I was finally off on my adventure to Russia and the Baltics after all the madness at work. I had planned on taking the Lawrence bus across to the airport. When we got to Jane St they kicked everyone off and said transit control had ordered the bus to short turn. How can you do this on an airport bus??

Last time on my trip to Iceland I took the same bus and the same thing happened kicking me off. However such things are normal with Toronto transit which cant run an efficient bus or train service. After a long anxious 20 min wait the next airport bus came.

My booking didn't show the terminal number and neither did the boarding card. I didn't see my flight and was told by information that all Air Canada flights are from the other terminal so I had to take the airport train back to the other terminal. The lounges had ipads where you could surf the internet but was a bit cumbersome to use so I just used my phone wifi.

Since I had done the online check in my Russia Visa hadn't been input into the system. At the gate the lady needed to input the visa, so she ploddingly went thru her screens to input the visa. Then she specifically asked if I was impressed how fast she was? I was tired, it had been a long day, long bus ride, wrong terminal, I just wanted to go on my flight, and no I wasn't impressed by her speed.

I had my normal back row and the middle seat was empty. I tried watching a movie but they made so many announcements it kept freezing the movie and at one point rewinded it to start so I gave up. They served the meal at 1130pm and I slept after that.

Our route took us south of London and to the Dover-Calais coastline. For a while you could see both sides of the crossing but the photo didn't come too clear on the camera. When we crossed out of France into Luxembourg the terrain was more natural and undeveloped as opposed to all the cultivated farmland in France.

I had a flight change in Frankfurt and had to thru security again. I noticed now all the staff were either speaking Turkish or Arabic amongst themselves. My food bag got stopped in the scanner and the German guy asked if I was very hungry? As it was all dry goods they let it go.

The next flight I was on the back row again but this time sharing with a mother and two kids. All the passengers were mostly Russian or German, I was the only foreigner. The flight was 2.3hrs to St Petersburg. Leaving Frankfurt I had very clear views of the skyline and bridges.

On descent in St Petersburg there were many surburban tower blocks. However, the blocks stretch for entire blocks and are not separate apartment towers. On arrival I had to I go thru Passport Control which I was dreading expecting 1000 questions.

Wikitravel says arrival at a Russian Airport can be one of the most rudest experiences ever. The person was efficient, scanned my passport, and handed it back after a couple of minutes without asking any questions. I was officially in Russia!!

Staff were wearing Soviet style UFO caps. I exchanged 50 Euros for 2600 Rubles so I had local currency which I would need for the airport bus. I asked at information where to get the bus.

Bus 39 is the airport bus but there is the 39 minibus and 39 city bus. The minibus costs more and will wait till it fills up. I got on the city bus and didn't know where to pay. A while later a conductor pushed their way thru to collect fares. The bus fare was 26R (.50 cents).

At the metro station I had to pay again and got a token for 31R (.50 cents). I didn't realize I had got on the wrong direction train. Wikitravel again warns people are pushing aggressively, and people pickpocket, though the train was not that full and I saw none of this.

When I realized I was going the wrong way I tried to get off and go the the other platform. However it exited me out and I had to pay again to go back in. The attended wanted me to put my bag thru an xray first.

This time the metro became quite interesting as we headed into the city. I heard Soviet metros were built as nuclear bunkers. Some stations had sliding steel doors to hide the platform from the train. The steel doors would open in conjunction with the train doors when it arrived.

Some station designs were quite palatial and extravagant but I would come back later to explore them in more detail. The station escalators were also very deep. There were not multiple escalators in stages but one deep escalator that went on for ages. I haven't been on something that long before and I don't know how many stories deep it was, at least 5 or more?

I had pre-ordered the St Petersburg tourist card which would be mailed to the hotel. It includes museum admissions and is a metropass depending on how much you add to it. Luckily the card was waiting for me at reception which I was worried about if it would be there. I also had to pay another 120R ($3) for the hotel to register me.

The hotel is an older Soviet conference hotel. It was quite warm and stuffy and this was only April. The room was newly renovated and had magnificent city river views and of some important church domes.

As night fell it became even more stunning as the city lights came on. I got the room normally for $50 for only $37 by cashing in my Agoda points from past trips.