The first non-stop transatlantic flight. The first transatlantic flight. Non-stop flight across the Atlantic

Finally I went to the hotel. Honestly, the last time the flight seemed to me much easier. Apparently because we traveled in a group and drank all the whiskey on board as it was.

I’ve been going all weekend, but I still forgot the usb cable to charge the phone. I left Yekaterinburg, which accompanied me with rainy and dank weather - for the money;)

Yesterday I peed at the airport in Yekaterinburg, but the Internet in my landing zone was so slow that I managed to send it only from Moscow. As an intelligent person passed the business registration and flew. 2 hours flight.

The seats next to me were empty, so I couldn’t communicate with anyone. I tried the kosher menu, which I learned about on the tip of one of my colleagues on Facebook. It, in contrast to the standard ham sandwich, includes several types of fish, chicken, hummus, jam, fruit drink, chocolate bar and another tomato thing like leche (I don’t remember what is called). According to the stewardess, this is the most expensive menu on board and is enviably different from the classic. And you can get it absolutely free by specifying a kosher menu when booking a ticket.

There was customs control in Moscow, where a man in uniform with an iron face put a stamp on my passport. About an hour of waiting and iron faces of girls in uniform, checking documents. For some reason, to communicate with people as scum we have in the order of things.

Sent a post over the slow internet and also chatted with Jay, my new friend from San Francisco, whom I met through couchsurfing. He asks if I should be scored from the airport and asks me to call. My old htc does not want to work in any way and does not even catch the connection, so it is problematic to call - I am writing a letter that I have already booked the hotel. By the way, just fascinated by booking.com. I used to not use it tightly, but just saw it from the side. So there are so many interesting things like allergies and notifications that are really convenient and I'm sure that they really bring them a lot of traffic. Take their secrets directly and implement!

Flew across the Atlantic. I love these intercontinental planes because they are large (we had an airbus-330), they have small monitors in the backs of seats, with which you can watch movies and track the route. They serve free alcohol in the form of red and white wine, and you can also buy strong drinks such as whiskey, which are very cheap. Good stewardesses and kosher menu again. The composition is the same, so it starts to make him nauseous.

This time, the owner was a small packaging manufacturer who flies to Boston on vacation. We talked well. He is 52 years old and he is for an active lifestyle. At the end of the flight, he noticed that he was reading a large A4 notebook, in which English words were written, which he apparently taught. He advised Lingualeo - promised to definitely see;). By the way, I have great respect for people who, regardless of their age, learn a new language, open new companies, move, live a full life!

The flight across the Atlantic Ocean from Moscow to New York took 9:30 hours, taking into account all 10 taxiing. If possible, take a seat at the exit to walk around the cabin from time to time. For dinner, I refused the kosher menu and took the usual one - the truth is there is only the least, but more familiar.

The customs border in New York, a lot of people. Here they are active black American employees who, even directing the crowd into a separate lane, do it with their whole bodies, waving their arms. I can’t imagine such emotionality from a Russian person - we have other advantages.

Met Dmitry, who also flies to San Francisco. He lives in Kharkov and with his team is working on a very large and famous project. It seems only the two of us flew further to San Francisco, although I could miss someone.

Very long distances for landing the Delta, which we will fly to San Francisco. We have gate 37 and while we got to it, it seemed to me that we had passed 10 Koltsovo. JFK what can I say. By the way, pay attention to the window in the transplant between New York and Delta, because there are a lot of people and there is a chance not to be in time. We had a window at 3 o’clock, but the plane landed later and while we were passing through all the registrations, literally half an hour of free time remained. To board the Delta, you need to walk along the street and take the domestic train from terminal 1 to 4. There is no free Internet at all, but wifi from Skype works.

In Delta, as on other planes, I asked to hang my suit in their wardrobe. All stewardesses easily come to your aid - do not in any case carry bulky things with you. My wife, I don’t know how she guessed before, is going to take the child on a scooter;) You won’t drag him to the salon with you :)

To my left is a decent girl, to my right is a young man. For both macbook air - I got my pro, so as not to seem like a sucker. One is watching movies, the second is checking mail and reading Facebook. By the way, the girl put on some kind of film on the monitor. In this case, the image either becomes three-dimensional, or something else - you need to study.

