It's already Wednesday Night of the First Week...

In Baku, and yet this is my first post. Time has flown since Sunday Night – literally. 16 of the first 19 hours were spent in the air and I have to say…they flew by. (You’re free to bail out now if you want…OH QUIT IT!)

(Caution: This may be very long, and very Seinfeldish in its intricate details about NOTHING. If it drives you to drink that’s fine, but feel free to eject at any point.)

Flights went as scheduled with no glitches. When I landed in London Monday a.m., I’m sure I walked a mile across the terminal to a place where I caught a bus to another terminal and then walked another mile to my gate. But. It was good exercise after sitting for 9.5 hrs on the plane. It wasn’t like DFW where you are walking in basically a straight line between gates. It was lots of turns and electric sidewalks and more turns, etc. But the signage was good…always showing the “Connections” in one direction and the “Baggage Claim” in the other.

When I got to my gate (and the “Traveler’s Lounge") I expected to find my two colleagues from Houston since they were due an hour before me, but they weren’t there. I found a recliner and proceeded to begin resting (one of my favorite things to do since it was now Noon London time and I still hadn’t been to bed Sunday Night).

Lo and behold the guys show up about 30 min. before our flight to Baku. They had decided to go to the Continental Airlines Hotel where they could shower and rest for 2 hrs but then got to talking and missed their exit off the bus, and were headed to Paddington Station in London before they were able to get off and head back to our terminal. You can imagine the glee I had when I showed them the “cabins” available in the Heathrow Traveler’s Lounge where you can shower/shave/etc. Oh well, at least they made it.

The flight to Baku was non-stop and Business Class but not nearly as fancy and leisurely as the American Airlines BC. The rows are just 2x2 as opposed to 3x3, but are still comfortable. TV/Movies are limited. AA has a nice size tv screen on the back of the seat in front of you and it doesn’t move. (Not going to try and explain). And, has nice menu that you can choose Movies, TV, Documentaries, Classic Movies, etc. Going to digress but on the AA trip to London I started watching a Curb your Enthusiasm show and had to take my pillow and hold it over my mouth to keep from laughing out loud. It was hilarious. It was the episode where it was their 10th Wedding Anniversary and the promise that Larry’s wife had made when they were engaged if they were still married at 10 years. Before the trip was over, the guy next to me also watched it – Copy Cat! and I laughed again when I saw the funny parts – couldn’t hear the sound but knew what they were saying.

Anywho, had some pink champagne on the flight to Baku and we landed on time around 10:30 pm Local Time (12:30 pm Dallas time). (Is that a run-on sentence? Me thinks so.)

So the two biggest steps at the Baku Airport would now be – purchase a Work Visa and find our BP Driver once we cleared customs and got our baggage. As it turned out I was supposed to have 2 extra passport photos for my Work Visa – and I had them – only problem was they were on Myerwood Lane because I thought I needed them only for Angola. Oh well.

While standing in a line there’s one of these official looking guys in uniforms and I asked him about my photos – would I be able to get my picture made – he immediately leans over and starts whispering…” Give me a tip and I will get you to the front of the Visa line.” I said that’s okay I’ll have to check that out with my boss. In the meantime my boy that went to the Continental Hotel and almost went to Paddington Station started wringing his hands about me not having my 2 photos. For once, I exhibited patience and remained calm. When I ultimately got to the head of the line I had all my “other” paperwork and passport and told the guy that I didn’t have the photos. He then directed one of his cohorts to take my passport to the backroom and shoot two copies of my passport photo. I asked him if that was it, and he said yes, they just needed two photos and now they had them. How great is it when bureaucracy responds so smoothly!

Now to find the BP Driver. My Continental Hotel/Paddington Station friend says we should go over here and get in the line to get on this BP Bus. I go, “but we have a car ordered for 3 of us only” and he says, “but all these guys were on our plane.” DUH! Doesn’t mean they have the same arrangements as us…so I shepherd (sorry James) them back thru the terminal because my instructions are that we are supposed to look for a guy named Samir who would take care of us. Now, understand all these transportation folks at the airport speak little to no English. Also understand I speak basically East Texan. It’s pretty much a big disconnect. But, I start asking for “Samir.” “Do you know Samir?” “Are you Samir?” Luckily the BP Transportation guy had sent me a document that had photos of each of his people including Samir. Finally one guy went running to bring back someone who said he was Samir and he matched the photo! He then turned us over to one of his drivers and he put us in his big SUV (which is the vehicle of choice over here) and drove us a good 30 minutes into the city of Baku to our hotel. Sorta like Denver. DFW now seems not that far from Dallas Central. The temperature was great – probably in the 70’s with a nice breeze and felt really good. I tried to tip Samir’s driver but he wouldn’t take it. How cool is that? We proceeded to check into the Hyatt Park Hotel which is the nicest hotel. Very modern, big and comfortable. If I gotta be in some room for 3 weeks it might as well be this one. I enjoyed unpacking. Usually when I go just for the week I take one suitcase and live out of it. This time I took two and had them cram-packed with everything imaginable. So I took my time – bear in mind it was after Midnight but was only 2 pm my time – nevermind I missed a night’s sleep – and enjoyed getting ready for the next day. Went to bed at 2 a.m., didn’t go to sleep until around 3 and then got up at 6.

Next story: My first 2 days in Baku.