I am sorry for the lack of publication; however, I find myself on vacation with my father aand don't have much Internet access or time to write.
We are in Peterserburg at the moment. Probably the most exciting event was our train ride here. My father had booked hotel rooms, some tours, and transfers to and from hotelsb through a company in the U.S. He called to confirm that we were being picked up the morning before our overnight train from Moscow left. The tour agency assured him that everything was A okay. The tour agency, however, seemed to have forgotten what hotel they had booked my father in and had told the drive some other hotel. As a result the driver showed up forty mintues late, which was only thirty-five minutes before out train left.
The driver was also supposed to have our train tickets, as they could not send them to my father in the U.S. The driver didn't have these either. We, however, continued on to the station. Upon enetering the station, the driver left us and went out to the tracks. We stood and waited. I told my father I was sure we weren't getting on the train.
With five minutes left, our driver came bounding back to us and told us everything was okay. We ran and grabbed a porter who ran with out luggage down the track. We managed to throw our luggage on board seconds before the train took off. We safely arrived in Petersburg the next morning.
To add insult to injury the incomopetent guide from the same company, who we had arranged to show us around a couple of places in Petersburg, asked my father to check his luggage to make sure he didn't have the tickets. She then told the driver that he needed to take special care to make sure that we have the tickets for when we go back tomorrow.
Posted by Aaron at July 9, 2004 05:28 PM