The Arrival
Several weeks ago now, I met a weary traveller at the Odessa airport. I arrived late. Eric's plane arrived much later.
Because I was unable to hail down a marshrutka, and as I mentioned earlier, I was late, I decided to take a cab to the airport. Always an expensive feat.
We made idle chit chat in the car on the way there. He told me that he'd wait for me to come back and would take me to the bus station. He even said that he'd take me all the way back to my site... for a large sum of money.
I went inside the smallest airport ever and didn't see Eric there. I began to panic, wondering where he could be--or what had happened to him--but other taxi drivers informed me that the plane was late. I'd have to wait 2 hours.
My driver said he'd stay and found me when the time approached, excitedly telling me that the plane would be arriving outside--not inside through customs. "It's coming from Kyiv" he explained, "there is no need to go through customs here." And so we waited beside the tiny airport by a fence.
Finally a little shuttle bus pulled up to the other side of the fence, and even in the dark, I could see Eric's figure as he approached the gate.
After some bargaining, I decided to take the cab all the way home. Our alternative would have been to wait in the bus station for several hours and we'd get home around 3:30am (we had a 7am train to catch, so the extra time was welcome to me).
When we arrived at my apartment we parted--the driver beeped his horn and ran towards me giving me his phone number. I realized than that I must have been the sucker of the month and he probably didn't have to work the rest of the week because of this one fare, worth well over several weeks pay to me.
But I shrugged it off. My vacation had begun.
Because I was unable to hail down a marshrutka, and as I mentioned earlier, I was late, I decided to take a cab to the airport. Always an expensive feat.
We made idle chit chat in the car on the way there. He told me that he'd wait for me to come back and would take me to the bus station. He even said that he'd take me all the way back to my site... for a large sum of money.
I went inside the smallest airport ever and didn't see Eric there. I began to panic, wondering where he could be--or what had happened to him--but other taxi drivers informed me that the plane was late. I'd have to wait 2 hours.
My driver said he'd stay and found me when the time approached, excitedly telling me that the plane would be arriving outside--not inside through customs. "It's coming from Kyiv" he explained, "there is no need to go through customs here." And so we waited beside the tiny airport by a fence.
Finally a little shuttle bus pulled up to the other side of the fence, and even in the dark, I could see Eric's figure as he approached the gate.
After some bargaining, I decided to take the cab all the way home. Our alternative would have been to wait in the bus station for several hours and we'd get home around 3:30am (we had a 7am train to catch, so the extra time was welcome to me).
When we arrived at my apartment we parted--the driver beeped his horn and ran towards me giving me his phone number. I realized than that I must have been the sucker of the month and he probably didn't have to work the rest of the week because of this one fare, worth well over several weeks pay to me.
But I shrugged it off. My vacation had begun.
posted by Molly | 10:08 AM
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