Puzzle in the picture: find a parking spot in Putilkovo.
Kaliningrad. Road to Putilkovo.
So, our heroes lost their time buffer, their documents, and a lot of nerves. At the airport, Alina and Vlad boarded the plane, flew to Kaliningrad, and picked up the suitcase from the belt. But when getting into a taxi, it was gone.
Arseniy at the mic.
In my stream, I watched Alina walk stiffly toward the plane, stepped out of the crowd, and focused on the documents. The insight was bright. The card was definitely in my hand when we struggled at the transponder gate, and it is definitely not there now. So it is in the car-sharing car. Support was somewhat encouraging: the car had already left, but they gave me a phone number. My documents are in Putilkovo, 40 minutes from the airport. One thing at a time: get to the garage, take another car-sharing car, drive to Putilkovo.
I follow the navigator. Time to turn off MKAD. I turn. A long curved single-lane road ends at a barrier. Apparently, I turned in some especially creative way. Bold and confident. A queue forms behind me. I reverse all 700 meters back, leaving four followers to deal with the barrier. It turns out I had missed the real exit by about 300 meters. That was a false, symptomless exit to Putilkovo.
Putilkovo is a bedroom district. Which means one thing: there is absolutely nowhere to park. But on that day, the god protecting children, drunk people, and the weak-headed was kind to me. A free spot appeared. One in the whole block. I squeezed into it. I called the young man who had my documents. Without ending video call, I crossed a fancy yard, then a fancy building entrance. Short conversation; the young man and his mother were very sympathetic. Finally the document wallet is in my hands.
I walk downstairs, and then it hits me. I drove to get my documents by car. For my driving license. By car. Brilliant. I thanked the protector of children, drunk people, and the weak-headed for the second time.
I got back to Sheremetyevo and parked without new incidents. Documents in hand, all good. Only the plane had already left, but otherwise everything was fine. Messages from Alina: she says there are no Moscow-Kaliningrad tickets today and there cannot be any.
#vacations #kaliningrad