Trapped at "Liberty" Airport

My first great adventure on this trip occurred before I even arrived at my destination. Well, maybe I was SUPPOSED to have arrived at my destination... but the problem was that, see, I couldn't.

The tickets I'd purchased through the Star Alliance (United Airlines + Lufthansa, a German airline) ran thus (I was in Ithaca for my cousin's wedding, so I left from there):

Depart Ithaca 10:20 am

Arrive Newark 11:30 am

Depart Newark 5:25 pm

Arrive Munich 7:30 am (-6 hours)

Depart Munich 8:55 am

Arrive L'viv 11:35 am (-1 hour)

So simple. I have done this route three times before with nary a problem. Well, except that one time that United's computer system went down nationwide and I was held up for 4 hours or so. Anyway, I got to Newark with no problems. But THEN...

That first night my plane was delayed seven times. It was pushed back half-hour by half hour "due to aircraft maintenance," until it was finally cancelled around 10:30 pm. I went to talk to a customer service rep around 7 pm, at which point I knew I was going to miss my connection in Munich. He was unable to find me any other options, and went ahead and booked me the same route the next day in case the flight should be cancelled. He offered to put me up in a Newark hotel then and there, but as I would rather have been stranded in Munich than New Jersey, I decided to wait and see if the plane came. It did not. So then I waited in line for two hours until I finally received a voucher for a hotel and three food vouchers worth $7. What can you buy at an airport for $7? The answer is: just about nothing. The hotel was decent, a little shabby and right next to a prison, but hey, it was New Jersey. I got in around 12:30 and slept.

On Monday I left the hotel around 11. Since my flight wasn't until 5:25, I went to the airport to check my bag, then grabbed a bus to Newark Penn Station to take the PATH train out to see my friend Talia, who is currently interning for The New Yorker. I saw the new building at One World Trade Center and even got to go inside it-- to ride its futuristic elevators, and dine in the Conde Nast cafe on the 35th floor with a beautiful view of Manhattan and the Hudson Bay. Security was tight-- even after Talia had verified that she'd invited me, I had to show an ID, allow them to take my photograph, and to x-ray my bags.

It was humbling and haunting to stand below the new "Freedom Tower"

From the Conde Nast cafe on the 35th floor you could see all the way to the Statue of Liberty (right side, middle)

Talia was doing a summer internship at The New Yorker, so I got to see their offices!

After lunch and a brief tour of The New Yorker office, Talia had to get back to work. I was apprehensive about making the hour-long commute back to the airport in time for my flight, so I didn't take much time for sightseeing. I did, however, walk down to the end of the street to see the Irish Potato Famine memorial.

The top of the memorial resembled a piece of the Irish landscape, with a crumbling stone house

Underneath the garden was a wall engraved with quotations from newspapers about the famine.

"Our potato crop is lost without exception I believe throughout Ireland"

One enters the memorial from below, so that they come out from a dark tunnel engraved with quotations into the sunny, green "Irish countryside."

The overall effect was quite moving.

After visiting the memorial, I hurried back to the airport via train and bus to ensure that I could get through security and wouldn't miss my 5:25 flight.

I shouldn't have bothered.

Shortly before we were supposed to board, we were informed that our plane had come in from Venice, but due to weather had been diverted to JFK. Thus we had to wait for the plane to be "cleaned off" and "ferried" over to Newark. The flight was delayed. And delayed. And delayed. Five times. Until finally, around 11:30, the plane arrived. We were elated. The staff rushed us on board, telling us to hurry because they were facing "crew legality issues." By midnight we were all seated, and the plane had pulled away from the gate.

...then the pilot came on and announced that she was unfortunately unable to fly the plane, because she had been on the clock to long and was legally mandated to have a break. So we went back to the gate and got deboarded. And so, for the second night in a row, I got in line at the United Customer Service counter.

Except, unlike the previous night, it was half past midnight instead of 10:30, AND the flight at the gate next to ours had also been cancelled, so there were twice as many customers in line. Evidently many flights had been cancelled in the area due to weather-- we were informed that all hotels in the area were full and thus we couldn't get vouchers. Instead we were given pillows and blankets to sleep in the terminal. By the time I finally got through the line to be rebooked, it was 3 am. By the time I was actually rebooked it was 4:30. The problem was that if they had simply rebooked me to the next day's Munich flight, there would be no flight from Munich to L'viv until Friday, meaning I would be stuck in Munich for three days. When I asked if the airline would put me up for that long, I was told no. It seemed my best bet for getting to L'viv was to go through Vienna, but all flights to Vienna the next day were full. Finally, I got tickets to Munich (again!) then to Vienna, then to L'viv. And then I spread out my Turkish bath towel in a relatively quiet corner of the terminal and tried to get some sleep.

Of course, by this time it was nearly 5 am, and people were arriving for 6 am flights, so it was bright and noisy. Regardless, I slept a few hours, then wandered in search of the new terminal for my third plane to Munich. This time, United had added an entire extra flight to Munich, and it consisted entirely of people who had been on one or both of the cancelled flights. This was when I found out, through talking to other passengers, that some had actually gotten hotel vouchers-- they had just needed to find the hotel themselves and United had covered it-- but still they hadn't gotten to the hotel rooms until something like 5 am.