On Delta planes, food is served only for a fee and additionally. You can also buy alcohol. My neighbor drank, it seems, a bottle of whiskey, and the neighbor mastered a whole large bottle of wine. By this moment I was already so tired that I simply did not have the strength to talk and get to know each other. It seemed to me that this would be the most difficult flight, since it lasts as long as 6 hours, but in fact it turned out to be the easiest, because I overslept the whole flight. I didn’t even use Wi-Fi on the plane.

I caught a taxi for $ 50. I don’t know how to get cheaper from the airport to downtown without a phone with Internet — share it if you know how. I arrived at the hotel at about one in the morning. By the way, he specially rented a hotel for $ 100 next to the Apple Store, because you can’t ride a car without a phone without a navigator, and toad presses a navigator at a rental for 10 dollars a day. A Korean taxi driver remembered Russian vodka, which he most associated with Russian.

At 7 in the morning, Jay wants to pick me up, who promised to give a car and to shelter in San Francisco, while I settle all the nuances with the house and the phone. Ivan Tsybaev is calling tomorrow to see the housing in his cool complex in San Jose, tomorrow I’ll try to go there.

This is such a busy and hard day. I enjoyed the shower at the hotel and enjoyed it. Ideally, you probably need to stay in every city for 1-2 days so that you don’t get tired. See the same New York, although the weather there is nasty - it's not California, in which there are 340 days of sunshine a year;)

Now it’s 3 a.m. here and 3 a.m. in Moscow. I had a good night's sleep, so I’ll probably work now;) While another colleague, who works and lives here, flew, he sent me an offer to talk - great! Another person asked me for a code for Lingualeo, which I’m free for hardworking students - the codes begin to end, I need to come up with something.

In total, taking into account all the expectations, the pellet took me 26 hours.

See you in the next episode :)

P.S. The smart VK thought that I was logging in from a strange place and required SMS from a phone that remained in Russia. So I’ll publish a post there tomorrow

Ask any person: “Who was the first to fly over the Atlantic?” And 90 out of a hundred people will answer: “Charles Lindbergh.” Lindbergh is an incredibly popular character in the 30s, the hero of numerous newspaper publications, films, historical studies and novels. However, he was not the first to fly across the Atlantic.

In 1913, the British newspaper Daily Mail (Daily Mail) established a special prize of 10 thousand pounds for the first flight through the Atlantic Ocean. The prize aroused great interest, and several aviators and engineers began to build their plans for its conquest. But in 1914 the First World War began, and put an end to all plans. In 1918, the war ended, and the competition for the prize resumed with renewed vigor. The acuteness of the competition was given by the fact that during the First World War, aviation made a quantum leap, turning from an exotic toy into a real fighting force. The design and manufacture of airplanes has ceased to be the lot of eccentric enthusiasts, and has become a powerful industry with serious engineering teams, large production capacities and considerable cash flows. In addition to money, the first transatlantic flight promised developers good advertising, so aircraft manufacturing companies did not stand aside.

In May 1919, pilot Hawker (H.G. Hawker) and navigator Grieve (Mackenzie Grieve) launched on the Atlantic Sopwich airplane. The attempt was unsuccessful - the plane crashed into the Ocean, fortunately, both pilots were saved. At about the same time, several US Navy flying boats flew from Newfoundland to Portugal through the Azores. The purpose of the flight (initiated not by anyone, but by Richard Byrd) was to develop flights over sea spaces. There was no record, since the flight lasted 19 days, and the planes had a large number of landings.

On May 26, 1919, a container with a Vickers Vimi aircraft was delivered to Newfowland. The airplane was unpacked and assembled in a couple of days without any troubles and delays. The expectation of suitable weather began. In the meantime, it rained, interspersed with wet snow. The crew consisted of two people - the pilot captain John Alcock and navigator Lieutenant Arthur Brown. Both officers were assigned to Royal Firing Corps (prototype of Royal Air Force). The goal is a direct flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
The fates of these people were largely similar - both fought in the World War, both knew the severity of captivity: Alcock in Turkey, and Brown in Germany, both after the war returned to their busy people, both were fired up by the idea of \u200b\u200ba direct flight across the ocean. Captain John Alcock was born in 1892 in Seymour (Seymour, Old Trafford, England). Interest in flying nn began to show interest in flying at the age of seventeen, during the war he became an experienced pilot. Lt. Arthur Whitten Brown was born in Glasgow in 1886. He worked as an engineer in the development of aeronautical instruments. Hearing about the upcoming flight across the Atlantic, he expressed a desire to take part in it and was selected to partner with John Alcock.

