Trip to Russia: Day 1 With Pictures!

I have 4 hours left in my flight back home from Russia.  I figure this is a good time to begin my blog about my excursion to Russia to play in the Ural Steel International Championship for World of Tanks.  I left my home early in the morning to catch my flight from O’Hare Airport to Washington, DC.  What I didn’t realize was that my flight from Chicago was flying into Reagan National Airport in DC, not Dulles International which was the airport that my flight to Russia was leaving from.  I managed to catch a SuperShuttle from one airport to the other.  I left the shuttle and stood in the international departure line that was about a half mile long.  While in line I realized that I had less than an hour to get through the line and to my flight before it took off.  I prayed for the Lord to get me through the line if he wanted me to go to Russia.  Two minutes later, a woman came to me and asked me when my flight was.  I told her and she pulled me out of line.  She brought me right up to the ticket booth and I received my boarding pass in record time.  I flew through security and ran all the way to the shuttle that took me to the concourse where my gate was at and I ran all the way to the gate. 

I arrived at the gate just as the other people in my team and from our server were about to board.  I boarded as the last one on the flight and managed to sleep some of the way to Russia.  While on the flight, I got to meet and get to know better some of the people I have played games with for over 2 years.  I met guys from Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, and Florida.  We all were here for the same reason, to do our server and teams proud. 

After our 10 hour flight, we landed in Domodedevo International Airport in Moscow.  We made it through customs and met a group of the developers of the game at the exit from the Airport.  They were able to get us all together and put us in a minibus.  We tried to cram 15 people in 14 seats.  I, for some reason,  got the short end of the stick and ended up trying to be part of the 4 Americans trying to sit in seats made for 3 ½ Russians.  Our bus driver decided to hit every pot hole, bump, and rail line between the airport the hotel.  All this happened while I was on a metal tube that comprised the edge of the seat and stuck between two other guys.  (Just a little update: While writing this I am entering Canadian Airspace over the northern peninsula in Quebec.) 

We arrived at the hotel which I found out was part of the Olympic village during the 1980 Moscow Games.  The inside of the hotel was nice, but very overpriced.  The outside of every building built before 1990 has not been kept up.  Maintenance does not seem like a priority to the Russian Government.  The hotel staff was very helpful.  Most of the guys were so tired that we went to bed after the devs gave us a little info on the schedule of things.  During this meeting we told them that the flights that were booked for us would not allow us to go to the special day away that they had planned for us.  The devs  told us that they would attempt to change our flights at no cost to us.  The jet lag was so bad that we crashed after the meeting.  Many of our guys were up at 6am Moscow time due to the time difference.  I was awake at 4am.  While in Moscow, I slept no more than 4 hours a night.  I am still very tired.

I am going to take a nap and write some more later.  Part 2 coming later.

 In the plane, I met a couple of guys from the North American Server teams.  (The guy in the Red hat is on my team.)

Domodedovo International Airport - Moscow, Russia

The Amazing Birch Forest that surrounded the Airport and the City

Welcome to Moscow (Or as the natives call it: Moskva)

One of the Many Russian Orthodox Churches in Moscow

Some of the Apartments in Moscow.  Much of it looks like our low income housing.

Nate riding on the minibus through town

Yup, that's me with no hat.  We were trying to fit 4 American gamers in a seat built for 4 petite Russian Models.  

Another Church.  This one was pretty big.

McDonald's in Russia!

Our hotel: The Ismailovo Gamma Hotel.  It was once used to house athletes during the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

Our lush accommodations.  :)

The view out our room.  I stayed with another guy from my team.

Another picture of the view.

Dinner with the Red Sky guys.  Our first in Moscow.

Two more of the guys that were able to make it.

Some other guys from the North American Server

Dinner.

For dinner we had Mixed fresh veggies washed with dill added, and a Tempura style chicken with a ginger sauce and very large grain rice cooked and cooled to al dente.

The vodka museum behind our hotel.  Tourist trap!  lol

More to come later with pics from our trip to Red Square.  Day 2 will follow later with the actual tournament.