Happy Lovers Day !!!

My pal Limey wrote a post on his blog about his lady Twirl having a hard time getting home from their vacation in Poland. This reminded me of a trip last Feb that I took to see Maryna before she arrived in the United States..
The trip was to be with her on Valentines Day . I got a killer deal on the tickets and was all happy and looking forward to seeing my sweetie and spending time with her. The flight started out at Dulles . I noticed that things were going real slow and soon found out why. The customs agents were present outside the gate and were checking all bags. The small bags that you get to carry on were checked and if they were too big they were put in the cargo area. Many, many pissed off people. You had a choice you let them have your bag or your ticket the choice was yours to make. Humor is lost on these guys. They don't even look at you , they just talk , write and search.
We get on the aircraft and are told we may not leave our seats. The surprise arrives a few minutes later.We were all watching when about 25 people were led on the plane. Guards in front and rear. Custom agents and armed as well. These people were being sent out of the US.They were in route to Amsterdam. Women were crying, men were crying . It was a big assed mess. The agents backed out of the aircraft. The door was closed and we were off. Now this is just the beginning of the trip. So far it sucks and will get much worse. Two hours later we were in flight, snacks served movies were on and I was talking to one of the people at the rear of the aircraft. They were being deported. All of them , being deported. They were some that had lived in the US for years. No green cards, not a one between them. One lady came to the US with her mom when she was a child. She spoke English like we do. She was educated and raised in Richmond VA. She was not a threat to anyone. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time and got caught in a net so to speak. The guy she was living with was arrested and she was taken along with him to jail. She had to show ID and when she was run through the system she was found out so to speak. I am not even a tenth through this trip and I am boring you with this nice lady's problems .
On to where the real fun starts. We land in Amsterdam. I have a 8 hour layover. The special people were taken off, I lock my bag in the locker and I am off to my local hang out to pass the time away. Now for you that have never had the chance to visit Amsterdam you owe it to your soul to go. The world is a great big place and many other people do many other things to pass the time . Some good , some not so good. I have never held what a person does against them. They choose to do what they do and who am I to tell them it is wrong in their country. The Bulldog Saloon and other nice places are waiting on us to play and party. When I say party I mean real deal partying.

When I walk in I always give the bar lady a tip and tell her when I have to be at the Airport and I get there on time so I am a happy man. No problems at all. I am taken good care of and we are all happy. I walk out of the bar and hear ping , ping , ping, it is sleeting and it is coming down real hard. Ice hurts when it hit's you and I was being beat to death with it. Airport here we come. Am I boring you yet ?

The aircraft was being deiced. I am as fucked up as a human being can be and still be standing. Next stop Budapest Hungary and my Maryna. Now the flights to Budapest are flown by Malev Airlines. A good airline that has a very smooth operation. The pilots are all old fighter pilots and Budapest airport is a former World War II airfield with very long run ways. I mean very long and fast. The landing are very smooth because you don't have to apply brakes when landing, you just glide in and hang a left turn. I have slept through the two hour flight and they wake me up for the landing. I look out the window and think; wow it is very cloudy. I look again and I see nothing but snow and ice. WTF ? A white out. 100% white. I am thinking well this will be fun. Bam, Rattle, Bam the ice on the wings fly off and we are on the ground. Moans and groans and I start clapping and cheering. Now when you land you still have a 5 minute ride at around 70 mph to the gate. These guys have a blast driving these aircraft. They are all older , wear their hats crooked and swagger around. They are Manly Men and show it. Brown leather jackets, spit shined shoes and a Manly attitude.

The gate is close I can see it and then it happens. We are sliding on the ice past the gate and have to be pushed back. Now this should be a easy thing to do. We are in Eastern Europe and nothing is easy there. Nothing at all from buying a house and land to being pushed back at the airport so you can get to your wife. The sleet and snow have made it so slick that the pushing machines can't get traction. They have to hook two tractors up to do it. One pulling one pushing and we make it.I don't speak Hungarian not a word of it. Oh I have tried I just can't speak it. I want to say thank you and all I can do is jabber and slobber..

The fun has just started and there is more to come. I am not off of the aircraft and I can feel that something is not right. How right I was ......