JollyRats and Daveman's Most Excellent Adventure ! ! !

[Lily]

The ski parka is solid black and I only want it in case we go the that monastary. Other than that I'm layering with cashmere sweaters and a sport coat

But you are right Vaughn, you do have to try to not stand out too much cause then the lady might feel a little akward being around you. So should I leave the Hawiian shirts, short pants and white sneakers at home?

Is white sneakers shoes? then probably you can go with them. Hawaian shirts and short pants look less than good, espesially the former  . Parka should be right, it saves you from wind and cold.

I wouldn't tell that women should be against bright colors. Many young ambitious hot-tempered men in the FSU wear them, why not portray yourself as such?

Also very excited to hear about the incoming trip 

[JR]

Well I ran into a slight snag. The mother of my daughter just imformed me via email that she is taking me to court tomorrow morning (my date of departure) for an Ex-Parte hearing (emergency court) to try to take my daughter away from me........After I took a few deep breaths I called the court to speak with the judges secretary. I asked her to leave a note for the judge telling him that I will be out of the country for two weeks starting tomorrow, that the mother knows this and I requested that nothing be done until I return.

Long story short is that she shouldn't be able to get anywhere with this and it will actually do her more harm than good in the long run. But for a few minutes I thought I would have to cancel the trip.

[GQBlues]

Just a jealous RW, JR...I hope you can make the trip.

btw

I'm off to find some gifts, chocolates usually go over well so I try to find some Godiva.

A Kali boy like you should know there's nothing better than See's candies. That had always been a no-miss for me during my travelling days. LAX have them on duty-free and get out of that silly 10% ST FWIW.

[Vaughn]

Well I ran into a slight snag. The mother of my daughter just imformed me via email that she is taking me to court tomorrow morning (my date of departure) for an Ex-Parte hearing (emergency court) to try to take my daughter away from me........

Informed you by e-mail? Never heard that an ex could "serve notice" like this...

Jolly, I was served notice by certified mail to appear in court on the day before my wedding. Seemed
my own ex felt like flexing what little power she had remaining after eight years of divorce, and tried to
ruin our week of preparation. Turned into a 5-minute affair with the judge tossing the case out as frivolous,
despite my never mentioning the suspect timing of the filed motion. Cantcha just feel the love?

[JR]

Yep Vaughn I sure can, that and a WHOLE lot of other reasons are why I'm even going to show up tomorrow and I'll still kick her ass!

[remiel6]

Are you still going on your adventure? or no?

[Daveman]

Well alrighty then!

I'm off to the airport.  Will try to send word from the dark side.  As far as I know JR is still planning to go, so hopefully that'll pan out for him.

Should be a blast to meet JR, a learning experience with the new lady, and a jumping back in the saddle trip for my partner in crime.

Here we go! Take is easy guys, we'll catch y'all on the flip side (now there's an age gap issue... The Flip Side)
Dave

[Faux Pas]

Well alrighty then!

I'm off to the airport.  Will try to send word from the dark side.  As far as I know JR is still planning to go, so hopefully that'll pan out for him.

Should be a blast to meet JR, a learning experience with the new lady, and a jumping back in the saddle trip for my partner in crime.

Here we go! Take is easy guys, we'll catch y'all on the flip side (now there's an age gap issue... The Flip Side)
Dave

Good Luck! Enjoy yourself and keep us "abreast" 

[Lily]

Have a nice trip and smooth landing in Ukraine, Dave! Hope JR will join you soon. I am eager to read your illustrated trip reports

[JR]

