Sitting in a cafe in the Kiev airport

So Amy and Ethan took me to the airport this morning (thanks A & E) and that all went smoothly.  My bag weighted in at 49lbs (max without paying is 50... I was lucky, had no idea).

Flight to JFK went well.

Drama 1:  Got a call in JFK airport and my return flight from Lugansk to Kiev has been canceled.  I called the airline and they said "sorry, we've canceled all return flights from Lugansk to Kiev for the entire month of April... and we don't have any affiliated partnerships... your only option is to get your money back and find another way."

Awesome... so now I'll have to figure out how to get from Lugansk to Kiev in time... or I'll have to take another airline/path.

Flight from JFK to Kiev was interesting.  The people around me were nice and I somehow got two phone numbers.  One from the guy next to me who lives in Yalta (like the Russian riviera) and another from a woman across the isle who might visit Austin.

Oh, and there was a whole group of what appeared to be Fundamental Jewish men.

And they kept getting up and putting on clothes and hats, and taking off clothes in hats... like all 20 of them at once.  They would clog the bathroom area to do their prayers together and then this morning they did this odd ritual where they wrapped their arms in what looked like a long leather strap.  Weird to awaken to such a ritual happening all around in the aisles.  I felt like a peeping tom... like "this is WAYYY too intimate to be doing on an airplane"

See the dude in the white robe looking thing hunched over?

Here he is

Clogging the aisles... people couldn't use the bathroom

Here's dude wrapping his arm in what looked like a thin metal band or leather while standing in the aisle

Customs in Kiev was interesting and the signage and help was... well... less than helpful.  I asked "which line" and was told "any."  But after standing in a line for 30 minutes I was told "wrong line" and had to start over... only after I got to the front, of course.  Finally I made it through and picked up my bag to take for inspection... this is when it gets good...