I left my parents comfortable home with all the modern comforts I could dream of on Friday afternoon. Both of my parents took the afternoon off of work to take me to the airport. The adventure started at the check in counter. While checking in the lady working for the airlines refused to give me a boarding pass, because I didn’t have a visa to stay in Georgia for over a year. I explained that I was coming back in June, but she said my word was not good enough with an open ticket. I showed her my contract that said I was working for the Georgian government and she still didn’t feel that it was good enough. She went to talk to her supervisor and told me multiple times that she was not going to lose her job over me. My mom kept telling me to calm down, but I was staying pretty calm, I was just frustrated. After standing at the ticket counter for over an hour with both my parents trying to help me, calls to the Georgian Embassy, me almost completely breaking down, and my mom having to walk away out of anger the women gave me a ticket and told me she would let me get on the first flight, but to be prepared to turn around in Amsterdam. I left the counter about 35 minutes before take off of an international flight at a pretty big airport. My parents walked me as far as they could with out tickets. My dad gave me a hug and told me he loved me, my mom gave me a hug and told me not to cry, then told me I didn’t really have to get on the plane if I didn’t want to. I told her I wanted to go, gave her another hug and said good-bye. Looking at my watch in the security line I questioned if I would make it but I did.
I was one of the last people on the plane I got a great aisle seat in an exit row. I was to the point of a harder more expensive return if I don’t carry through my contract. The plane ride was incredibly uneventful. I landed in Amsterdam ahead of schedule and had a 4-hour lay over to occupy.
In Amsterdam I met other people in the same program. I wandered around the airport with someone else who happens to live in Virginia too, we looked for a cheap authentic Dutch experience but we couldn’t find anything practical. We saw many tulips, clogs, and expensive cheeses but settled on conversation for entertainment. When I checked in at the KLM counter to get on a Georgian Airways plane I was not at all surprised that I didn’t have issues with my lack of visa because the law clearly states you don’t need one if you’re an American citizen staying less then a year. Yes, I am still mad at the lady who works for United Airlines who almost made me cry. I met several more people in the Teach and Learn with Georgia (TLG) program by the gate to go to Tbilisi, the capitol of Georgia and the only city with a large commercial airport.
The plane ride from Amsterdam to Tbilisi was unlike any other plane ride I have been on. I tried to count the number of plane rides I have been on, I gave up but know it’s well over a 100 if you count each leg of every trip. The plane it’s self looked nicer then I actually expected. It was the warm stale air in the plane that was a slight turn off, but still not bad. Nothing was really bad; I am not use to a plane full of flies and feeling like you are constantly swatting them away. I am also not use to people taking out a bottle of liquor singing and passing it around, or someone turning on music and dancing up and down the aisle. I thought this was a taste of what to expect once in Georgia.
Once we landed we filed off the plane and went through customs. I have not done extensive international travel but it was far simpler then what I imagine is your typical customs checks. I spoke no Georgian; I don’t know if the agent spoke any English. I handed her my passport and smiled she smiled back, stamped it and took my picture. She probably scanned it or something, but I missed it. There was no declaration of what I was brining in to the country.
After customs we went down to baggage claim. We were greeted, as we were told was possible, by TV camera crews who didn’t really try to talk to us but were just there. We then met the very friendly staff of TLG as promised. After getting our nametags we crowded in to mini buses and took off to the place where we would have training. None off knew before we landed where we were going for training, There was not a single complaint from us when we showed up at the Sheraton in Tbilisi, I think we can all handle a 5 star hotel for 5 days.
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