I Always look forward to travelling by Aero Flot, im serious...it takes you from place A to place B and is cheap...what more do u want! And with the cultural experience thrown in, whats not to like...The amusing 'I speak Russian only' stewardesses...The burly co passenger who is immersed with his drink throughout the flight...and the joyous clapping and general communal celebration that happens as soon as the pilot makes a successful landing...i am told it is a gesture of grattitude towards the pilot for landing safely...interesting...... and slightly tickling if you would have witnessed it live with me.
...8 hours transit in Moskow airport was a wonderful excersise in people watching and devising ingenious methods of wasting time.Shermetovo airport is exactly what you would imagine it to be...The airport officials with brown uniforms and gold metal baubles on their shoulder badges...most of them were female ..rotund and proud with a sassy , self assured air of pure confidence ...they can teach the rest of us a thing or two about turning heads ..with logic defying heels and dangerously short skirts.
Russian seems to be a very animated language with gesticulations and a deep throaty tone...so what would look like a grim argument about some very critical matter may actually just be a general conversation about the weather....
Some things definetly did defy logic in the transit area...like the lack of a Foreign Exchange counter..however the fast food counter took only roubles...if you didnt have any, too bad.

My flight from Moscow to Sofia was with Bulgaria Air and after a slight delay...we started...the announcements were only in Bulgarian and Russian and just when I felt like i was in a scary foreign movie without subtitles I find out , to my absolute relief that all the stewardesses speak perfect english...My co passenger was a thirty something smart looking Bulgarian executive who was petrified of flying...and most of my flight was spent in trying to divert his attention and help him through the flight ...which involved listening to him talk about his about his 2 boys -ages 4 months and 4 years old ,and watch him get misty eyed everytime an annoying kid on the flight decided to wail screechily....he was good company in general and gave me a good summary of life in Bulgaria and Sofia

At the airport Emo,Eli and Lenny were there waiting with a bouquet of lovely yellow flowers...I know my year is going to be a breeze while working with such warm hearted people...Cheers! Im finally in Sofia