How long was your flight?

[AKguy 1]

I was replying to a PM and I mentioned something about how long it took me to get to Chelyabinsk.

28 hours from Anchorage, Alaska.

I flew from Anchorage to Seattle, then Seattle to freaking Amsterdam (that seriously kicked my a$$), then to Prague, then Ekaterinburg and then a nice 4 hour car ride to Chel.

How long did it take you to get there?

[mox 298]

The transatlantic flight to Germany was the longest part, about 12 hours to Frankfurt, and another 3 hours to RU. With connections and delays though, it tends to run about 22 hours.

[lee b 2]

The last time I went was Orlando-Chicago-Moscow-Novosibirsk. I think the flights and layovers were a little more than 23 hours, but the time difference had me messed up for a few days.

[Neonred 3,569]

Let's see, we left Moscow at 1 PM and arrived in Atlanta @ 3:30 PM so that makes 2 and a half hours for that flight, right?

Seriously, about 22 hours going over, but at least 8 of that is spent in Atlanta and Moscow waiting. We do make it home in one long day. Arrive at airport in Rostov for the early flight to SVO1 (90 min flight). Leave for Atlanta about 1 PM from Moscow (about 10 or 11 hour flight) and arrive in Atlanta about 3:30 PM. Wait for about 3 hours for the hour and 45 min flight to Ft. Myers. Arrive at home before 10:30 PM. Get up and go to work the next day

Edited July 7, 2009 by Neonred

[Thomas-n-Elena 0]

Last time when my wife went to Irkutsk, it was 9 hours to moscow from chicago, 2 hours on the metro to get to her cousins, spend the night then fly 6 hours to Irkutsk stay a week then a 9 hour trainride to Ulan Ude to visit family. The flight back was 6 hours from Irkutsk to Moscow, 3 hours in airport, 9 hours from Moscow to Chicago then a 4 hour drive home to Grand Rapids. All with a 19 month old boy who was very crabby and wouldnt stay in his seat. Time difference between Grand Rapids and Irkutsk 13 hours. Took them both 10 days to get back on regular time.

[Rob_Lesya 4]

I was replying to a PM and I mentioned something about how long it took me to get to Chelyabinsk.

28 hours from Anchorage, Alaska.

I flew from Anchorage to Seattle, then Seattle to freaking Amsterdam (that seriously kicked my a$$), then to Prague, then Ekaterinburg and then a nice 4 hour car ride to Chel.

How long did it take you to get there?

I always wondered why you flew into E-burg and not directly into Chel. Now I understand.

For me, the routing is usually:

1) either Baton Rouge or New Orleans to Atlanta

2) Atlanta to Moscow

3) Moscow to Chel

It's a total of about 14-15 hours of actual flight time plus whatever time is spent at the airport. The problem I had last trip was--- arrive in Moscow at about 11am. There was a 2:30pm flight to Chel, which would have been perfect but when I was buying tickets it was sold out. So I was stuck on the 12:30am flight -- a 13 hour layover. It wasn't too bad though-- I had some friends come and meet me at the airport and hang out with me during my layover.

During the winter Delta will eliminate their Atlanta to Moscow route, so that'll mean having to route through JFK (if I stay on Delta or Aeroflot) which will add another 2-3 hours to the flight time.

Considering your location, I'm not sure either direction is going to be much quicker than the other. The only thing that would help is flying into Moscow (either SVO or DME) which would allow you to then fly directly to Chel (CEK) and eliminate the long car ride.

[AKguy 1]

I always wondered why you flew into E-burg and not directly into Chel. Now I understand.

For me, the routing is usually:

1) either Baton Rouge or New Orleans to Atlanta

2) Atlanta to Moscow

3) Moscow to Chel

It's a total of about 14-15 hours of actual flight time plus whatever time is spent at the airport. The problem I had last trip was--- arrive in Moscow at about 11am. There was a 2:30pm flight to Chel, which would have been perfect but when I was buying tickets it was sold out. So I was stuck on the 12:30am flight -- a 13 hour layover. It wasn't too bad though-- I had some friends come and meet me at the airport and hang out with me during my layover.

During the winter Delta will eliminate their Atlanta to Moscow route, so that'll mean having to route through JFK (if I stay on Delta or Aeroflot) which will add another 2-3 hours to the flight time.

Considering your location, I'm not sure either direction is going to be much quicker than the other. The only thing that would help is flying into Moscow (either SVO or DME) which would allow you to then fly directly to Chel (CEK) and eliminate the long car ride.

I was advised that I shouldn't fly into Chel because of my limited Russian language skills. The next time I go I think I might just go into Chel and save everyone the hassle.