By this time my stack of boarding passes, itineraries, and vouchers had gotten frankly ridiculous.

Our third flight was again delayed twice due to baggage issues and weather. As we left more than an hour late, I was sure I would miss my connection in Munich, but I didn't care. I just was glad to be out of Newark. Like most of the customers who had faced more than one mishap, I had been upgraded to Economy Plus so I had more legroom, and there was an empty seat next to me, so I was able to sprawl out. I slept for nearly the whole flight.

Thankfully, we had made up some of the time on the flight, and my connection in Munich to Vienna was delayed, so I did catch it. I was slightly terrified my luggage would be lost, but it wasn't. Words can't express the joy I felt when, after FOUR DAYS of travel (and three days without a good night's sleep, a decent meal, a shower, or brushing my teeth!) I FINALLY made it to L'viv!!!

A more welcome sight I never did see.

Upon my arrival I was met by a student from the University, who escorted me to the home where I would be staying. I took a shower, ate some borshch and varenyky prepared for me by my new host mom, Pani Irena, and then I fell asleep. At 6 pm. I felt it was justified.

Ukrainian Christmas

On my last day in L'viv, I met Mariana at the bus station and we took the hour-and-a-half ride to her grandmother's village.

During my stay at her house, I never went hungry! Every moment I was being offered tea with pampukh, poppyseed bread, and cake, or enjoying an enormous meal. The first night, since it was Christmas Eve, we had the traditional Ukrainian Christmas Eve meal of twelve courses; starting with garlic dipped in salt and pickled herring and ending with кутя (Kutya, a dish made with buckwheat, honey, poppyseed, and raisins). In between there were various vaguely familiar dishes of mushrooms, potatoes, stewed cabbage, and so on.

Early Christmas morning, Mariana and I got up and went to the village church for mass. Though crowded, it was a beautiful service. After a nap and a hearty lunch, we went on a short walk around the village and down to the river with Mariana's uncle.

The village was small, but pretty.

On the day after Christmas, we took the bus back to the city. Mariana's sister waited with us.

We waited a long time for the bus... it was really cold (-7* C/ 19* F)!

After the long bus ride back, I had to wait almost an hour for a bus into the city. At one point the correct bus came, but another was already stopped where I was waiting and I didn't see it in time to flag it down. By the time I made it to Charitie's apartment in the center, I was freezing!!!

Charitie and I went out to dinner at a new restaurant in L'viv with Russell and another L'viv Fulbrighter named Steven, to say goodbye to Russell, whose Fulbright term was up just a few days later. We also stopped by the Pampukh festival on Rynok square. Pampukh are traditional Ukrainian Christmas donuts, filled with various delicious things. Mariana's grandmother had made hers with poppyseed filling, but at the festival I was able to try one with apricot filling and one filled with cream. So good!!! This should totally be a tradition in America too.

I had tried to get my train ticket for the same day, but there hadn't been any available, so I had to stay an extra day in L'viv. It turned out to be good, though, because I didn't get into the city until evening and was tired and hungry. That night I slept in the same apartment I'd stayed in before I left for Mariana's, then the next day caught my train back to Vinnytsia. I was in platzkart, third class, sharing a car with a TON of high school students who had been on an excursion to L'viv and a few other places. Fortunately, the woman sitting next to me was their chaperone, and she was nice and chatted with me, assuring me she could understand me even though I was terribly mixing my Ukrainian and Russian at that point (starting to speak surzhyk like a native, haha).

It was such a relief to get home and rest! And Mariana's grandmother had sent home with me copious amounts of cake and poppyseed bread, along with five poppyseed pampukh. Om nom nom.

Back in Vinnytsia, I was finally able to take care of some important business that had been put off in my absence. With Tanya's help, I got my boots repaired (they'd been broken ever since I ran after the train when leaving for Turkey) and picked up the care package my parents had sent for Christmas, which had been waiting at the Meest office in Vinnytsia.

Words can't express how thrilled I was with this spread. God, I miss Dr. Pepper!!

I also met up with my student Tania a few times to help her with an application for IREX, which is a program that enables foreign students to study in the U.S. After one of our sessions working on her application, we took a walk around the city to enjoy the holiday decorations.

The main square was all decked out for the holidays. Even the hideous Soviet eyesore that is the administration building had been transformed into a magical winterscape.

In the park by the tower there had sprung up a Christmas Festival similar to the one I'd seen in L'viv.

Then we walked down the street to the main park, where the city's main Christmas tree was standing. In an earlier entry, I posted a picture of this tree being built. Now it was fully decorated, and rotating, too!

The giant tree even rotates!

At the base of the tree.

As we walked around enjoying the beautiful decorations, Tania and I bought some солодка вата-- cotton candy.

On another adventure, she helped me to buy my train tickets for my trip to Chernivtsi, and we walked all the way from the train station back to the center of town.

On the way, we passed the building of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.

Outside the Ministry of Defense. This one's for Paul :)

 During the few weeks between these two crazy trips, I also did a little shopping with Karis. We went to the main bazaar and to the expo-center near my house to find some fleece-lined tights. I also did a lot of knitting. I made a hat!

...all of which was good, because I was about to embark on a my fantastic but extremely cold and crazy adventure to the Bukovyna region!