Planes, Trains, and Automobiles......

OH YES!!! Just like John Candy in the movie.....and he could not get where he was going.......we are in the same boat!! Our plane in St. Louis was over 1 and 1/2 hours late taking off for New York, where we to board for Moscow. The pilot said "Not to Worry, for there is a tail wind, and we shall make up time along the way". Needless to say, that did NOT happen. When we finally arrived at the Aeroflot gate, after going outside the terminal to pick up our own luggage to have it rechecked by Aeroflot.....because American could not check our bags all the way through....and we landed clear on the other side of the terminal (southern term, there), they would not let us on the plane, as the flight was leaving in 35 minutes. Soooooo frustrating. Bottom line....fly Delta, as they do check the luggage with Aeroflot, and the terminals are right next to one another.....or other similar carrier that will at least be accommodating. Our big dilemma now it that the next Aeroflot flight is tommorow at this same time.......but the flights to Magadan, our remote area of Siberia are only twice a week! So....the next flight (since we will miss the one tomorrow) will arrive in Magadan on Saturday the 13th in the afternoon, and we are scheduled to depart on Sunday the 14th!! That is not enough time to spend with these boys and get to know them, and for them to feel comfortable with us!! I know there is a court date scheduled for the 15th, and then another family is to be scheduled right after them.......so I have a couple of phone calls in to our agency director, Olga.....and she is trying to coordinate with the regional facilitator, Zoya. Do we try to extend our visit into next week if it can be done so on the other end??? They will KILL Wayne and me for not showing up at work next week!! These people will FLIP if we don't come back to work!! We spent over two hours with American (since it was their screw-up that made us miss our flight) and they tried every way to get us to Moscow by tomorrow......but no go. I even lost it and started these shaking like sobs with huge crocodile tears streaming down my face. I am not usually like that at all (unless it is a Kodak commercial where the kids grow up)....but I guess being overly tired and hormonal put me over the edge. So the dilemma is to decide if we should travel on.....and hope for "stand-by openings" with Dommedevo, that is currently full right now, and also will not accept the ticket from Aeroflot, so we need to pay yet ANOTHER airfare to get to Magadan.....OR do we go home and and try again in another couple of weeks?? After all our Russian Visas are good until February 9th. We called our Red Star Travel person, and Olga, and they are trying to get some idea, as to whether we should keep traveling to Moscow and hope we can get into Magadan, or possibly regroup and try another time later this month before the visas expire. Hopefully we will get more information in the morning.