It felt like I did a lot of travelling today. I'm in Moscow now. In total it was about 8.5 hours. But I had gone forward by 3 hours, and spent a few hours waiting for a delayed plane after being searched like a terrorist, and all the contents of my backpack unpacked and gone through with a fine tooth comb, and comments about sandals that I had in my backpack as being "too heavy". I have no idea what that meant, and at the time I probably didn't help the searching by Lisbon airport security by replying a sarcastic "uhhh,....yeah". I had a pencil case with me, and the guy doing the searching took every single pen and pencil out, and examined them all! I'm really not sure what he was looking for, as I could have used them as instruments of pain infliction but he allowed me to keep them all.
I evetually boarded my flight to Maldova which was hugely delayed for no specific reason, so I got to Maldova and had to get on a bus from the plane, go to the transit arrivals lounge, through security again, then into the departures hall, then back onto a bus and onto the plane in only 15 minutes. I was quite tired by then. But I was able to observe a very interesting and maybe unique to Eastern Europe. We took off from Lisbon (90% of the passengers were Russian or Maldovian), and as we landed in Chişinău (the capital of Maldova), all of the passengers applauded. This girl that I was sitting next to, Daniella, joined in the happy clapping and look happy, as everyone else did. I thought this was pretty weird, as it was a pretty uneventful and unchallenging flight pilot-wise (I realise that it's difficult to fly a plane, but I have been on planes where the landing was riddled with turbulence or cross-winds or visibility issues and people have clapped - but not runway-to-runway clear skies).
We then took off in Chişinău with more clear and blue skies, and landed in Moscow, and again the same thing happened! Applause and a bit of cheering.
The plane was a rickety, old Airbus 320, where the seats actually shook on take off like in a battered old Land Rover doing some off-roading up a hill. There was also just the back of a seat missing, and airline food served in wrapped up bits of clingfilm. These things probably just added to atmosphere.
Anyeay, I enjoyed experiencing this bit of culture today. Most of the flights I have been on are in Western Europe, China, the middle east and the US, where there is a distinct lack of aviation apprectiation.
I evetually boarded my flight to Maldova which was hugely delayed for no specific reason, so I got to Maldova and had to get on a bus from the plane, go to the transit arrivals lounge, through security again, then into the departures hall, then back onto a bus and onto the plane in only 15 minutes. I was quite tired by then. But I was able to observe a very interesting and maybe unique to Eastern Europe. We took off from Lisbon (90% of the passengers were Russian or Maldovian), and as we landed in Chişinău (the capital of Maldova), all of the passengers applauded. This girl that I was sitting next to, Daniella, joined in the happy clapping and look happy, as everyone else did. I thought this was pretty weird, as it was a pretty uneventful and unchallenging flight pilot-wise (I realise that it's difficult to fly a plane, but I have been on planes where the landing was riddled with turbulence or cross-winds or visibility issues and people have clapped - but not runway-to-runway clear skies).
We then took off in Chişinău with more clear and blue skies, and landed in Moscow, and again the same thing happened! Applause and a bit of cheering.
The plane was a rickety, old Airbus 320, where the seats actually shook on take off like in a battered old Land Rover doing some off-roading up a hill. There was also just the back of a seat missing, and airline food served in wrapped up bits of clingfilm. These things probably just added to atmosphere.
Anyeay, I enjoyed experiencing this bit of culture today. Most of the flights I have been on are in Western Europe, China, the middle east and the US, where there is a distinct lack of aviation apprectiation.
Nothing more satisfying than landing after knowing that you got aboard the aircraft with a selection of people who had already assumed they were going to die and to whom a safe landing was a 'nice to have' rather than an expectation.
ReplyDeleteWhat's wrong with the Lisboa police!! It must be your visa!!!
ReplyDelete"as I could have used them as instruments of pain infliction but he allowed me to keep them all."... Raven I love that you can pick up on your sarcasm and sense of humor from your blog! This entry made me laugh...and I love the clapping at the end of the flight, maybe Russians and Maldovians are nervous flyers. Happy travels :)...and I am glad you made it there safely (maybe they were all cheering and clapping on your account)...HAHA!
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