Siberian expedition...

Thought it merited a mention - my trip 2 weeks ago to Murmansk & Novosibirsk. Honestly I was dreading it. I knew the gigs would be great, but becuase of the location of the cities I was going to, the flight times & durations were always going to be pretty harsh, and meant a fair few on domestic Russian airlines, which don't exactly have a reputation for safety and comfort...

Anyway, it all turned out well, they got me on business class on a few of the internal ones and S7 airlines was actually really nice - they flights I was on had nice new 737s, not those scarey skanky old planes they normally use for domestic flights on Aeroflot etc, that have signs for the 'escape rope' and let people bring a gazillion carry on bags etc...

(Although apparently the last Russian air crash WAS a 737 and the pilots had forged documents to say they were trained to fly 737s when really they weren't - http://www.moscowtimes.ru/article/1010/42/372073.htm & http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/4198399/

Anyway, S7 airlines was really nice, flights totally cool, and the lounge in Moscow was lovely and I actually got some sleep there in a nice big chair! Might make me rethink my current strategy towards gigs in far Russian cities - and accept MORE!

Big thanks got to go to the Radio Records guys for helping set the gigs up, and sending the lovely Irena to be my guide/interpreter. I managed to get her to watch an episode of 'The Wire' on the flight from Novosibirsk to Moscow so hopefully it'll be the start of a viral networking phenomenon out there and I could be responsible for it breaking into Russia! Hah! MCNULTYYYYYYYYY!

Got MAJORY delayed on the way home, so S7 isn't ALL that good. The flight home from Novosibirsk to Moscow was delayed 3 hours, so I missed my BA flight back to London and had to spend the night waiting in Moscow airport waiting for the first flight back to London - think I spent almost 8 hours there, £40 at the cafe on wine and caviar-ish sandiwiches, walked about 2 miles round and round inside, and watched 6 episodes of the Wire. Hah! BA were nice to me - they didn't charge me to change my flight, and the crew recognised me again from last week and brought me a blanket. Oh, wait, they give everyone blankets. DOH! Hah.

Stalactites on the Merc in Siberia



Just before the EPIC journey home from Novosibirsk. COLD.