Kazakhstan Reflections Part 3 - The Long Voyage There…

One of the last views of the Canadian skyline

I do not consider our travel time on this trip to be horrible, but these days travelling were some of the most mentally exhausting days I've been through (including college exam week).  It was an experience which I hold many fond memories of, but which also hold experiences that I could do without.  Overall, I am grateful that we made it there safely and in good health!

I woke up on Friday May 4th groggy and tired.  I had a few hours to collect all of my stuff, eat, hit the bank and arrive at the Fellowship offices.  Food…I was hungry, and there was so much bacon and eggs in the fridge that would go bad over the course of the trip.  Logical decision: cook them all and feed myself and two of my friends.

Fellowship offices

The bacon was glorious, the eggs were creamy, and soon we were out the door with our bags.  We made the necessary stops to grab last minute items.  After another half hour, we arrived in the parking lot of the Fellowship. 

The rest of the team met there, we had food, talked and prayed with other members of the Fellowship who commissioned us, and began rehearsing the drama.  We ended that night with an attempted Fawlty Towers marathon, which turned into a six episode marathon before we all fell asleep.

Five hours later, we woke up and got ready for next day which was focused on last minute preparations.  There was a band practice, a meeting with someone who had previously gone to Kazakhstan, and one last meeting with our Fellowship contact discussing our expectations and the things that may hold us back.

As we drove away on the airbus, it finally hit me that the trip was beginning and that in a couple dozen hours I would be on the other side of the world.  The sun was setting when we arrived at the Toronto airport and it was completely dark when we got to the gate of our flight.  Little did we know, things would start getting interesting very soon…

Where are our guitars?

When we got the checking desk, we asked if it was possible to claim then as second carry-ons.  The pilot of the flight (who was there at the time) told us that normally he would allow it, but that due to the high traffic on this particular flight there would be limited room to store them.  So he advised us to take the guitars with us to the gate where our guitars could be put on the plane with the baby strollers.  As we boarded the plane, we left them on the ramp hoping that we would see them again.

Toronto Airport

To say that the flight from Toronto to Istanbul, Turkey was long would be an understatement.  We were all tired by then because of our five hour sleep the previous night and the fact that it was midnight when we left Toronto.  The flight was 9 ½ hours, during which I did not get a single ounce of sleep.  It was hot, humid and a baby was constantly crying three rows behind us.  Someone’s alarm even went off continuously for half an hour.  Luckily, this flight had individual movie screens which accessed a database of hundred of titles.  So that helped a bit…

By the end of the flight I was sweaty, stiff and sore from the constant sitting in uncomfortable seats for almost ten hours.  But when we saw the sun rise, we knew it was nearly time to land.  As we were landing, the plane was forced to weave around strong convective currents taking the forms of thunderstorms.  It was a glorious sight as we passed these monstrous, white pillars that looked the sized of a small mountain.  Then we landed…

When we got off the plane, we immediately went to look for our guitars.  I remember the feeling I had clearly when they said, “Not here, got to travel services.”

Great!

So we arrived at one desk of travel services and inquired about our guitars, to which they told us that we need to go to another desk in order to locate them.  With little choice in the matter, we went to the next desk.  It was there that we successfully determined that our luggage was in Istanbul, but that it wasn’t being transferred onto the next flight.  So we got the man to transfer our precious cargo to our next flight and walked away from the desk knowing that in theory, our guitars should make in onboard just fine…

New Friends and the Longest Flight I Have Ever Been On

It was at this airport that we met two more team members; One of the two dancers and the leader of an organization based in Turkey that focuses on using the creative arts to convey a message of love, grace and freedom.

We landed at around 4pm Istanbul time and left at around 8pm.  Everything was great as we were boarding.  Our guitars were (supposedly) on the plane, we had met up successfully with two team members.  It was only a 5 ½ hour flight, no prob!

Then as one of our team members, who was sitting at the window seat beside me, was glancing out the window he saw a luggage handler take a bag from the plane and toss it onto the luggage cart.  He chuckled as he thought, “Man, sucks for that person”.  Then, as he was about to close his eyes for a nap, he noticed a familiar red and white tag on the bag.