The night before my departure I can’t find the Iterniery I printed out so I go online and write down the pertinent info, flight number, terminal, time but not the airline name. I decide I can remember that my flights are on Lufthansa and my first flights is operated by American Airlines. That’s not too difficult now is it? Nope it certainly isn’t….store that away for later use 
I knew Liana was going t be a last minute thing. She sent me three sms starting between 0230 and 0330 asking me to get online so we could talk about meeting… I tried to ignore the texts cuz I needed the sleep but then thought what the hell, I don’t go back to sleep any ways. I got up and fired up the puter. Met her online and we talk about meeting. She apologizes for not returning my texts. I tell her no probs and it’ll be great to meet. She says Love you, blah, blah, blah and that she has to work during my arrival.
I shower, finish packing and off to the fly away bus service which will take me into LAX. Now I’ve never been great a planning and probably won’t change so I give myself an extra hour and a half for fudge factors. I distinctly remember my first Lufthansa flight being operated by American which is terminal 5 but I remember terminal 7. I discuss this with the agents at the Fly Away and decide to go to the American terminal. The bus driver states that “operated by flights” always originate at that carriers terminals so I decide to go to Bradly International terminal. (See my logic?) No? Well I decided that since I had an extra hour and a half beyond the recommended two hours before departure time I split the airport in half by going to the Bradly terminal which in the middle of LAX and if I had to hoof it at most I’d only have to go half the airport either way I went. (See the logic now?) No? Why didn’t I call the travel agent of the airline on the bus like I saw another passenger do? Are you kidding me? Why would I do that? Sheesh, stop making sense already….after I got through wandering around deserted Bradly terminal like a lost sheep for awhile (hey, I’m not about to ask anyone and look stupid)
 I decided to go to the American terminal. Yay! Now I’m getting somewhere. I plug in my credit card and the machine says to me “Hello Mr. Joe. So I’m thinking “Now we’re getting somewhere.” Well it asks me where I’m going and tell it DOK (the Donetsk airport identifier) It thinks for awhile and says it can’t find said airport, thank you and try again. I do and get the same results. OK, I not insane so I try Chicago., same results….I say “to hell with you stupid machine I’ll just got to the counter. The guy at the counter says I gotta use the machine and I say “It’s stupid, it doesn’t know I’m flying with you today.” I triumphantly hand him my itinerary send to me in the mail by the travel agent (yes, the one I, until now had not bothered to look at) explaining to him that I am on a Lufthansa flight operated by American. He tells me United does all of Lufthansa’s “operated by” flights and shows me, right at the top where it says so…..I tell him I’m stupid today and he says “No you’re not.” And I say “Yes I am.” Then realize I better leave before this gets out of hand. I thank him and start hoofing it to Terminal 7 where United is. Now do you see my logic? It should be perfectly clear why I give myself extra time.
I get to Terminal seven, buy my ticket, say good-bye to my checked in bag figuring I’ll never see it again and head to security. Off with my shoes and everything else, the nice TSA man tells me to “Please keep your clothes on sir.”  So I’m sitting here now at the gate and writing you all. I’ll meet Daveman in Munich and most likely the next chapter will be written from my apartment (which by the way I still don’t know where it is) in Donetsk. I’m starting to relax a little about the trip and I’ll call the court from Chicago to find out about my victory in absentia regarding custody of my daughter, wish me luck and say a prayer for me there.

[JR]

Quick update: I sat next to a lady who coughed all the way from LAX to Chicago  I hope I don’t get sick! In Chicago I called the court and the judge’s secretary read the minutes to me. He made none of the emergency orders Arwen’s mother requested. We have mediation on November 20 and court on the 23. She was steaming mad!

[Rina_G]

Oh JR
hope you can come to Donezk!
and everything in your trip will be OK

[JR]

