This was a British Airways flight so there was a level of sophistication to which we have become unaccustomed in our recent travels with the budget airlines and it was nice to be travelling in a civilized way rather than on the Ryanair cattle truck.
There was allocated seating, comfortable seats with plenty of leg room, a well-spoken captain who I suspect was probably called Toby, flight attendants with smiles and wearing smart uniforms, in flight entertainment, complimentary drinks and a rather good breakfast. Thirty minutes into the flight Kim leaned across and requested that we always fly with British Airways in the future which would be very nice but probably not always within my airline flights budget so sadly it will be back to the Ryanair ‘couldn’t give a jack about customer services’, then later this year!
It was a clear day so with the help of the video display which charted flight progress I was able to follow the coastline of the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Estonia and Finland as we travelled east and crossed several World Time Zones losing three hours of our day in the process. Eventually the plane began its descent through the dainty clouds that decorated the sky over the soft pale blue Baltic Sea and landed at Saint-Petersburg Pulkovo Airport to the south of the city just as we finished filling out our Russia entry forms for passport control.
I was expecting this to be a rigorous and lengthy process but although the officials were thorough the queue of people was processed efficiently and on the whole it was a lot better than getting through UK immigration at Stansted or Heathrow. Eventually it was my turn and I was called forward to be admitted by a young woman who had been selected for this job because of her fierce looks, inability to smile and for having a good stamping ability which she demonstrated as she thundered a date stamp on every single piece of paper and document that I had passed over for scrutiny before she invited me to proceed into the country.
Normally we would travel independently but this time we were on an organized tour so now we had to find our group and wait for everyone to turn up. Nineteen of the twenty soon gathered around the tour guide but we had to wait for the last person for almost thirty minutes as she had managed to get herself to the very back of the immigration control queue. Kim and I agreed that if this was going to be like the TV programme ‘Coach Trip’ then she was going to be the first one voted off!
It was hot and humid and under marble skies we were eventually escorted to our coach and began our journey towards the city through busy roads heaving with late afternoon traffic as we drove north along a long straight road into the centre of the World Heritage city of Saint-Petersburg past the massive Victory Monument (1945), St Isaac’s Cathedral and the famous bronze statue of Peter the Great and across the River Neva and on towards our hotel somewhere on the edge of the City on the Gulf of Finland.
The ex Intourist Hotel Prybaltiyskaya was a two-thousand, one hundred room tombstone grey monster surrounded by towering concrete apartment blocks and easily the biggest hotel that I have ever stayed in and as we approached the cavernous reception some doubts began to creep in but true to its word our eight floor accommodation had a view of the sea and the room was excellent.
My first job was to visit the supermarket that was close by to purchase essential supplies for the room so I made my way to the store which was on the first floor of the cold grey and rather gloomy looking apartment block next door and there, tucked away behind a single pair of doors was a well stocked shop and lots of local shoppers. I wanted some Russian beer so I asked a store assistant for some selection advice but he clearly wasn’t a patriotic drinker because he suggested that I might prefer the Stella Artois. I was determined to sample the local brew however and he looked on disapprovingly as I selected some Siberian beer in a green and gold labelled bottle called CИБИPCKAЯ KOPOHA. I wasn’t so adventurous about the wine for Kim though and I played safe and bought a bottle of Spanish red!
Your flight sounds like the good old days of flying. I’ve called most airline flights ‘cattle cars with wings’ for years now. Sounds like you were of the same mind.
Easyjet is bad enough, Ryanair is worse..so BA is sure to be luxury.
One of my best Russian pictures is of St Pete’s at night…glorious city..I might even get there one day ( I thought you were going to pick me up on the way)
I don’t want to fly Ryanair again but will have to in September when I go to Greece & Turkey. I’ll pick you up next time round!
Most of the hotels there look like the one you have up there!
But they’re good – spacious, clean (not too sound-proof but that’s still alright!). enjoy the rest of the trip!! 
Thanks – you are right – a good hotel!
We stayed at the Dostoyevsky, which was a hotel fascia front of a shopping complex with the rooms built over the shops. It was handy for sightseeing, if you get the chance Stoli pies is a good place to eat, close to st Isaac’s
All food good but expensive!
BA is odd. We flew to Paris and they stuffed up on our veg meal order. In compensation they plied us with endless (and I mean ENDLESS) bottles of drink. We staggered off the ‘plane with them.
What was annoying, was, the usual story. We requested a veg meal and other people took one who hadn’t asked for one. Stupid airline. Comfy though
Not my blog, will save my rant for elsewhere 
A veg on our tour complained about the same thing. A few years ago they managed to lose Kim’s bag on a flight to Iceland and we had to share my clothes for 4 days and then they dealt with my complaint by simply ignoring it. Interesting customer relations approach but it worked because eventually we just lost interest in sending them pictures of Kim having to wear my baggy underpants!
I’m going to enjoy your travels in St. Petersburg during ‘Byelie Notchie,”
the White Nights when the sun doesn’t set for two weeks.
I attended grad school in Russian Studies and spent a summer on an exchange at Leningrad State U, now St. Petersburg University. When you visit the Hermitage, look across the River Neva. On the river banks a short distance from the Peter & Paul Fortress, we lived in a foreigner’s dorm along w/ E. Germans, Pols, North Korean and North Vietnamese students, all on different floors.
I took the family back to ‘Peter,’ which is what local youth call their city. We stayed in a hostel between Nevsky Prospekt and the Palace Square in front of the Hermitage.
I hope you read or will read “Nicholas and Alexandra.” It will give you an excellent overview of Russia in the years leading up to 1917 and the two revolutions.
Ask your guide to take you to the Kazan Cathedral on Nevsky Prospekt and Smolny where the Bolsheviks rallied and stormed the Winter Palace in October. There’s a famous cemetery at the end of Nevsky where Tchaikovsky, Dostoyesky, Rimsky Korsakov are buried.
Jack
Thanks for the tips. I read a book about N&A a long time ago but I don’t know if it was the same one. Also tackled War & Peace when I was at University. It must have been a wonderful experience living and studying there!
Yeah I don’t want to fly ryanair again either. i have started using easyjet and it’s been pretty good.
We also love checking out the local super markets when we visit different a new place. It’s amazing what interesting treats they have in store.
hehe that breakfast looks familiar!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/digibron/6919685146/in/set-72157629423740588
Funnily enough we overheard a vegetarian complaining about exactly the same thing you and roughseasinthemed mention above on our BA flight too.
It’s almost exactly the same!