By that time, the Vickers company had already managed to occupy one of the leading positions not only in Britain, but also in Europe. By the beginning of the twentieth century, this company was well known as shipbuilding. In 1908, His Majesty's Fleet turned to his long-time partner with an unusual order - the Admiralty needed an airship. Thus, the Vickers company moved from the sea to the air. In the next few years, French mines were produced under license at the company's factories, and in 1913 its own development arrived - the F.B.I. At the same time, a Vickers flight school was opened in Brookland. By 1918, the number of Vickers military aircraft reached 4,500.

Vickers Wimi 4

At the end of the war in Great Britain, the development of a twin-engine bomber began, designed to bomb German fortifications at the front and factories in the rear. The aircraft (by the standards of those years - heavy), developed by engineer Pearson (R.K. Pierson) and built by Vickers, was called Vickers Vimy 4 (Vickers Vimy IV). To control the aircraft required a crew of two people. The aircraft is 13 meters (43 feet) long and has a wingspan of 21 meters (69 feet). Power plant - two 12-cylinder Rolls-Royce engines (Rolls Royce Eagle) with a capacity of 350 horsepower each. Like all aircraft of those years, Vickers Vimi was made of wood, and three-meter screws were wooden. Maximum speed - 160 km / h, cruising - 145 km / h. The maximum flight height is 2100 m. At Vickers it was decided that this aircraft was the best suited for the flight.
The aircraft was built at the Weybridge factory in Surrey (Weybridge, Surrey). The cost of a production copy was 3 thousand pounds. He did not have time to participate in the First World War, and was never used for its intended purpose. For the transatlantic flight, the aircraft was slightly modified. Firstly, all military equipment was removed from him, and secondly, additional fuel tanks were installed. In order for both pilots to feel a little more comfortable during a long flight, the cockpit was slightly expanded. Pilots sat side by side on a narrow wooden bench, on which a thin litter was laid.

Finally, on June 14, the long-awaited improvement came, and on December 16 GMT, Vickers Vimi 4 started from a pasture near St. John's on Fr. Newfoundland. The fuel supply was 4,000 liters (1,050 gallons), which gave a theoretical opportunity to fly 2,500 miles (4,000 km). When fully equipped, the aircraft weighed 6,000 kilograms (13,300 pounds).

Takeoff from newfoundland

There were enough problems during the flight, the danger of an emergency landing (which in their situation meant almost one hundred percent death) did not leave the pilots during the entire flight. Radio communication failed immediately after take-off; engines occasionally crashed. The fog that enveloped the plane did not allow the pilots to see at least anything for most of the flight. At some point, the plane ceased to obey control and, randomly spinning, began to fall. Falling out of the fog, the pilots saw that the surface of the ocean was already very close. Fortunately, at this moment, Alcock was able to regain control of the control, and the aircraft began to slowly gain altitude. Orientation in the fog was almost impossible, and throughout the journey Brown very roughly represented their whereabouts. An undoubted success was a brief clarification, during which Brown was able to determine the stars.

Landing in Ireland

The next morning - June 15, 1919 at 8.25 a.m. - Alcock and Brown crossed the coast of Ireland. The fog stretched all the way to the ground, but the pilots managed to find a suitable clearing and land. The landing was pretty tough, the plane was damaged, but the pilots were safe and sound. Behind was 15 hours 57 minutes of flight and a journey of 3,000 kilometers. The landing site was next to the Clifden Wireless Station, from where Alcock sent the news of the successful completion of the first transatlantic flight.

