- There were flies on the plane from Rome to Moscow. Seriously. Buzzing in the bathrooms, and buzzing in the cabins. I'm not talking one or two, I'm talking a full squadron of them scattered throughout.
- They don't seem to have a solid grasp on how long the flight should actually take. The itinerary says 3:40 hours, the captain says 4 hours, and we actually take close to 4:30 hours. This is with clear skies all the way. How do they anyone to make connections reliably this way? I mean, there were no real delays per se, we should have been able to arrive on time, but everyone just sort of took their time.
- The hotel they put us up in (Novotel) was relatively crappy. There was an empty beer can under the desk when I got in; both bed side lamps had blown bulbs; and the furniture was flimsy - I managed to pop out the back of one of the chairs.
- And worse of all: no one was even vaguely apologetic about the missed connection. Everyone I came in contact with seemed bored and unconcerned, as if this was just the natural course of events, or slightly annoyed, as if it was somehow my fault for forcing this inconvenience upon them!
- I also felt an undercurrent of hostility over the fact that I did not speak Russian. I'd understand it if I was randomly accosting people on the streets, but everyone here worked at an airport -- they should be used to the fact that many people do not speak Russian. I've been in many countries where I did not speak the native tongue before, but this was the first time that I've felt that I was unwelcome because of it (including the French).
Update: The second leg from Moscow to Tokyo was more pleasant. Part of this was because of the plane itself, a Boeing 767 vs. a Tupelov TU154. Even so, as far as long flights go (this leg lasted almost 10 hours), this was probably the worst.
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