The big pat down

Yes, I had the big airport pat down in Frankfurt and quite frankly I don't understand what all the fuss is about.  Sure, I'd rather be bought a drink or two first before I get frisked but seriously it was no big deal.  As I seem to be setting off the alarm everywhere (could it be my magnetic personality?!) I have to have the pat down.  In Toronto, as there was no woman available to pat me down, I had the option of removing jewelry piece by piece until I no longer beeped, they were quite accommodating and held first my watch and then my bracelet for me as I walked back and forth.  I suppose if I had still beeped I would have had to hang around and wait for a woman to frisk me. In Frankfurt there was a woman there so as soon as I beeped, it was into patdown mode.  It's quite the system they have there, but I have to tell you if you are travelling thru Frankfurt anytime soon, make sure you have LOTS of time between your connecting flights.   Even though you have just gotten off of a plane where you had to go through security to get on the plane in the first place, you get off your flight……follow the signs for connecting flights and boom you are in a 30 minute line to go through security again, I don't understand it but whatever! And it is thorough, everything goes in a bin and is scrutinized, then you line up at the other end to pick up your stuff and if there is anything questionable (I was ok), you wait and wait for your turn to come up for the security folks to check it with you.  The guy in front of me was quite amused, he thought it quite funny that he got off the plane at, say, gate B40 and his connecting flight was leaving out of the same gate B40 and he had to go through security.  He had on a sweater over a t-shirt and the woman made him take his sweater off, he wondered aloud why and the male security guy smiled and said "maybe she just wants to check you out", they were all very pleasant about it.  Oddly I too had on a fleece over another top and I was not asked to take my fleece off…hmm maybe she did want to check his physique!

 

Even with my  flight being late and the 30 minute security check I still had about 3 hours to pass…..it was a long 3 hours.  I had a 3 Euro tea (c'mon nothing make a tea worth that much, and it's not like it was even loose leaf, it was a bag in a paper cup!), and some animal crackers….I was not willing to pay 5 Euro for a danish even though it looked amazing.  Played some games on my itouch, listed to music and read my trashy People magazine, and wandered around a fair bit trying to stay awake and not fall down!

 

The flight was not full and as soon as they said "boarding is complete" the man beside me bolted from the seat (was it something I said?!) and moved to a full centre row (lucky guy), so I had the 2 seats to myself which allowed me to curl up, lie down and catch some sleep once we were off.  Even so I was not even awake for take off,  I closed my eyes and when I opened them next we were already in the air!!!  It was a very smooth flight and I caught several hours to sleep in 1 or 2 hour increments.   Once in Astana I got through passport control and my luggage was up all in about 10 minutes and I went out to find Kostya (the driver).  He found me!  It's not too cold here in Astana, it was -6C last night and it felt good.  The Astana airport is all decorated for Christmas and it's beautiful.  A large, had to be 50foot, tree of lights is out front, I commented on it and Kostya said "it's just for you"…awww sweet.

 

Astana is a beautiful city at night, lots and lots of coloured lights and the new part of the city is very, very modern.  There is one building that is 1.5 kilometres long, very cool!  I look forward to coming back in a few years with the kids and Astana is on my list of places to stay for a week.   I am currently in a small, but comfortable hotel, where I will wait for Kostya to pick me up at 10 to take me to Karaganda. I was hoping to be there by 10 but I guess since he was up late picking me up last night he needed to get his sleep and be alert for the 2.5 hour drive, plus he has to drive back.  I have to say though that this was the most comfortable bed I have ever slept on in Kazakhstan, and I managed to get about 4 hours straight sleep, wahooooooo!!!

 

I had just woken up this morning, when my Kaz cell phone rang, it was my sister, and I had a 20 minute talk with Ciera.  I've never talked to her on the phone before, she sounds so cute J.  She told me about her day, kept telling me she loved me (I teared up a few times) and not to get hurt (sweet eh) and as I was trying to convince her to hand the phone back to Auntie Dada my cell phone minutes ran out…..damn.  I hope she was not too upset that we cut off that way.  Now I need to add minutes to it today.  I hope Irina, my translator, is around this afternoon as I am not adept at adding minutes to this phone and she can do it in about 4.3 seconds.

 

Ok, now  only 1 ½ hours to pass until Kostya is here….maybe he will surprise me and be early as he was in Karaganda….so perhaps I should get up and get ready, and maybe just maybe I can get a cup of tea downstairs that is far less than 3 Euro!!!

 

Next stop Karaganda and Tienna!!!!!

 

The picture is the big Christmas tree in front of the Astana airport, I'm quite happy that the picture turned out!!!