Brown and Alcock were honored as national heroes. The Daily Mail hosted an incredibly solemn celebration at the Savoy Restaurant, where guests were served Oeufs Poches Alcock and Poulet de Printemps a la Vickers Vimy dishes specially designed for this occasion. The pilots and the Vickers company received a special prize of 10 thousand pounds. The aircraft was delivered to the London Museum of Science, where it is exhibited to this day.

In addition to the Dale Mail prize, participants received 2,000 guineas from Ardath Tobacco and 1,000 pounds from Lawrence R. Phillips. Both Alcock and Brown were promoted to knighthood. Already much later, In 1954, a monument was erected at Heathrow Airport in honor of their flight. A memorial sign was also installed at the landing site.

John Alcock and Arthur Brown

John Alcock died on December 18, 1919, when he flew to the Vickers Viking at the Paris Air Show - in Normandy his plane fell into fog and crashed into a forest. Brown continued his work at the company and lived until October 4, 1948, but never again took to the air.

In the years 30-40 Vickers was a leading British airline company. Suffice it to say that such bombers as Wellington and Lancaster and such fighters as Spitfire were developed by this company. And the production of military aircraft by the Vickers in World War II was already in the tens of thousands of units.

The historic flight of the British fell into the shadows after Charles Lindberg in 1927 made his solo flight on a single-engine Spirit of St. Louis Lindberg was the first to fly from the mainland to the mainland, which caused an immeasurably greater excitement among the public. Well, and it should be noted that with PR he was much better.
The flight of Alcock and Brown ushered in the golden era of propeller aviation, when the romantics' desire for adventure and the general public's interest in their achievements were successfully combined with the desire of the air forces to create and demonstrate aircraft with ever greater speeds, carrying capacity and range.

Used sources.

In the center of Rio de Janeiro, on the embankment of the ultramodern Museum of Tomorrow, a mock-up of the world's first airplane 14-bis or “Oiseau de proie” (in French “bird of prey”) is installed.
Today, Brazil is one of the world's leading aircraft manufacturers. The Brazilian Embraer (E-Jet) leads the world in the market for medium-haul (regional) aircraft.
Thanks to the dominance of the American media in the world, a conviction emerged about the priority of the Wright brothers who made their first flight on an airplane. In Brazil and France, the indisputable championship is given to the native of Brazil, the holder of the Order of the Legion of Honor, balloonist, pilot and inventor Albert Santos Dumont  (1873 - 1932), who lived in France for some time. The Brazilian was the first in the world to prove the possibility of regular, controlled flights. Santos Dumont made a public flight on an airplane in Paris on October 23, 1906. It was the first take-off, flying and landing vehicle heavier than air, which, unlike the Wright brothers, did not use catapults, strong winds, launch rails and other external devices. The inventor was against the use of aircraft for military purposes.

***
The first transatlantic direct flight was made from the island of Newfoundland (Canada) to Ireland by British pilots John Alkon and Arthur Brown on June 14 - 15, 1919 in 16 hours and 28 minutes at an average speed of 190 km per hour. The effect of jet air flow in the Northern Hemisphere from west to east was used. In the opposite direction, more time would have been required, and then there were no aircraft with the corresponding resource yet. The first non-stop 36-hour flight across the Atlantic from Europe (Dublin) to North America took place only a decade later in April 1928.

***
Today, the flight across the Atlantic to South America is a matter of routine and requires only patience (up to 14 hours of flight from Paris to Santiago). I first saw the monument to the first airplane (seaplane) and the crew that made the flight from Europe to South America many years ago in Lisbon.

The Portuguese pilots Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral made the first dramatic flight from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, dedicated to the centenary of Brazil's independence, on a Fairey 17 English seaplane. Airplanes of this type were produced from 1918 to 1941, and took an active part in the Second World War.

During the flight to South America, a new horizon indicator was tested, which allows you to control the position of the aircraft out of sight of the earth or sea surface.

On March 30, 1922, pilots took off from the naval base of Lisbon and reached the Canary Islands (Las Palmas) late in the evening for refueling. On April 5, another throw was made to the Cape Verde Islands (San Vicente), where engine repair was required. On April 17, pilots continued their journey to the rocky uninhabited island of Sao Paulo (St. Peter and Paul). Here, when splashed in a stormy sea, the airplane lost one of the floats and sank. Aviators were rescued by the Portuguese cruiser Republika, who participated in supporting the flight. The cruiser delivered the pilots to the port of the Brazilian island of Fernando de Noronha.

