, but there are trees. The taxi driver is from tadjikistan and he and Fouad have a pleasant conversation in Russian about the city as we drive in.he finally stops at the address we give him and it looks like a warehouse out of a Stephanie Plum novel where the bad guys take the victims to dismember their bodies. There are no signs and an iron gate across the courtyard. So we decide to call the number that Sonia has in her phone and Fouad gives it to the taxi driver to talk to the reception. Afte4 a few minutes, the driver gives the phone back to Fouad. He had accidentally dialed our rented apartment in Sochi. Oh Lordy. We woke the poor lady up at 4 a.m.! This will not leave a great impression for when we arrive there! We finally call the right hotel in the right city and get into the courtyard and first go to the wrong door. Finally the receptionist comes out of the right entrance and takes us upstairs to the 2nd floor hotel. I claimed a bed, get ready and went right back to sleep! It’s actually very nice. We have a small room with a nice shower. We’re now finishing up breakfast and getting ready to explore. And guess what! There’s no snow in Krasnodar!