Never drink at high altitude!
Flying back from Russia and leaving Elena & Kirill behind was a tough decision but I really had no choice it was not my decision to make. We had to be calm and wait for the Medical Council in London to check all the documents.
My two new Russian business men friends continually ordered whiskey and as much as I said no thanks the more they insisted that I drink with them. Everything seemed fine until we started our decent into Soul and things started to get a little fuzzy. I started to feel real sick, had these guys drugged me? What was happening to me – I was drunk, plastered totally off my face. Staggering to get off the plane and find somewhere to rest two hostesses came to me and asked me to come with them. They found me a room to rest and sleep off the affects. Thankfully I had a 12 hour wait until the next flight.
Finally after several hours my head stopped pounding and I decided to walk it off around duty free. Being in a slight state of nausea I ended up parting with a fair amount of money for a watch and some jewelry for Elena. My flight took a detour on the way home via Fiji something I completely over looked. Arriving home in Auckland I was greeted by no one as I had given the wrong arrival date and time to my Father and he thought I was arriving the day before. He had come all the way to the Airport only to find my flight arrived a day later. Taking a taxi I was soon finally home, but missing Elena.
It was 6 weeks until Christmas and I was determined to have Elena and Kirill in New Zealand To share in the celebrations. I started calling the embassy in Moscow every evening, finally some success, the papers were back form London and needed one more signature but the answer was yes. I called Elena immediately and told her “Get yourself and Kirill to Moscow tomorrow, you’re coming to New Zealand, get there before someone changes their mind”. Elena had 24 hours to say goodbye to her life in Russia.
Elena and Kirill arrived in New Zealand on the 23rd December 1997
