Last Day Outside the US

I head to the "bag drag" at 10pm and then process to board at 1am. Our flight time isn't until after 5am. Gotta love military efficiency. We're "locked down" from 1am until boarding. The first leg is Manas to Turkey, then to Ramstein, and finally into BWI. It'll be about 22 hours from start to finish, but I think we get to stretch our legs during the two stops. I lucked out and got an aisle seat at least. No such thing as first class on these flights, but of course I did ask ...

Not much to blog about. I made a trip through all the local bazaar shops on Manas today and there was nothing I couldn't live without. I'd really like to come back to Kyrgyzstan some time as a tourist. I have a whole new appreciation for the countries and cultures in central Asia. It's an interesting mix here between the more recent Russian influence and the Kyrgyz/Turkic/Mongol traditional and cultural history. They are historically nomadic, and the yurt is a common site still, especially in the pictures I've seen of the mountainous regions.

Well, gotta go pack and get my bags together. Next stop Baltimore.