Farewell Kyiv, Farewell Paul

It shouldn't come as a surprise that after four weeks of working together and four weeks of palling around together that Paul and I would leave Kyiv together.  Our flights were departing five minutes apart, mine to London to meet up with Randy and the kids, and Paul's to Athens to meet up with his family.  That meant three more hours together.

We met downstairs in the lobby at 6:30 in the morning, me arriving first and finishing one last can of coke that I had bought.  Our taxi arrived and we were off ten minutes later.  We found it bitter sweet that our route happened to take us past all the favorites, Shiva's market, 7, our office.  I realize it was early in the morning, but Kyiv was so peaceful, no traffic, no noise, I really like the mornings here.  Our taxi ride to the airport didn't take long so we were musing on what to do for two and a half hours....well let me tell you.

We were both flying Ukrainian Airlines so we lined up where we were supposed to, me in front of Paul, I was leaving first after all.  Time moves slowly in Ukraine and the airport is no exception.  When I got to the counter there was a problem with my ticket, seems I had two. Who knows, who cares just fill one.  Nope.  I was sent off to find Air France who was the partner airline.

So off I go leaving Paul in line and he said he'd come find me after he checked in.  I trudge to the opposite end of the airport only to be rudely told that Air France doesn't open till 10:30.  "I have a 9:30 flight" I say as politely as I can, but the woman didn't care, "I can't help you" she tells me.  So now off I go to try and find the Ukrainian Airline ticket office to see if someone can help me.  I look for Paul on the way but he has been told he was in the wrong line so he got sent off to another check in section to start the process over again.  OK, I see now what we'll be doing for two and a half hours.

Somehow after all the mess, I managed to check in before Paul so I waited for him and we went off to go through customs and immigration, me ultimately heading for gate 7, he for gate 9.  OK, to the bitter end we're going to go through it all together.  Kyiv is not a tourist destination and despite both of us wanting an Egg McMuffin from McDonald's, we had to settle for a muffin and a cappuccino, me spending my last 50 UAH, just as I had planned.

We had a team dinner the night before we were all leaving and tears were shed then by all, so I was hoping there wouldn't be any more tears when it was time to say goodbye to Paul.  I'm such a girl....of course there were tears.  It's not goodbye, somehow I know we'll see each other again, next time with our families in tow, so farewell for now Paul.

Ukrainian metro is efficient, Ukrainian airlines not so much as my flight was late pulling back from the gate by thirty minutes.  I flew out over the city, easily recognizable by the giant soccer stadium.  I will miss the walking to work everyday and the history and architecture of the city, I could walk around it for hours and hours.  I will miss Oksana, I hope after all our outings and talks we can call each other friends.  To Team 1 Ukraine, thank you for all the laughter and adventures, my door will always be open, just look me up when you're in Austin.

Randy, Tyler, and Sydney - thank you for allowing me this amazing once in a lifetime adventure.  I'm on my way to you now, see you soon in London.