DAY 1
We arrive and Donetsk and once again Dave tries to go around the security line and makes a break for the terminal. The same tall, skinny security guy in fatigues has to tackle him, billy=club him a few times and push him back to the bus. We all get in the bus and take the then yard ride to the terminal (Sheesh Dave, how hard can it be?) We breeze through customs and head out, on the way another guys asks us if we have anything to declare. He points to Dave’s bag , asks again there’s a moment when I sure they are going to check our bags. But we’re motioned through.
The Maiden is waiting. She is prettier than the photo Dave’s got up and he gives her a hug. He introduces us and she starts to shake my hand. I push Dave aside and give her a big hug. We wait outside the terminal for a little over half an hour for the taxi The Maiden ordered and when he gets there he’s got three five gallon jugs of water in the trunk!  Some of the bags gotta go up front and it’s a cozy ride.  And yes, the taxi drivers there are crazy!
They drop me off at my flat, we pay the guy then they are off to Dave’s. We decided to go to dinner and I want to shower. But before that I need to make a call. The Maiden lets me use her spare cell phone while I am here and I call number one who used to be number two. Let’s just call her Liana, because well that’s her name. (I never understood the big deal about using a first name, in a city of one million that’s not going to get you very far.) She answers, we chat briefly and her voice sounds good. She tells me she is busy at the moment and asks if she can text me. I said sure but that the phone is set in Cyrillic so I won’t understand it. She says “OK, I will SMS you.” DOH! I decided it wasn’t worth the effort to try again so I just said “OK, I’ll wait for your SMS.” I thought if she really wanted to meet she’d eventually figure it out. She texts me asking if it’d be OK if we met tomorrow.  I text back OK, call me and give Dave a call telling him I’m dateless and if The Maiden has a friend who wants to tag along it’s OK with me.
I hit the shower, get dressed and The Maiden calls. We meet at the statue of Lenin and walk a couple of blocks to the restaurant. It is nice and the prices aren’t bad at all. The Maiden’s friend Irina shows up and we exchange pleasantries. She is cute but speaks almost no English. It doesn’t stop us from having a great time though. We laughed so hard our cheeks started hurting! Dave was fading fast so we decided to walk for a little while. We walked arm in arm, making what small talk we could and it became apparent Dave needed some sleep. So did I. Irina called a taxi, we said goodnight to Dave and The Maiden, walked a short distance to the Bonbass Palace where she was to meet her taxi. Along the she pantomimed collecting tears and said “My English very bad.” Then she did it again and said “Your Russian very bad.”  I agreed, what else could I say, it’s true. As we walk up her taxi arrives, I offer to pay and she declines. I give her a kiss on the cheek and it’s time to see if I can find my way back to my apartment. I got it right on the third try, only went to two wrong doors. I put the phone on charge and hit the sack.

[Taz]

Have a great time guys! You are making me just a teensy weensy bit jealous. I already wanted to go back over...

JR- hopefully your date will come through for you tomorrow. It sucks to waste time.

[remiel6]

I am also jealous  largely because they are only two hours away from my fiance and right now I would rather be there with her then here with my work  Keep posting about the trip and let us know how it goes.

[Lily]

Donetsk is the city where a million of roses have been planted to celebrate the millionth inhabitant this is one fact that I know of Donetsk. Sorry this time of year is bad for roses

[Faux Pas]

Donetsk is the city where a million of roses have been planted to celebrate the millionth inhabitant this is one fact that I know of Donetsk. Sorry this time of year is bad for roses

Lily....there are always roses 

[Daveman]

Hey guys, just checkin' in here from JR's flat. :evil:

Well, my second day was pretty mucha day from hell. The severe beating the day before from the airport customs/security left me a litte sore, but luckily I escaped with my smuggled gemstones for sale on the black market. Or to trade for other necessities and oddities only available in FSU... Strange thing is, after the flight, my left ear was kinda weird. Fluid deal. So, the change in pressure, altitude, whatever kinda messed me up and I couldn't hear on one side... so, I missed half the fun in my zombified state of those first night festivities.  The girls had a blast and so did we. Fun welcome into Donetsk...

So, Crashed out, got some sleep (as much as possible on the first night after the travel).. woke up, and was completely deaf in the left ear with the exception of the train horn sound coming from somewhere inside there... thought there could be trouble, but then rationalized it away in the manly fashion of "hey, I'm alive.. so it must not be a big deal"... well, the gods had a plan for me that day...about two hours later as I was walking from the "living room" to the kitchen, the room began to spin. I mean, spinning like a centrifuge.  I fell to the floor and had to crawl to the bathroom where the inevitable happened.. yep, sick as a dog. Seems the ear fluid messed with the semi circular canal balancing system and just blew my head apart.  The went on for 6 hours of non stop hell... spinning, spinning, non stop spinning. What a day... I did have some Dramamine that I always carry with me, and of course they wouldn't stay down.. so I chewed up about 4 of them to try to get relief from this.. I guess the drowsiness inducing nature finally took over because I woke up on the bathroom floor and the room was still and my eyes could actually focus.

