Arrival in Ulan-Ude

We had a bit of drama going from Moscow to Ulan-Ude as they picked up on Kyria’s hand luggage as we were about to board. Even though it had been ‘let through’ on the previous flight with the same air line they weren’t going to this time. So they had to pay extra. We held up the buses in the process! At least she only had to pay for it one leg.

Oh and I nearly lost my phone and iPad without knowing it. A guy had knocked my tray off the security bag line and stuff had all fallen out. I had already gone through and was waiting on the other side. Eli was behind the guy and was getting annoyed at him cos he wasn’t going to pick the stuff up and when he did he just dumped it straight on the line instead of putting it back in the tray. So I didn’t realise that my phone and iPad hadn’t come through. A guy came up to me once we were seated at the gate with them in his hand. He wanted me to log in to prove they were mine. Having not missed them, I was bewildered that he had them and didn’t even thank him! I still don’t know how he knew they were mine or who he was!

Again we were all seated separately but Heidi and I had a row to ourselves this time (why they didn’t seat Eli there I don’t know) and Eli had armed me with some healthier snacks for her so it was a smoother flight. She slept for most of the flight. It was about 5 1/2 hours and we crossed a few time zones so when we arrived in Ulan-Ude it was about 7.30 in the morning. We are now about 2 hours behind home.

None of us had slept much on the flight except for Kyria and Heidi so we felt pretty zonked.

The airport was relatively small and you had to crowd into a little room to get your luggage off the conveyor. Then they wanted us to show our baggage tickets to prove it was ours - who does that!! I think I was the only one to still have mine!

We found a taxi to take us to our apartment and he even rang the guy to let him know we had arrrived. I hadn’t dressed for cold cos it was so hot in the airports and planes. There was quite a cold breeze happening and we had to wait for about 1/2 hour the guy to turn up. The boys had gone for a walk to see if they could find somewhere else to stay. The guy turned up with a friend in another car. Apparently we had booked too late and the apartment wasnt ready (Eli had only booked I the other night) so they were going to drive us to another apartment! They were even happy to drive us to a hotel if we wanted.

So we jumped in their cars and drove to another place which also wasn’t ready so they went to another one. They were really friendly and helpful and went above and beyond what they needed to do. The helped Eli organise a hire car for the week, went and organised a sim for his phone and said for him to call them if we needed anything, even though we were staying in the apartment for a couple of days. Really really hospitable.

The rest of us had flaked out at the apartment and had a nap for an hour or two while the other stuff was being organised! It always hits so much harder flying the other way.

At around 2-3pm we went for a bit of a walk, found a canteen nearby and had a meal as we were so hungry by this point. The food was ok - I don’t think we will go there again though. Then we went for a bit of a walk around the square before heading back after getting a few supplies from a mini-mart near us.

Dinner was at an English Pub in the main square. After a good meal, we spent the evening at the apartment. We were subjected to a couple of hours of Heidi crying. I think her body clock was out and she’s also coming down with a cold 🙄 somehow Michael managed to sleep through her wailing - I’m still nonplussed!Read more