Flying to Chisinau, Moldova

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Country #91! After a surprisingly crowded breakfast at the Europa Royale in Bucarest, we checked out and waited outside for our tour-included airport transfer as instructed. After about 10 minutes, our driver talked his way past the police barricade to the pedestrian street and he blew by us with our luggage. We watched him park right in front of the hotel and start inside. We walked back over the cobblestones to him. He expected us in the lobby. We were instructed to be outside in front, which we took to mean the street, not the pedestrian passage outside the door. In any event, we made good time to the airport. The check-in counter was open when we arrived so we got in line. Checked our bags and everyone was left with the boarding pass they brought with them. Security was quick. Clay got a secondary screen this time. Last stop was border control. No problems. We made our way downstairs to gate 26 which was beside a food court. Clay ordered 2 sarmales. I had a banana. I also went to Burger King with my water bottle and asked to buy a cup of ice, They filled it for free! We paid 8 lei for a bottle of water from a vending machine.

All our intra-Europe flights have boarded directly from the tarmac. Today's Tarom flight may have been our smallest plane yet. It was a propeller plane, not a jet. It was fine. We were right beside the propeller and there was a rough ride before and after cruising altitude. It was a short flight and the seats were rows of 2 by 2 so we weren't too crowded. Except Clay who had a monstrously big man seated in front of him, who either broke his seat or else no attendant was willing to tell him to put it upright. Clay could not lower his tray table because the guy was in his lap. We were surprised that they served small ham & cheese sandwiches with Milka cookies and a beverage. We were glad we didn't have a big lunch at the airport. Our hotel pre-arranged driver was not outside baggage claim after we cleared the Moldova border. Clay called them and we were told to wait. He showed up about 10 or 15 minutes after we did. It probably took us an hour from landing to hotel check-in. The hotel is supposed to charge us an extra 15 Euros for the airport transfers each way. Clay got flummoxed by the new currency (still called Lei) and tipped the driver a generous $22 worth by giving him 2 200 lei bills instead of 2 50 lei bills. He figured it out in the grocery store when he found the 2 50s and realized he was missing some 200s. Oops. There goes his budget for this segment.

Romania is an EU country and Moldova is not. Moldova was once part of Romania and they share a language, more or less. But, more recently Moldova was part of Ukraine. The signs are in Latin alphabet and Cyrillic. There is very little English signage and fewer people speak English here so far.

After we got settled into room 501 of the City Park Hotel and got the AC working, we went out. We walked about 2 blocks to a grocery store for water and more hard candies for Clay. We came back and dropped off the sack. We walked about 2 blocks in the other direction to La Placinte, a local restaurant chain. We saw them in Romania too. It was a good choice. Dinner tomorrow night is included in our day-long tour, but we may return there Friday night for different dishes. City Park, like New Montana, is accessed up a long flight of stairs but has an elevator inside thankfully. Also thankfully, the cab driver insisted on carrying our luggage up. He worked for a tip! The room is quiet and comfortable enough. Hard wood floors. Clay says the bathroom is the nicest. I think he means because it has a step-up shower stall with doors. If it doesn't leak on the floor, it will be an improvement. It is the first one in over a week that hasn't had a 110 outlet in the bathroom. I like my nightlight. Actually, the 1st thing we did in our new bathroom was count days and underwear and hang handwashing in there since it is ours for 3 nights.

We start a full-day tour tomorrow at 9 am so off I go.

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