[Rob_Lesya 4]

I was advised that I shouldn't fly into Chel because of my limited Russian language skills. The next time I go I think I might just go into Chel and save everyone the hassle.

Hmmm... I assume Anna will be at the airport with you... and even if not, most of the workers I encountered at check-in, security, baggage claim, etc all spoke enough English to get the point across. And I actually was VERY surprised at the large # of people I encountered on the planes and at the airport who were from America. Apparently a lot of Americans went to Chel to spend New Year's with their SO. And there are a couple of churches in Chel (you can see them on YouTube) that have quite a few Americans who come in and out to help them with their various missions.

[mendeleev 68]

These days we connect through LA.

She left Denver at 4 pm Monday and arrived in Novosibirsk at 0530 am on Wednesday. There was a 4.5 hr layover at Sheremetyevo and a 2 hr layover (a bit less, actually) in LA. With the time shift, it right around 24 hours. Add 3 hours commuting and waiting on security at the two ends. Before finding the LAX-Sheremetyevo connection, we had to put up with 12 hour layover at Sheremetyevo, which was tough.

For the return, she will leave her apartment at 0430 on Friday and will return to Denver at 2330 on Friday. We'll probably get home 75 minutes later. So, portal to portal, the return will take just over 33 hours. Can't wait for that to happen!

[johnj 0]

Let's see, last time:

Trip over

5am-7am Jacksonville-Atlanta

9am-11am Atlanta-JFK

4pm-10am JFK-SVO (+1 day)

9pm-11pm Moscow-Sochi

11pm-4am Sochi-Anapa (taxi)

Return

6pm-8pm Sochi-Moscow

Noon-2:30 Moscow-JFK

6pm-8pm JFK-Atlanta

1130pm-1am Atlanta-Jacksonville (+1 day)

That is a lot of ash time!

Previous times when I went to Blagoveschensk, add 6.5 days on the train to this total, minus the trip to Sochi

Edited July 7, 2009 by john and natalya

[Steve S 2]

During the winter Delta will eliminate their Atlanta to Moscow route

NOOOOOO!!

[mendeleev 68]

During the winter Delta will eliminate their Atlanta to Moscow route

NOOOOOO!!

That's a bummer. That's our preferred backup path. At least there is American's O'Hare - Domodedyevo option.

[Rob_Lesya 4]

During the winter Delta will eliminate their Atlanta to Moscow route

NOOOOOO!!

That's a bummer. That's our preferred backup path. At least there is American's O'Hare - Domodedyevo option.

Hopefully, the ATL-SVO route will be back in the Spring --- we'll just have to wait and see.

There's also United to Domodedovo via Washington. The last I heard both United and American's routes to Moscow were still going to be flying through the winter.... but of course everything is subject to change.

My only problem with going through Domodedovo is that the next trip over will probably be the one where I bring Lesya back with me. Flying back from Chelyabinsk you either take S7 through DME or Aeroflot through SVO. Lesya wants to bring her cat to the US with her. Unfortunately, S7 will not allow ANY pets inside the cabin. So that means we have to take Aeroflot and return on carriers flying through SVO. Yes, I know we could always take the train between SVO and DME, but that's not a very practical option. And yes, I know we could always just adopt a cat once she arrives (in fact there's an animal shelter less than a block from the house)... but I AM asking her to completely disrupt and uproot her life in order to move half-way around the world-- I don't think it's unreasonable for her to want to bring a beloved and familiar pet with her.

[mendeleev 68]

During the winter Delta will eliminate their Atlanta to Moscow route

NOOOOOO!!

That's a bummer. That's our preferred backup path. At least there is American's O'Hare - Domodedyevo option.

My only problem with going through Domodedovo is that the next trip over will probably be the one where I bring Lesya back with me. Flying back from Chelyabinsk you either take S7 through DME or Aeroflot through SVO. Lesya wants to bring her cat to the US with her. Unfortunately, S7 will not allow ANY pets inside the cabin. So that means we have to take Aeroflot and return on carriers flying through SVO. Yes, I know we could always take the train between SVO and DME, but that's not a very practical option. And yes, I know we could always just adopt a cat once she arrives (in fact there's an animal shelter less than a block from the house)... but I AM asking her to completely disrupt and uproot her life in order to move half-way around the world-- I don't think it's unreasonable for her to want to bring a beloved and familiar pet with her.

Your analysis is spot on ... you need to find a way for the pet to immigrate. Be sure to check into whether there are US customs barriers to pet immigration.

[Tnic 5]

Just shy of 10 hours JFK-SVO

A 6 1/2 hour wait.

Then a 15 hour train ride to Yoshkar Ola. Total of 31 1/2 hours not counting the check in and wait time at JFK.

One of these days we're gonna get a deluxe berth, but we've had nice roomies so far and the dinning car is great.