Thieving Bastards

It was the same in Rio 4 years ago. Tired, worn out, downpour, figuring out which taxi driver was least likely to rip us off, communicating the hotel address in broken English, hoping we weren’t to be abandoned in some dingy suburb. Same inauspicious start arriving in Moscow yesterday.  But we remembered how well that Brazil trip turned out and expect the same here. Its so much easier travelling on business, when you are met by colleagues that have the lay of the land.

But we chose our driver well. Or at least we think so. Grigory the Aremenian taxi driver and fixer. We got to know him quite well in the hour and a half it took us to get to the hotel thanks to rush hour traffic. He’s a Google Translate pro so we were able to have a regular conversation (kinda). Ridiculous technology! We met his wife, a very nice lady, over Facetime and learned a lot of Armenian history. Grigory took us to the wrong location at the first attempt. He said, through Google Translate, that his GPS was messed up because the KGB blocks coordinates around the Kremlin so that drones cant fly over head! It sounded plausible, but still meant he kept the meter running for an extra 30 minutes while we found the correct place! But the fare for the 90 minute ride was less than $30 and we were seriously entertained!

Grigory was also a great salesman and could supply everything from from “pretty ladies” to cell phones. I was interested in the latter. Oh: did I forget to mention that my phone “vanished” on the flight to Moscow? I had it two hours before landing, but, when I went to pack my things, it was gone! We pretty much stripped the plane but couldn’t find it. Seems I was robbed before setting foot in Moscow! Coincidentally, Grigory could have sold me a cell phone from the trunk of his car. For an instant I wondered if Grigory, chosen at random from the hundreds of taxi’s outside Sheremetyevo airport, was in cahoots with the thieving bastard on the plane. But even I couldn’t buy into that level of conspiracy – could I? Interestingly, I am only 10 minutes from KGB headquarters at Lubyanka. I wonder if they could help? So, before flying to Sochi this afternoon, my task is to try to find a phone shop in Moscow that can sell me a pay-as-you-go phone for my time in Russia. Fortunately I like a challenge!

So far, there’s not much football to talk about. I passed an hour on the flight talking football with a guy from Ecuador and a woman from Cleveland. They had exactly the same match schedule as us so we made plans to meet up later in the trip. But I fear for the Ecuadorian, Pepe. He was ahead of me in the queue at Russian passport control but there was a problem with his visa so they turned him back!

Thursday is all about finding our way around the country and getting into the swing of things. Tonight, we fly to Sochi, on the Black Sea coast. And tomorrow the trip really begins when we’re at the FIFA Fan Fest for France : Uruguay and Brazil : Belgium (really looking forward to that one!). With luck I’ll even have a phone by then and can start posting some pics again! Thieving bastards!

p.s. Here’s why I love the World Cup. Just as I’m finishing writing this in the coffee shop across from the hotel, two guys sit down beside me. They’re in Brazil strips and we introduced ourselves in broken English (wish I had my phone with the Google Translate app right now!). Turns out they are from Fortaleza, Brazil where Dave and I saw Germany : Ghana four years ago. They were at the game!!! 15 minutes later we were besties! They’re off to Kazan today for Brazil : Belgium. That could be the game of the tournament. I asked if they could talk to Neymar about his “flopping”. They laughed and said they’d see what they can do.