May 2003. A spur of the moment decision prompted me to visit Moscow for a Bank Holiday weekend. My friend, Basil, said he'd like to visit Russia, so he joined me on the trip as well. Upon arrival at Sheremyetevo Airport, we were informed we would have to wait an hour before we were allowed to leave our British Airways aeroplane. Once inside the airport, we were greeted with a very very slow wait in the immigration line with unfriendly officials. We hoped that this wasn't a typical example of Russian hospitality. We were not ... (more)