There are two truly obnoxious words in the phrase “stay up all night:” stay up. Sure, it seems simple enough to do when you’re planning it out on paper — you catch the last flight out of Donetsk, which means you’ll only have ten hours, overnight, to hang out in the Kiev airport before you can check in and be on your way. Heck, I did 18 in Munich… only 10 in Kiev should be a snap. Yeah, well, it’s not.

However I can’t complain all that much. There was no problem with my flight to Kiev (we actually arrived a little early), and while all the goings on in Kiev took me a little longer than I would have liked, I got them done, then hopped a bus to spend a few more hours with my wife. She, her son and I had a late supper, did some window shopping and walked around, then they got a sleeping room at the train station while I grabbed the bus back to the airport. It was another sad parting, but I like to think it will make our reunion that much sweeter.

The trip into Kiev did eat up some of my layover, but I still had a few hours to kill. Fortunately, the airport has a baggage storage service, and I’d put my bags there before I saw my wife. When I got back to the airport, I left them in storage a bit longer, so I was able to wander — and even nap a little — without needing to worry about those two freakin’ suitcases. It cost all of $7, and it was so worth it.

I’m now down to my last wait in Kiev — the boarding area for my flight to Amsterdam. This will probably be my last overseas post, since I really won’t have time for much in Schiphol.

Both my wife and her son were trying (half-heatedly, I’m sure) to convince me to stay in Mariupol, but obviously that wasn’t an option. However, I did say that while there were many good things to keep me in Ukraine, I was looking forward to understanding the conversations around me again. They both found that to be very funny, but I’m sure they knew it was also true. Ah well…