Olga and Maxim left for Russia. Their departure brought more confusion than I’ve had during the last year.
At first, the tickets weren’t printed properly, and had two flights instead of one – from and to Moscow. That caused us to confuse the departure time. We thought that the plane is taking off at 15:45. We hurried to the airport and were there are 14:35.
Looking at the departure monitors, we couldn’t find any flight to Moscow. Hmm. We asked at the information office and were told that at 15:45 our plane leaves from Moscow. From Larnaca it takes off at 20:00. Ouch. That left us with three hours of free time. Taking a one hour trip back to Limassol, one hour in Limassol, and one hour trip back to the airport seemed like a bad idea – not efficient and very tiring. Instead we went to Larnaca to visit our friends Yannis and Svetlana.
Yannis and Svetlana were in their music shop at the time. So we came. For the next couple of hours we “played” all instruments from drums and harmonicas to keyboards and pianos. It was time to go back to the airport.
Or so we thought. Somehow we thought it was six o’clock, when it only was five. So we, obviously, came too early. The registration and passport control for the flight opens two hours before take off. We decided to wait for one hour at the caffeteria. Especially considering that we haven’t eaten much for the last six hours.
When we almost ready to go, an update scrolled through the lines on the monitors, informing everyone that the flight is a bit late. It will take off at 20:25. Mkay. Another half an hour in the cafeteria. Then, another update. 20:50.
By that time, Maxim knew every corner of the airport and every person who spent more than ten minutes in the building. Security guards saw us as colleagues.
Finally, the flight was open and Olga and Maxim got registered. We walked around for a few more minutes, said goodbyes and parted. I’ll see them again in more than one month. Sad…