Departure from Kupol

Border Patrol - Anadyr

June 16th, 2005
It started out as a normal day, except I didn’t go to work. I got to shower without anyone else fighting for the hot water. Yes…today I’m released from Kupol.

I’m scheduled on the 9:00am helicopter to Kempervem, and then catch the BEMA charter to Anadyr and on to Nome. Great plans right? Well the flight is delayed until 11:00 AM. That still leaves enough time to make the flight in Kempervem. Everything is good.
As we were loading the flight Tony and John were pulled out of line and told the flight from Kempervem to Anadyr is over booked. They were on their 2 week Leave. They were given two options. Either stay another week or fly the other direction to Moscow, which would be a 4-5 day trip just to get home. They wanted out, so they took the flight to Moscow. Still things are OK.

The flight was 1 ½ hours to Kempervem and again the helicopter landed ½ mile from the airport because of a squabble between the pilot and the airport over landing fees. A bus met us at the river bank to drive us to the airport for the next flight. At the airport Tony and John were supposed to receive their passports but they was never delivered. As we loaded the for the next flight I couldn’t stop thinking about the movie "Terminal" where Tom Hanks is left inside a terminal without a country that will take him. We left wishing them the best.

Now I’m feeling pretty good because everything has been going as scheduled. That is, until the next stop – Anadyr. If you remember, this is where we had problems coming into Russia and this is also the place that I had supposedly been given the "Green Sheet" for goods, that I had refused to carry in upon entry. (See May Archives for that story)

I’m good at this point, I’m thinking, no illegal contraband, nothing to declare, I have my passport - a cake walk right? WRONG.
We had 10 souls on board, as the say in the airline biz. The first 6 went through without any problems. Then it was my turn. I entered the cattle area with the glass window and the small slit to put your passport into. The two women took it, punched the number into the computer and stopped. Stared at the computer then me, computer then me, spoke a little bit then back to the computer. I smiled at them and they smiled back, with their gold crowns gleaming, then picked the phone and called their supervisor. At this point I’m thinking this is not good - the three of them hold the passport up and glance at it then me several times. At this point, I think it’s time I start speaking and my first words: "I’ve grown a beard". Duh.

The supervisor leaves with my passport and the women with the gold teeth point for me to EXIT and return to the end of the line. Thank God Sergey (BEMA’s agent at the airport, the one who did nothing for us the first time) showed up. Sergey is supposed to help us get through customs and border patrol. As I go to the back of the line, Whyle says, "they are about to get the rubber glove out for Terry", and makes a snapping motion like a glove. Everybody is making jokes again at my expense.

I’m still cool about this because I’ve done nothing wrong. After everyone has passed the boarder guard it’s my turn again. Into the cattle guard area once again with the gold teeth women starring at me. My passport is taken into another room. A guard shows up on one side, and at this point Sergey decides to walk over to me and hand me a document to give to Whyle for the illegal rocks he’s taking out of the country. Great - now I have documentation that doesn’t belong to me.

The fourth gentleman, (with a very official looking military hat) arrives and stands to the right of me with the other military official and looks me up and down. He hands the passport back to the other gentleman and leaves. During this time I remember the document I signed, referring to the "Green Sheet" and I ask Sergey if that could have anything to do with this he says. "No that was customs - this is border patrol" and that’s it. I’m thinking, PLEASE ask me some questions so I can defend myself!!! With that, they ask Sergey something (in Russian, of course).

Now at this point I’m starting to think that before I left, I should have asked my two brothers "HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO RUSSIA? And if so, did you ever have any criminal charges against you?", because that was the next question they asked me. I answered, "NO; I don’t think they even have passports!"

They stepped behind the glass wall with the slots and looked at each other, smiled, and shrugged their shoulders and I heard the magic thump, thump of the stamp in my passport. I’m free to go home.

I caught up to the other passengers which have been standing in the stairwell for the last 20 minutes waiting and the only question they had for me was "did the cavity search hurt?" and would I prefer to stand the rest of the flight?" Thanks guys.

So far the rest of the journey has been uneventful until just a few moments ago when the flight attendant came over the PA and asked if there was a doctor or nurse on board. Stay tuned - we may be setting down somewhere between Anchorage and Minneapolis.
As I finish this, I’m home. No emergency stop - not sure what happened but apparently it wasn’t worth spending the fuel to stop. The last flight was delayed by one hour and when I finally walked into the terminal at midnight Beth didn’t even recognize me.