But the saga did not end there. Enthusiastic Brazilians and Portuguese watching the flight forced the government in Lisbon to poison another seaplane to the aviators.

A new plane was delivered to the island and on May 11, the pilots flew ... in the opposite direction to the island of Sao Paulo in order to resume the flight from the crash site. However, engine failure forced them to make an emergency landing in the ocean again. The seaplane again sank successfully, and the British cargo ship picked up the pilots, delivered them back to Fernando de Noronha.

But this time, with the support of the Brazilian government, brave aviators get a third plane, on which they could finish the flight with landings in Recife, Salvador da Bahia and Vitoria. Finally, on June 17, the flight was completed in Rio de Janeiro, where the seaplane landed in Guanabara Bay. Brazil greeted aviators as heroes, and air pioneer Alberto Santos Dumont delivered a welcoming speech at a rally of many thousands on the waterfront. The trip lasted 79 days, of which the actual flight time was 62 hours and 26 minutes. Aviators covered a distance of 8383 kilometers (5209 miles) through the air.

Flight map

***
In 1930, a French pilot Jean Mermose  made the first non-stop flight in history across the South Atlantic.   From French Toulouse he flew to the African port of Saint-Louis (Senegal) located on the Atlantic coast. From here, he carried out a transatlantic flight to Rio de Janeiro from 130 kg of mail on a converted aircraft in 21 hours. In 1936, a pilot with an airplane disappeared on a regular flight over the South Atlantic.

***
Over time, regular passenger flights began from Europe to South America. On July 10, 1962, regular transatlantic flights of the Soviet Aeroflot began to Latin America in Cuba along the route Moscow - Conakry (technical landing) - Havana, and then through the North Pole with an intermediate landing in Murmansk. The specially upgraded Tu-114 accommodated only 60 passengers, but had a large fuel supply. The flight took over 20 hours.

On May 27, 1973, regular flights began to Peru and Chile along the route Moscow - Rabat - Havana - Lima (Peru) - Santiago (Chile). For that time it was the longest passenger airline in the world (18,000 km), travel time - 23 hours. Today they fly from Moscow to South America by connecting flights via Paris, Amsterdam, Istanbul and other aviation hubs.

***
On the air route between Europe and South America on June 1, 2009, one of the largest air crashes occurred. Air France Airbus A330-203 airliner operated flight AF447 on the route Rio de Janeiro - Paris, but 3 hours and 45 minutes after takeoff crashed into the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and completely collapsed. Killed all 228 people on board (12 crew members and 216 passengers). This is the largest crash in the history of Air France and the largest crash of a passenger plane from 2001 until the crash of a Boeing 777 in the Donetsk region (July 17, 2014, 298 fatalities).

The causes of the disaster are the freezing of the Pitot tubes, the subsequent shutdown of the autopilot and the uncoordinated actions of the crew, which led to the stall of the aircraft, which the crew could not get out of. Inconsistency of action, poor preparation and panic of the crew (co-pilot and trainee, who were in the cockpit during the rest of the commander). The commander called out made the right decision and at an altitude of about 600 meters the aircraft began to gain speed, but failed to stop the stall in time. Experts point out flaws in the design of modern aircraft and in the training of crews. Computer systems control the aircraft overwhelming flight time, deprive pilots of direct piloting experience and reduce their preparedness for emergency situations.

The national air carrier of Russia - Aeroflot airline - is the most famous in the entire post-Soviet space. The assignee of the airlines of the Soviet Union, the leading Russian airline, which accounts for the vast majority of flights. Where does Aeroflot fly? Almost all over the world! As befits one of the largest European air carriers.

Affiliated companies

The main Russian carrier is a very large and reputable company. Aeroflot is considered abroad the best Russian air carrier, and also has some prestigious awards. The company has long been famous for reliability, quality and comfort in flight, the level of service and attitude towards passengers. We can say that each flight will be comfortable, although exceptions do occur, but rarely.

