Goodbye Karaganda, Hello (again) Almaty

Our first flight

Well, Nate and I survived our first airplane trip to Almaty on Saturday night (7/18).  It was... tougher than I ever imagined but mostly because the flight was scheduled so late at night (11:50 PM).  Nate is a very curious little guy that doesn't want to miss a thing so he stayed up for the entire journey.  The 3 full bottles I packed for him was my saving grace-  as well as the nice strangers that helped me with my carry-on and stroller.  This was definitely great practice for the 25 hour travel back to CA in less than a week.  I have a newfound respect for all the mothers I have seen traveling with their babies.  

The toughest part of this flight was arriving in Almaty at 3:00AM AND discovering  my beautiful, modern  loft-style apartment had no crib.  After an hour of moving around heavy furniture, we finally went to bed. 

Luckily, Nate slept in a bit so we were ready to walk around town and get our water and groceries for the rest of our stay.  My travel partners had the same sort of experience (2 adults + 2 toddlers, 1 full size bed) so together we fought through the frustration.  We are so very close to coming home so we just try and focus on that.  

While in Almaty we have a few "free" days to site see so I scheduled a trip to the National Park just outside of Almaty for some fresh mountain air, a visit to the museum, and a stroll through Gorky Park.  

It's hard to believe we are going home soon.  

See you soon,

Linda and Nate