We're Back

As promised here are the details of the rest of our process at the Almaty Airport. About 2 hours before boarding they had us go through a passport check prior to heading to the check-in counter. After checking the bags we went through customs. The Kaz Customs agents are always very serious. They took our white migration slips, stamped the passport and sent us on our way to the next step. One more time through security. I took out the laptop and TSA approved toiletry bag and headed through the metal detector. Some how I managed to set this one off and I didn’t have any metal on me except for my glasses and rings. Then the agent manning the x-ray machine questioned me about my 50 ml bottle of body wash. I guess the blue color threw him off. He let me keep it. I almost walked right by the customs agent who then checks your boarding pass before letting you in the boarding waiting area. After finding a seat I discovered that I didn’t even need to take the laptop and toiletry bag out to begin with.

Shortly after moving into the gate area they opened up the duty free shopping area. Keep in mind it is after midnight by this point. We browsed the shops since there was nothing else to do. Quentin had been looking for a Kaz t-shirt the entire time we had been in Taraz with no luck. He and Kara came back to the seats and informed us that they finally found a shop in the duty free section that had local Kaz items and souvenir t-shirts. So off we went to check it out. We came out with t-shirts for each of us, a key chain for Wayne and a vest/hat set just the right size for Lukas Anton.

They finally called for boarding and we headed to the gate. They have yet another customs agent at the gate that takes your boarding pass, exams it and then hands it to the Lufthansa agent. The plane was a little nicer than the one we flew over on. They had monitors in the seat backs of every seat. Still didn’t have much room between the seats.

Upon arriving in Frankfurt we were once again transport from the plane by bus. They pack you in like sardines. We had to wait until about 2 hours before our flight before they posted a gate number for our flight to Dulles. We cleared the security check point and headed to our gate to find that they won’t let you into the seating area until about an hour before hand. Yet again we were transported to the plane by bus. At least this time they had agents attempting to monitor the loading but they still packed everyone on until every seat was taken and the aisle way completely full. You didn’t have to worry about holding on because you couldn’t even move. Boarding the plane was utter chaos, they just unload and tell people to use either the front or back entrance to the plane. As a result you have people coming from the back trying to get up to the front and people coming on board at the front trying to get to the back. We were on United Star Alliance for this flight. Lufthansa and United are affiliated with each other. We actually had seats in Economy plus which was nice because we had an extra 6 inches or more between rows. The seats themselves weren’t quite as nice but the extra leg room and wider seats were nice. The service on Lufthansa is better though.

Clearing customs was pretty much a breeze. It took us about 35 minutes to go through immigration, pick up our bags and clear customs.

All and all, from the time we left Taraz to the time we landed in the US, were about 34-36 hours. I guess that is all for now until we hear when our court date is. We will keep everyone posted.