Well, we did it! We moved to Ukraine! We have been here for a week now and boy oh boy is it an adventure! Monday at 6:00am Dad Chapman, Jace, and I all loaded into the Prius and took off for LAX for our 6pm flight (I did NOT want to take my chances…) so we got there WAY early, and had no problems at all! We had three suitcases and a carryon. One of the airline security people for my airline saw me with all my luggage and was like, “How in the world do you think you are going to get all that to Russia? It is going to cost you a fortune!” I told him I didn’t really care if I had to pay $20 extra per bag and he laughed and said, “Well, let’s just see how much you will have to pay.” He weighed them all and the limit is 23.0 kilos. If they are over 23 you have to pay $50. If they are over 34 kilos you have to pay $200. All three of mine were over 34!!!! I was like, “What am I going to do?” And he said, “Don’t you worry, we are going to get you a box and repack everything so you have to pay as little as possible.”
So I got a box and he spent the next hour repacking everything with me. He was WONDERFUL. We got three of the suitcases at exactly 23, and then the box was at 30, so we only had to pay $50. Hallelujah! I was soooo grateful to not have to pay $600 for my luggage. Oh, also, my carryon was too heavy and there was no way we could make it lighter, so he had me take out the heaviest thing, we got it weighed and tagged, and then he was like, “OK– go around the corner and put it back in. You have a tag now, so you are fine.” haha Who said airline security people were all punks? HE WAS A LIFESAVER!
Anyway, our first flight was from LAX to Moscow and that was 14 hours. Jace was WONDERFUL. They gave Jace a backpack full of toys and puzzles and a baseball cap and all kinds of things so he was totally occupied the whole time, they gave us terrific food, and it was just a great flight! I was so proud of Jace for being perfect the whole time. He is such a big boy! In Moscow we had to go through immigrations which took 2 hours– I am so thankful we had a four hour layover there or else I would have been freaking out. Finally we made it through immigration and got on our next flight to Kiev; that one was only 2 hours long.
We landed and you don’t deplane into the airport terminal– you climb down these tall metal stairs onto the tarmak into the snowy -22 degree weather and then get on a freezing bus that takes you to the airport where you go through immigration, customs, and get your luggage and everything. A HUGE ordeal. So we landed and I started getting all of my carryons and a very night man told me to just carry Jace and he would carry my luggage for me. So we were descending the icy stairs in the -22 degree weather– me carrying Jace and this man carrying all my luggage and all of HIS luggage. All of a sudden he slipped and fell down the stairs all the way to the snowy cement– I felt SOOOOOOOO bad. He was in a super nice business suit and everything. I felt so bad! Anyway, so we go rushing onto the bus and then this woman comes on with a sign with, “Caci Chapman” and she was like, “Caci Chapman? Is this you?” And I told her it was me and she said, “You don’t belong here– you are VIP. Come with me.” So two men rushed in and gathered up all my luggage and they whisked me into this fancy car that was waiting for me. Inside was another girl who looked like a moviestar in a buge black fur coat and perfect hair and makeup and an attitude to boot.
They drove us to this special lounge filled with flat screen TV’s, plush leather couches, and complementary drinks and tea. There were some other girls already in there who also looked like moviestars. I had a special attendant who took my passport, did customs and immigration right there, and they asked me how many pieces of luggage I had, and they went and got it off the plane for me, and that was that! They brought my luggage and I went into the waiting car Trevor had for me, and Trevor was right there! IT WAS SO AWESOME!!! I felt like a total celebrity!!! Everyone else on my plane was going to have a 2-3 hour ordeal trying to get through immigrations, security, customs, and baggage! My whole process took no more than 15 minutes. It was amazing. Trevor had got me a VIP entrance into Kiev! haha! Amazing!
Anyway, it was soooooooo awesome to be back with Trevor! Alex (Trevor’s friend and business associate) took us to Trevor’s apartment which is way better than I had imagined apartments in Ukraine would be. It is freazing cold here– -22 the night I got here and always in the negatives since (but it is celcius so it isn’t as cold as it sounds but really– It is COLD). Two days after getting to Kiev, Trevor Jace and I took a train to a conference Trevor had in Hungary. We took a night train, so we had our own private room and beds and just slept the whole way. It was super nice! Then we got to Hungary to an AMAZING hotel. It was a four star hotel right by the conference. It was a corner suite with two bedrooms and an office! The bathroom was HUGE and had a gigantic jacuzzi tub and it was sooooo beautiful! It was a corner suite overlooking the city so all the Eastern walls in both of the rooms were all windows so we could see everything. It was awesome. And breakfast was AMAZING with the traditional breakfast items from like 50 different countries. I LOVED it. Trevor went to the conference Friday and Saturday, then on Sunday we all went and then took a train back to Kiev afterwards. The conference was great and it really got us pumped about all the work ahead.
We took the very first train we could, but it didn’t get us to the border of Hungary and Ukraine until 9:30pm and the last train to Kiev came at 10pm! So we were really really nervous. We rushed off the train and through customs, and made it in record time. We went otot buy our tickets, just sweating bullets that we would have to spend the night in the train station. The train hadn’t arrived yet so we were soooo happy. Trevor went to buy the tickets and they were ALL SOLD OUT!!!! There was only one bed available!! I was devistated because the next train didn’t come unitl 4:00am. I was so tired and just wanted to cry. Trevor was like, “Don’t worry about it. We are not sleeping in the station. I am getting us on that train.” So when the train came, he sat us on some benches, and went to talk to the conductors. He came back and was like, “I got us a room. Let’s go.” He had bought one of the conductor’s rooms from them!!! haha! Trevor is amazing!!!! So usually there are four beds per room, but the conductor’s coupes only have two beds, so we had a private room on a fully booked train. Trevor is DA MAN!!!!
So we slept all the way to Kiev and just got back about an hour ago. Trevor is now at a meeting, Jace is watching Monsters, Inc., and I am starving to death. Trevor totally has been living like a bachelor– there is NO food in this house, and we have been so busy that we haven’t had time to shop. We have been living off of pop tarts, fig newtons, licorice, suckers, and graham cracker bears– the treats I got for Jace and I on the plane but didn’t eat. Thank goodness we didn’t eat everything or else we might have startved to death. I swear, Trevor just doesn’t feel hunger! Anyway, we are loving Kiev! We will keep you all posted and get pics up soon!
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