Most of the company's stake is owned by the state, so Aeroflot can be safely called a state carrier, but the situation with subsidiaries is quite different. Where Aeroflot flies less often, its daughters fly there, often acting as independent companies. A huge plus of such carriers is the cost of space on board the aircraft. Most often these are low-cost airlines or charters.

The former are famous for uncomfortable places, not the newest ships, but at the same time affordable to almost everyone. Today, many economy class tickets are cheaper than train tickets! The latter do not have a permanent schedule and are pleased with unexpected discounts on comfort class seats.

In total, Aeroflot has three such subsidiaries. Namely, airlines such as Pobeda, Aurora and Russia.

Surprise in not popular destinations

On unpopular destinations, passengers often run into problems. The most frequent of them is the change of Aeroflot flight to a subsidiary carrier flight. This happens especially often when booking tickets online. The details of the order contain the name of the carrier and flight number, but this does not mean that passengers will fly exactly with Aeroflot. Do not worry if, instead of an airplane, in the corporate colors of the national carrier, a board appears in the “Victory” coloring. Legally such manipulations are not a violation. When the main carrier does not have enough ships, it can use subsidiary aircraft.

Main directions

Where does Aeroflot fly? Almost all over the world, and this is true. The planes of this company make regular flights to more than 51 countries. The most popular destinations are flights to the countries of the European Union, the CIS countries and Asia. Popular world-class travel countries have more than one destination for a domestic carrier. Also, countries belonging to the CIS have more than one direction. The scheme is simple - if there is great demand, the company provides direction by air.

Domestic flights

Where does Aeroflot fly domestically? At the moment, flights to this company are operated directly to almost any Russian airport. In some cases, for example, with the Crimean direction, often use the aircraft of subsidiaries. This is due to the congestion of popular tourist destinations.

An interesting feature of domestic flights is airplanes. International flights are carried out on the best aircraft of well-known manufacturers. However, many voyages are made domestically by domestic vessels. No, there are no old Soviet aircraft in the Aeroflot fleet. The Russian Superjets are mainly used, and in the future it is planned to purchase new MS-21s.

Transatlantic flights

Transatlantic flights of Aeroflot operate in 5 directions. And 4 of them are committed in the United States to cities such as Washington, New York, Los Angeles and Miami. Flights in the fifth direction are made to Cuba.

A few years ago there were more transatlantic destinations. Some flights were made to Canada. Currently, Aeroflot aircraft do not fly to this country.

Transcontinental flights

Transcontinental flights of Aeroflot are more popular. In total, the airline operates flights to 12 transcontinental destinations. Flights are made to such famous and interesting cities as Beijing, Tokyo, Seoul, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and even Ulaanbaatar.

It is interesting that formally, domestic flights can also be called transcontinental. Especially long flights - such as Moscow-Vladivostok or Moscow-Norilsk. Flights to some of these destinations are longer than the transatlantic ones.

New directions of Aeroflot

It is known that only demand leads to the appearance of supply. New directions depend on demand. Directions within the country appear as new airport complexes are put into operation. International flights are carried out only to those countries with which the airline has an agreement. The inclusion of new countries in the route network (for the most part) depends not only on the carrier.

This happened about 5.5 years ago, in May 2008. I was finishing the second year of university and preparing for, probably, the most fateful vacation in my life.
As soon as I got rid of the early surrender of the session, I was preparing with my girlfriends to fly towards our American summer.

Once again, having checked all the documents and having said goodbye to my dad, who was accompanying me to Sheremetyevo, I wandered with my friends into the customs control zone. First we got boarding passes and checked in our luggage. We had to fly with a change in Paris, but with baggage we said goodbye to the final destination, which was New York.

But all this was ahead, and we still had to go through passport control and security control. Either a lot of planes took off, or airport employees worked unproductive, but we got stuck in the passport control zone for a couple of hours, as a result of which we were already running to the security control, along with the other passengers flying our flight. Here they allowed us out of turn, and we slipped through it very quickly and successfully.