Of course the Maiden was freaking slap out over this because she was at work and called me during this ordeal, and there really wasn';t any hiding it...

So anyway... later that evening she came by and made it all better in that caring way FSUW women have.  Don't know what happened to JR that day... I think he was out terrorizing the city while I held down the floor tile.

Seeyas in again in a day or so...!

[Taz]

You should have warned the floor tile in advance you were going to be abusing it...

You are supposed to let the RW rock your world and make your head spin. Hopefully you'll be back to normal (are you ever normal?) now and really start enjoying your trip. Those custom beat downs though are just a warm up for what the militisia will due to you. Did they do any probing of your orifices yet or did you miss out on that "pleasure"?

Have a great trip and I hope it gets better from here on out!!! Say privet to JR from all of us.

[Rina_G]

Hi Dave!
terrible story
hope today you're OK?

[remiel6]

ouch this sounds familiar. Once when I was flying back to Australia for school. I left on my usual flight in Minneapolis to LAX to catch a late afternoon flight to Brisbane. Well when I landed in LAX my ear would not pop. I was in excruciating pain and mentioned it to the airline rep who would not let me on the airplane without a doctors clearance. I spent three days in LA waiting for the doctor to clear me to fly, not a terribly fun three days. I finally got on the airplane and had the same problem when the plane stopped in New Zealand to refuel, two more days in New Zealand. It was the longest trip to Australia I've ever taken and I truly hope you are feeling much better and discover that the floor holds its self down pretty well. 
Keep up the great trip reports.

[Taz]

Speaking of trip reports, it's been over 24 hours since the last one! What's up with you guys? You are slacking off!!! You are shirking your responsibilities to the board. JR has been even longer in posting an updated TR. You can't tell me the scammers are that exciting to be with. 

[Mars]

Logic should tell us that a person would be wasting time and money to prepare trip  reports while on the trip.  Supposed to be doing all the 'on the spot trip things' 24/7.  Only take time for short updates when sitting on toilet, etc.  :-))

Plenty of time for TR when back on the home turf.  Just jot down a few notes each day to try to keep track of what happened.

[Taz]

I was joking of course. I thought it would obvious. 

However some members, who shall remain nameless, cough*cough*hack#myrrdin#cough*cough* tend to write volumes while in the trenches. Then again maybe he spends a lot of time on the toilet so as to have enough time to write the updates. I wouldn't know about that but apparently Mars has some insight into the ideal time to write TR  updates. 

[Daveman]

Well, JR is on his way back home... probably should be there or getting close about now.  Seems our excellent adventure was quite cool in some ways (I got to meet and hang with JR -- very cool), but then the other side... at least for me.. the second visit turned out to be more of an eye opener.  It's just not working for us... some serious conflicts/differences, whatever, that just were not that obvious during the euphoria of the first visit.  So, the relationship is pretty much canned.  Oh well, that's the nature of the beast which is why going very slowly is so important for me.  If we'd have rushed into the visa after the first euphoric meeting, we'd most likely be a major train wreck in the works. 

So, on to plan B and that is to meet and have fun with some others.  I met another girl I had been in communication with some time back and at the moment we met (well within 10 minutes) I understood completely why we stopped communicating before. She really is a wack job. I mean just OUT there.  So after about 2 hours of chatting, it was so bad that I couldn't even finish the day with her, yeeeesh.  A couple more meetings in the works now and I may hit an agency or two, though it is a little difficult to be in the right mindset at the moment.  Shifting to something different isn't that easy, but much better to shift than to try to force something that just really ain't happening.  Sooooo, we'll see what happens.  I don't want to can the whole trip and head home because you just never know what might happen with an open mind to new possibilities.  But, if after a couple of days I just can't get into it, I may save the money for the next adventure and blow on outta here.

Now, onward and upward..  :evil: