Dublin and Riga

This is my blog for our one-year stay in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, while I carry out public health research on a Fulbright grant. That grant actually begins in November--until then I’ll be studying the Tajiki language on another State Department grant.

Disclaimer: I haven't figured out how to arrange pictures yet with this blog, and my internet connection is relatively slow, slow please excuse the fact that I've just left pictures kind of hanging around all over the place.

I arrived in Dushanbe early (read: 3:10am) Saturday morning after three consecutive overnight flights from America to Dublin, Ireland, then to Riga, Latvia and finally to Dushanbe. Diana will arrive here on the 10^th, on a much more convenient itinerary. State Department regulations about which airlines I could fly with government money effectively prevented us from travelling together, however this way we were able to squeeze in more baggage, which helps when you’re trying to move with only 20-50 kilograms of stuff.

My itinerary left me with extended layovers in Dublin and Riga, and I left the airport for the cities both times. Upon check-in in Boston, since I was traveling on two separate tickets, I asked the Continental agent if I could make sure my bags were transferred in New York, because there would be no opportunity to wait for them if they didn't make it to Dublin. He said, "Well where are you traveling on to? Are you on Continental?" "I'm going to Tajikistan on Air Baltic." He just looked at me blankly.

My bags did arrive safely in Dublin. I somehow managed to place myself in an exit row seat without paying an extra fee, so I was able to sleep a little bit on the flight. The next two legs would be on Air Baltic, a European low-cost carrier. "What's your final destination?" asked the ckeck-in agent. "Dushanbe." Another blank stare. C'mon, people, don't you know where your own airline flies to? After checking in I headed up to the gate area, wondering what the crowd would look like on this route. Do Dubliners visit Riga? Would there be Central Asians returning home on routes similar to mine? Actually, when the gate area filled up, I ended up feeling like I was in Russia. From the language to the style of clothes to the way the line formed in several different directions as soon as the gate agent announced the boarding process, it seemed I had already left Dublin.

Air Baltic has low baggage weight limits, and carry-on bags could only be 8kgs (17lbs). I found out why when I boarded the plane—there wasn’t even room to put my bag under my seat! My knees did fit behind the seat in front of me, luckily, although the guy next to me kind of spilled over into my seat. All of a sudden the plane was moving away from the gate—no announcement or anything—and we were taking off. It was like a marshrutney of the skies. There were food and drinks available for purchase—not even water was free on this four-hour flight. I’d had quite a bit before take-off, so I just closed my eyes and kept my elbow clear of the aisle as the flight attendants raced through them without much care for passengers.

I got a fair amount of sleep on the flight, but I was still pretty tired walking around Riga in the early morning. The flight had gotten in at 6am, and having not eaten a proper dinner, I was looking for a place to sit down and chow. The only thing I found open, though, was a combination coffee/sweets shop. I asked the girl at the counter if they had decaf, because I didn't want to mess up my body's clock any more than it would already be. She said no, but she could put water in the coffee if it was too strong for me. "No, I'll just have a regular coffee, then." Later that day I stopped at the same cafe to pick up some water on my way to the airport, having wisened up to Air Baltic's no-service policy. The same girl was there, and she asked how I liked Riga, and why I was going back to the airport after only a day. I told her Riga was beautiful (which it is!!), and that I was headed to Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Yet again, the blank stare.