I was sitting next to him blissfully unaware and enjoying pre-flight music when I received a gentle nudge on my elbow.  “Dude, that guy out there just tossed my bag onto the luggage cart!  He took it off the plane and tossed it in the cart!  This can’t be happening!”

Istanbul lights

I was sceptical, but he was adamant that the bag in the cart was his.  Unfortunately, at that point, there was nothing we could do.  Our plane was backing up and heading down the tarmac.

I remember looking at the lights of Istanbul amidst the blackness that was the result of the absent sun.  It was very different from the grid like lines of street lights that made up Toronto.  Istanbul looked more like a snake in a spider’s web.  Then, in a moment’s time, the city was gone and darkness was all that was left.

This flight, though shorter than the first flight by a few hours, seemed twice as long as the previous one.  That was in part due to the fact that there was no interactive media device on the seat in front of me, and because I keep dozing for two minute naps and waking up feeling as though half an hour had passed by.  By then I was 15 hours into travelling and 31 hours with no sleep…

On top of that, it turned hot and muggy halfway through the flight and I found myself with a coat of sweat covering my body once again.  Ugh!  But eventually we saw the glimpse of sunlight that brought my heart hope, and then the mountain peaks of the Tian-Shan mountain range.  Almaty was our destination; it was our relief from the flight, but also our next challenge…

The Layover…

The first thing we did when we got through Kazakhstani Customs was to wait hopefully by the luggage conveyor for our bags (one of which we presumed to be in Istanbul) and instruments (which we hoped were not in Istanbul…or North Africa).  People’s luggage came through (some bags were mere cardboard boxes that had been shrink wrapped) one at a time.  Then my guitar case came through with the other instruments close behind!  Yay!

But soon after, the line shut down and my heart sank.  Out of our team, three members did not have their checked luggage, including my friend who had claimed he witnessed his bag’s removal from the plane.  Sigh!

First meeting of the full team!

After spending half an hour at the luggage recovery desk and locating our luggage (our bags were indeed still in Istanbul and would make the next flight to Almaty), we entered the main airport and met our leader, Jon, and the rest of our team.  These were the people we would spend the next 14 hours with during our layover…

In those 14 hours, many things happened:

-we saw the beautiful Tian-Shan mountains before the clouds obscured them later in the day.

-four of us tossed a Rugby ball around in the parking lot, which then hit my leg causing my pen to explode in my pocket.  As I removed it from my jeans, the ink spread everywhere on my hand, pants and shirt…Great!

-six of us went to a restaurant in the airport for lunch.  The waiter then proceeded to take an 80% tip for himself and gave us two pieces of gum…

-I tried mushroom flavoured Lays…not so good

-An elderly man approached us to practice his english.  Good times!

-We walked around the block next to the airport, soaking in the sunshine and cityscape.

-Two of us got offered rock candy from someone who was under the influence of something…

-I found out that the washrooms in the Almaty International Airport did not contain functional soap dispensers, but had western style toilets!

Those fourteen hours just blended into one another.  Time seemed to pass rapidly and agonizingly slow at the same time.  Jon, our leader, described it best by calling it a state of delirium.  Sleep seemed so close, yet I was unable to attain it.  My mind would not stop operating, but I was too tired to read or do anything else that would help pass the time.

Then the moment of truth came…our flight appeared on the board!  Those of us who were asleep were awakened and we all dragged our tired feet to the gate.  We had arrived when the sun was rising and leaving as the sun was setting.  We boarded the plane from the tarmac and I must say that the view of the mountains with rain clouds obscuring their peaks in the light of the setting sun was absolutely glorious.  I soaked that image in and then ducked my head inside the next plane.

This plane was newer and had very comfortable seats.  The flight was only 1 ½ hours and included an in flight movie.  Anything to help pass the time!

We arrived in Shymkent at night and met up with our host and his friends.  Our stuff was loaded into two vans and off we went to our home for the next 12 days.  All I remember about that ride was how fast we were going, how bumpy the road was, and how painful my neck felt after a particularly large pothole gave me slight whiplash as we passed over it at 90km/h.

Finally, we arrive at our host’s house and after a quick meal of bread and tea, we all crashed hard…

A long voyage there: 35 hours of travel time, 52 hours without sleep...and the journey had only just begun…