The international flight was LONG. Seven hours and 24 minutes, to be exact. We all tried to sleep, but the time of day was a little goofy for that, so most were not able to. We landed in Frankfurt, Germany around 7:30am (1:30am in Minnesota). Now everyone was tired, and we had almost a seven hour layover in front of us.
We found our gate and quickly realized that not many people were going to speak English, or at least be willing to speak English with us. The group of crabby kids and coaches with the USA warm-ups pretty much stuck out like a sore thumb! Regardless, everyone just split up and did their own thing...some ate, some did homework and some tried to sleep. The time actually went by fairly quickly.
About an hour before our flight, we learned that our gate had been moved. On the screen, it simply said "D" and there was no gate number listed. There were over 50 gates in the D section and the signs said gates 1-20 and 44-50 were in one direction, while gates 21-43 were in another. Great. We took a guess and headed down some stairs to try and find help. We ran into a police officer, but unfortunately no advice. He sarcastically told us he was "just a police officer" and it wasn't his job to give gate information. Perfect. We eventually figured it out and made it in plenty of time.
About an hour before our flight, we learned that our gate had been moved. On the screen, it simply said "D" and there was no gate number listed. There were over 50 gates in the D section and the signs said gates 1-20 and 44-50 were in one direction, while gates 21-43 were in another. Great. We took a guess and headed down some stairs to try and find help. We ran into a police officer, but unfortunately no advice. He sarcastically told us he was "just a police officer" and it wasn't his job to give gate information. Perfect. We eventually figured it out and made it in plenty of time.
The group that was on the later flight (from DC) was not so lucky. They had some maintenance issues and were delayed an additional four hours and barely made the plane in Germany. They literally ran through the gate at the last second. Once again, their bags would not make the trip.
The flight itself was great and we landed in Moscow about three hours later. Shockingly (sarcasm), not all of our bags made it. We were missing about 20 bags again, including the stick bag. The kids and coaches with the missing luggage went through a terrible process where they were almost interrogated by the Russian airport officials. Somehow, they left feeling like the lost luggage was their fault. Interesting.The group was transported to Novogorst Training Center, where the Russian National Teams train, and dropped off for their stay in Russia. We ate a very late meal and got everyone to bed. The upcoming schedule is packed and everyone was exhausted...but we were finally in Russia!
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