It so happened that the friends and I were separated on a flight to Paris, and I had to sit with a rather gloomy-looking Frenchman about 50 years old. In general, the flight to Paris turned out to be rather boring, and the dinner served on the plane was cold and tasteless. The flight attendants were sophisticated in French, but also not very smiling.
We arrived in Paris already in the dark, and all that was visible through the window was the airport lights.
In addition to us, other students from Russia flew by plane, but with the same goal: spend the summer in America under the Work and Travel program. In a large group, we approached the first racks at the airport. Charles de Gaulle, for we had absolutely no idea what to do next. We were told that, as night was approaching, everything was closed at the airport, and all that was left for us was to wait for the morning and our flight. At our disposal was a small piece of the terminal with hard chairs and a toilet. At first we tried to sleep on hard chairs, but after a couple of hours we realized that this venture was not the most successful.

Apparently, other students from Russia also visited similar thoughts, so soon we all got to know each other and, in order to kill time, started playing a game that is called differently in different places: somewhere “Crocodile”, somewhere “American student, "or just Charades." The deserted corridors of the Paris airport were continually torn by laughter of about 20 people ..

By 4-5 in the morning we were almost completely exhausted, but then the airport began to come to life gradually. Soon our flight, departing at 9 a.m. (or something like that), appeared on the board. First we needed to move to another terminal. What we did in the company about 5-6 more students, leaving the rest to wait for their later flights. The train took us to the desired terminal in just a minute. We were one of the first in security control, so here everything went quickly and painlessly. There was about 2-3 hours left before boarding, so we first walked around the Teminal, glancing at the shiny windows of duty-free shops, but not buying anything, since there was only $ 650 in our pocket, for which we had to last the first 2-3, and that’s all 4 weeks in America.

In the end, we sat in the chairs at our exit to the plane and swept in patient waiting. What I really learned on that trip was the ability to wait. While we waited, we enjoyed the view of the runway and a series of take-off aircraft. It seems to me that it was then that I fell in love with airports.

After some time, boarding on our plane began. Here we were no longer met by strict French women, but smiling American stewardesses and stewards. Here, by the way, my stereotype that stewardesses are always very young, up to 30 years old, also broke. These were clearly older.

And finally, the long-awaited take-off. After which we accidentally remembered that we were terribly hungry, because we had not eaten anything since last night’s flight to Paris. Very timely breakfast arrived. I don’t remember what they gave, but I remember that we pretty quickly “destroyed” it. In this plane, we were already sitting in a row by the window, so we could freely chat / joke / laugh. But we were terribly tired by then, and not the most comfortable economy-class seats were much more convenient than the hard seats of the airport, so we just overslept most of the flight. With the exception of those moments when we were fed (and for plane food, we were fed for slaughter and in the American way: either pizza, then ice cream ....), or the moment when we needed to fill out a declaration and form i-94 (which something like our immigration card) - in my opinion, we messed up 5 cards each and got the questions of our steward in order (to this day he is sorry, poor :)).

Our last awakening on board took place shortly before landing. Almost lying on top of each other, we clung to the porthole, bewitchingly looking at the place where the shore meets the ocean. At some point, the city itself appeared. These were simply indescribable sensations: enticing suspense, excitement, delight (Oh God, can I really see all this with my own eyes ???). And now the airport turrets are growing in front of us, the plane is touching the ground, and before us and the United States there remains one unfulfilled stage: passport control. Usually in NY he can take a lot of time, but we were lucky that day, everything went very quickly. Immigration officers practiced with us in their knowledge of the Russian language (minimal, but still), and very soon, having heard the cherished "Welcome to the USA", we went to pick up our luggage. Having collected the luggage and giving the declaration to the customs officers, we passed the last frontier.

Very soon we were already in a taxi on the way to Manhattan. The roads were greeted with green, as in a cinema, signs, the city met with a bright sun, the rays of which played on the windows of skyscrapers towering above the city. At this moment, there was a sense of peace and confidence that everything would be fine.

We had no idea what summer would bring us. That we learn a lot, learn a lot and change a lot. And I certainly did not know that after 3 years after my first visit to this country, I would move here to live. And, despite the fact that this city is not my home, it is not my character, spirit ... Despite the fact that my "one-story America" \u200b\u200bis much closer to me, and now, flying to New York, I experience that the same sense of peace and confidence that everything will be fine ...