Vnukovo Airport

Departure Board in English above and Russian below.  Our destination is Magnitogorsk, the city on the bottom of the board.

We are flying UTair.

R, the driver picked us up at our apartment, R took the aeroexpress from his office and met us at the airport.  Traffic was light and we traveled in a direction, Southwest, we had not yet been.  R has flown out of Vnukovo airport on business but it was our first time.  After R arrived we ate supper at McDonalds and went to our gate to wait for boarding.  Soon we handed over our tickets and headed down the jet bridge, and out the door and onto the sidewalk and onto a bus.  Now if you've traveled much or traveled from or to small cities or towns you've probably ridden a bus to an outlying plane.  But, maybe not quite like this.  After quite a long time one of the boys quipped to the other, "and five hours later we realized we bought bus tickets. . ."  Eventually, we arrived at the plane and like Russians do they swarmed to the airplane stairs.  Russians do not form lines they just mob.  But, the crowd parted for women with children, the kids and I among them. Russians still honor women and children first.  We boarded the plane, found our seats and settled in for our flight.  Our flight was uneventful, and even included a supper box.  We taxied, exited the plane, boarded a bus for the short trip to airport, collected our luggage and were met by our taxi driver who held a sign with our name on it.  But, before we got in the taxi we stopped at the restroom knowing the trip was about an hour long.  The women's restroom was small but clean and typical.  The men's however, was not typical, it contained squatty potties.