First Trip to Baku — The Return
We stayed up all night Friday so that we would be awake for the 3 a.m. pickup at the hotel and return to the Heydar Aliyev Airport, a beautiful, state-of-the art facility! It really does make many of our airports look antique. There is a building that is either executive offices or some other facility that looks like a wedding cake with brilliant lights. Security at the airport is quite impressive — one goes through security at the door to the terminal, then there are multiple other check points before even getting to passport control. One that was quite interesting was this really cool thing that checks your feet out, shoes on! You do the hokey pokey…put your right foot in, then your left foot in, and dance all around when cleared to go through the machine security. Everyone — that really does mean everyone — then gets a hand check (i.e. frisk). I felt quite comfortable that we would be safe!
It is not my usual style to sleep on a plane, but these new 787’s are so quiet and vibration free…amazing. And…I was really quite tired from the very busy week of work and probably never really caught up from the trip over. So, I made my bed and slept for about five hours, woke up and then slept again for several hours. Nice!
The bad news…I totally killed my iPad (it was new in May…sigh). There is a console between the seats and a slot that seemed ideal for storing the iPad. Bad idea…it slipped between the seat and the console and when I moved the seat, it no longer had the nice, flat shape and smooth glass. It looked more like a “C” and screen shattered. I was quite sad and Kate was very sad, too, but as they say… **** happens. I have another new iPad now and have promised both Kate and Ralph that I will be very careful about where I store it. I also purchased the Apple care package, something I’ve never done before because this sort of accident has never happened to me.
We return on Saturday November 12 for another week of engagement with the lovely Azeri staff and the software consultant. I am looking forward to seeing my friends and colleagues once again!
The photo is the welcome home over the Chesapeake Bay…an aircraft carrier escorted by two destroyers, a beautiful, impressive sight! I knew I was home!