by George William Sweeney

Almost every check-in desk at the airport had a long line except for one, the airline I was taking. There was going to be a delay of a couple of hours in due to mechanical problems with the plane in Zurich.

After a rough flight we were arriving in Zurich at 11:20 and my departure to Vienna was scheduled for 11:40. I ran to the gate, but that flight was being delayed, for mechanical failure.

At first the flight was only being delayed a couple of hours. Checking again to I found that the amount of the delay was uncertain. The flight to Vienna was not going to make in time for me to catch the flight to Minsk.

After some time of searching they found that the only way to fly to Minsk from Vienna after missing my connection would be to wait a couple of days. If I spent the night in Zurich, I could catch a flight from Zurich to Warsaw and then to Minsk.

Returning to the airport the next day, it took me some time to find the gate. It was downstairs from the other gates. There were no seats at all in the area, standing room only, literally. When they loaded us on a bus it looked as if they were having trouble with the plane and were going to drive us the entire way to Warsaw. I was glad to find that they were taking us to a plane.

There was a person, wearing a fireman's outfit, from the airline that boarded and spoke with one of the passengers. He came back several times and even took a passenger's passport for a while. This delayed us about an hour.

My flight from Warsaw to Minsk was on Belavia. The cabin was very dimly lit. I almost tripped on the throw rug in the isle. Luggage was stored on the seat. The overhead could not hold any. The seats folded forward with a touch and the seat was very lumpy. There were just regular curtains over the windows. There were no "no smoking" or "fasten seatbelts" signs, no seat assignments, no floatation devices, no oxygen mask, no safety precautions. Refreshments were crackers passed out from a cart they had to carry.

Stepping off the plane the first thing I saw were two military guards at the door of the plane. There appeared to be more guards around than passengers. At the customs desk I was asked to confirm that I did not have any weapons, gold or ammunition on me. Did they not check me in Poland for weapons and gold?

The family I was going to stay with met me at the airport. As we drove back to Minsk the rain was freezing to the window as soon as it hit. Vladimir had to stop every few minutes to clear the windshield so he could see. We soon found that we were on the wrong road. There were not too many road signs. In fact, Vladimir had to get out of the car and stop someone to find out what road we were on.

The main form of transportation in Minsk was the public bus line. The first buses were crowded at all hours of the day. On the bus people crowd in until they can hardly breathe. They had to push their way through without, saying anything.

The day after Christmas we found out that we were without cold water, but we had hot water. I had to try to take a shower without being scalded. I managed by just letting the water trickle out. Other days we would be without hot water.

We were required to register my presence in Minsk. The office we went to was in the bottom of an apartment building. The entryway was dark and there were a lot of people waiting in line to have something done with their passports.

Once we got in the office, we were not the only ones there. There were several at a time in there with the agent. It was nothing to push one's way into the office to speak with the agent while someone else was already in there. While we were in the office three others came through. They had likely already seen someone else and just needed something quick.

I tried to call a friend of mine. I first tried to call from the apartment, but the phone did not have the capability to make international calls. It was nearly impossible to find some place with a phone from which we could make an international phone call. The big hotels have such phones in the lobby, but they required a special card.

We went through an operator to call my friend. We had to place in an order with the operator for a four-minute call. When my four minutes were up, we were cut off.

I went shopping with the family. For most products one must go to a counter to purchase and then pick up. At one place where we wanted a drink and snack we had to choose what we wanted, then go over to a cashier across the room, returning to the first counter we were able to get what we wanted with the person on the other side of the counter. I can easily imagine choosing what I wanted; going over to the cashier only to forget what it was that I wanted. I could spend the entire day going back and forth.

On my return trip I had an overnight in Frankfurt. The Maxx Hotel, where I was supposed to go, had no transportation currently going to it, taxi cost $40 one way. The restaurant at the hotel was closed, so I took a taxi to another restaurant, it too was closed. I ordered a pizza from room service.