After we did get inside the airport, we got in line to check in for our flight. It seemed like it was a pretty smooth process for all of us with the exception of coach Anatoly Petrosyan. The agent at the ticket counter was telling him that his bags were overweight and that it would cost him $500 U.S. dollars to check his bags. He told them that he didn't need his bags that bad if they were going to charge him that much and that they could keep one of his bags and just check the other one. This apparently was not an option that the agent would accept, and she kept hounding him to pay up. Fortunately Anatoly is the master of asking "why?" He kept asking the agent questions until she finally gave in and checked his bags free of charge. In the U.S. even though I don't particularly like it I have come to accept the fact that if I am going to check a bag that it is going to cost me 25 bucks each way. However, the fact that the agent was trying to charge Toly $500 was just robbery. That was probably more than the actual ticket from Prague to Moscow cost. How do they justify that?

One thing that I forgot to mention was that earlier that morning I found out that we would have to fly to Kiev, Ukraine and then catch a connecting flight to Moscow. Ivan let us know that Kiev is a place notorious for its quick handed baggage handlers. He advised that we should pack some essentials into our carry on bags so that in case our bags got picked over or happened to not even arrive in Moscow, that we would still be able to manage. I took my wrestling shoes and singlets out of my larger suitcase and stuffed them into the backpack that I would be carrying on and hoped that all of my stuff would make it to its final destination safely.

When we got to Kiev we had to go through security again after unloading from the plane. They wanted to see our boarding cards for our next flight to Moscow, but the agents in Prague told us that we would get them after we got to Kiev. After a short conversation with the security worker we were allowed to pass and were also able to get a boarding card in the terminal for our flight to Moscow. The flight wasn't bad at all, and we finally arrived in Moscow around 6:30p.m. I was excited to get to our hotel and get something to eat. If only it were that easy.

We  went to retrieve our bags in the baggage claim, and as we waited and watched the carousel churn out bags that were not ours that no one was claiming, I thought about what Ivan had said earlier and started to think about what I would need to find at the store later that night if indeed my bag didn't show up. After waiting for about an hour, our bags showed up and we filed outside to get on the bus that was to come pick us up. There was an interpreter that was there to meet us, and she informed us that on a normal day that it would take about an hour to get to our hotel, however, it was Friday so that meant with the traffic that the trip would be closer to two hours for us to get to a hotel. She was right, it took us about two hours to get to the hotel, and when we got there it was pretty crowded. Fortunately dinner was available, and I was able to go grab something to eat. That made me feel much better. I have a pretty fast metabolism, and I eat a lot. That is a good thing and a bad thing. It is good because I enjoy eating and I can get away with eating a lot and not gaining much weight. Unfortunately, I get irritable pretty quickly if it has been too long since I have had some sort of meal or snack. That dinner saved me.

After getting our rooms Walsh and I headed up to our room and got situated. I relaxed a little bit and then realized that the wifi in the hotel was not free and that I would have to go buy a card to access the internet. I found where I could buy a card, but I got there 15 minutes too late to be able to purchase one. I was bummed because that meant that I would not be able to call my wife and daughter, and I also wouldn't be able to blog about the wonderful day of traveling that I had. I borrowed someone else's card to shoot a quick email to my wife to let her know that I would call her today. After that I bought a big bottle of water overpriced at $5, but I was too tired to care about it because I was thirsty and tired. Then it was off to bed. 

Today I haven't done much other than get a wifi card. I plan on resting most of the day and venturing out to find some less expensive bottled water. I will also jump in the sauna at some point to loosen up a bit. I weigh in tomorrow. I am pretty excited about that. We have been gone for a long time, and it is nice that it is getting closer to that time to get to do what we came here to do. Wish us luck.