New York

Yesterday was the day of my Russian Consulate passport appointment, and at this moment, I am hesitant to say whether it was a good day or a bad day.

It went perfectly almost to the end. I managed to go to bed earlier the day before, so getting up at 3-15 AM was not horrible. Uber pretty much flew through empty streets, and I was at the airport at 4-30 AM. In eight minutes, I was through security (and had to wait until 5 AM for a lounge to open, just so that I could have breakfast). One more time, the AA lounge at ORD is perfect, and serve a high-end breakfast.

The arrival was on time, I took Uber to the consulate – it was way earlier than my appointment, and I asked whether I can come earlier. They suggested I come at noon (my appointment was at 12-40). I went for a walk, and I realized that I was just five minutes away form the Gugenheim Museum, so I went there (I had to wait for ten minutes for it to open). A big portion of the museum is closed for renovation, which was not bad, because I didn’t rush and focused on individual paintings. Then I walked around the Jacqueline Kennedy Reservoir, and returned to the consulate by noon. No line, no Russian TV in the waiting room, they took my papers, took my picture, and my payment in cash. Twenty minutes later I was out. The security surprised me saying: see, it’s even before your appointment time! Now you can relax, sit down at the cafe and have a glass of wine! I replied that I better go to LaGuardia and have a glass of wine in the lounge, and called Uber. There was almost no traffic, and I actually had time to relax, to order an exquisite cocktail and to make several calls.

The flight was on time, and when I took my seat in the aircraft, I texted my neighbor that I will meet her at the Lyric Opera House at 7 PM. Everything was still fine, we were going to land ten minutes ahead of schedule, and a flight attendant already asked us to stove away our laptops and fasten our seat belts, and the plane was already descending, when, all of a sudden, we heard another announcement: we are going to land in Milwaukee!

What?!

It turned out, that a sever storm broke out of nowhere, and it was so bad that we could not land! it was also very swift, but since we already landed in Milwaukee, it took us another hour to get back in the air, including refueling and maps reloading :). It was for the first time in my life that something like that happened!

We landed at ORD at 7-15, and by the time I reached Lyric, it was 8-25, time for the intermission. And I was in such a rush, that I didn’t even stop tp grab a bite to eat at the airport, and when I was already at the Lyric, there were long lines to all concession stands (and there was no real food anyway!)

I still think that there was more of success than not on that day, but it was one of the longest and the most eventful days in my life!