Now that I’m back in the States, let me just fill you in on the last bits of my trip and start bringing this blog to a close.

Friday was my last full day in Ukraine, and with nothing planned — as opposed to all the other days of my trip, when I had nothing specific planned — it was a day of figurative and literal “packing up.”  After another peaceful morning in the City Park, I hit the streets again, this time wandering a little farther north of Lenin Street.  Just a couple blocks from this main street, there’s a couple streets where the sidewalks are jammed with street vendors.  (We drove past this street on my way out of town the following morning, and the difference was night and day.  There was absolutely no trace that a “street fair” had been there the day before; apparently, people set up and take down their table and goods every day.)  It seemed there was a preponderance of vendors selling sunglasses, and yet, as I had noted previously, it doesn’t seem people in Ukraine really wear sunglasses.

I got a couple pictures that I had wanted.  At least I took them; whether or not they’re any good is yet to be seen.  I also did a little shopping, and for lunch I did my best to locate a place that served something English teacher Anna said I should try before I leave.  Unfortunately I couldn’t find it (a circle pastry, filled with meat, folded in half, fried and served with sour cream; perhaps I had the name wrong), so I settled for McDonalds.  Yes, my last meal in-country was the same as my first, but in my defense, it was nice being able to order something directly, instead of having to point at a picture or description and saying, “eta, pahzhalstah” (“this, please”).

The rest of the day was just hanging out at the apartment, packing up and giving my feet a rest from the past week and half of walking.

Saturday — travel day, the day it all ends — started at 5 am.  (The day I left Odessa also started at 5 am; next time I need to get a better travel agent.)  My taxi arrived at 6 am for a rather uneventful ride to Donetsk for the first of my planes.  (I know it’s time to wind the blog down, but I really should say something about the airports and the airplane trips in Ukraine; they were definitely a little different.  Well, maybe another post.)  The flight to Kiev was rote, but that’s where the normalcy of the day ended — assuming any day when you’re traveling 10,000 miles has a “normal” aspect.

The lines for the New York flight from Boryspil were incredibly long, which was surprising since I was there almost 3 hours early.  This threw me off my game a little, because if the airline check-in took (at least) 45 minutes, what could I expect from passport control and customs?  This meant that I didn’t get a bite to eat or cash out some of my extra hrivnya like I’d planned.  And what made it all the worse was that the plane out was an hour late.

After my first overseas trip (to London quite some time ago), I swore that I would always travel business class if I was going overseas.  I really wish I’d stuck to my guns on that, and at check-in, the thought did occur to me to upgrade, but I didn’t ask about.  Although my flight over wasn’t too bad, my flight back wasn’t nearly as comfortable for some reason.  I’m guessing that reason is the fact that I just couldn’t fall asleep, which made 10 hours trapped in a little seat on an airplane feel like… well, 10 hours trapped in a little seat on an airplane.

Finally we got to New York, where it became apparent that JetBlue hates me.  Really, they must.  This was my first trip with JetBlue (New York’s home town airline), and I’ve already told you about the first of my flight from Portland.  Although the flight back to Portland didn’t have any of those thrills (plus I got a window seat and was finally able to get a little sleep), it was delayed by over three hours.  This was on top of the previously expected four-hour layover (which actually got trimmed a little because, as I said, the flight from Kiev left late).  The JetBlue people were apologetic, explaining that things were delayed “because of everything yesterday,” which actually didn’t help me at all, since I hadn’t been in the country “yesterday.”

Eventually, though, I got out of New York, and finally got into Portland about 3:30 am Sunday morning.  It was weird being almost the only people in the airport, especially since I usually see it filled with people.

After grabbing my bag (just once before I die I would love to see my bag first on the belt), getting to my car (right where I left it), and getting home (right where I left it), I actually couldn’t fall asleep right away, and when I did only slept for a couple of hours.  I imagine I might be on a slightly odd sleep schedule for the next couple days, which is why I’m going to finish this now and take a nap.

I’ll have at least one more post, because I want to “sum things up” a bit.  There could even be more than that, because for everything I did mention in my posts, there were probably a half-dozen other things that happen that I didn’t talk about.  But soon I’ll be back into my old routines, and then the ramblings of a person who “once” went to Ukraine won’t be nearly as interesting.  So at least one more.

And, no, I haven’t forgotten about the pictures.