Moscow bound

First blog about the trip to Russia and this is all about stuff prior to even hitting Russian soil. How do you know your flight is Moscow bound? Oh, maybe it could be the numerous carts of duty free groaning under the weight of bags and bags of alcohol being wheeled to the boarding gate. I mean, usually, there is some employee standing there with a few forlorn items, but this was like a Turkish bazaar (if I had ever seen a Turkish bazaar). Second item that differentiates your Moscow boarding lounge at JFK, from say, the one where the flight is going to Venice or Athens… the hulking great immigration officers with their deportees (similarly hulking, but much shorter). Then I get in line and I am at the end of the line and a Russian couple cuts in front of me!!! I mean how much did they gain? I was at the end of the line. Actually, I think they had no idea they had done it so ingrained is the need to cut in line. I am sitting next to a Russian woman who has been reading the duty free catalog for several hours now. I am not kidding. I guess she missed out on the free for all prior to boarding. Annoyingly I cannot fall asleep. I slept like a log from Salt Lake to JFK and now, wide awake.