The Captain begins his story back from the Tyumen preparations. The Captain and his loyal companion bought themselves huge suitcases to throw in everything necessary (filling them less than halfway) and, without much emotional burden, set off lightly across the ocean. In reality, it turned out like this: on the last day before flying to Moscow, the Captain realized that, like, he was flying out tomorrow! The packing started at a store where a batch of Baltika 9 and Black Peter was successfully purchased. Arriving home, the Captain scraped together only the most necessary things (!) and in the end, the purchased suitcase (50 liters!) was packed to the brim. Having barely slept, in the morning the Captain and his loyal companion were awaited by a plane to the capital of our Russian land, provided by SkyExpress, but once on board, we found out that our airline's plane didn't make it to Tyumen that night, and we were being carried by another airline (I don't remember the name). Suspicions crept in when, at boarding, we were shoved not into a Boeing, but into a Tu-154, which the Captain hadn't flown in for frankly 10 years (O_o). Walking around Moscow probably makes sense to skip, as it has nothing to do with the subject. However, the last Moscow episode does need a description. On the day when it was time to leave the Russian land (or rather, the evening of the previous day), we headed to Sheremetyevo Airport. I must say that the train that took us there from Belorussky Railway Station (this outfit is called Aeroexpress) fully justifies its 300 rubles and brings you exactly to the terminal we need.

So we arrived, and lol. We entered a practically empty airport; it was quiet, lights were on, long corridors, some rustling. Only after 200 meters was there a security post. Shooters like Doom 3 or Resident Evil immediately come to mind. After the security post, silence again, halls where no one is sitting; you just want to pull out a gun somewhere and start shooting someone. However, after all this atmosphere, through an empty long corridor, we exit into the central waiting halls and the whole feeling is lost :(. Departure at 6 AM, registration 3 hours before, we were at the airport already at 11 PM. The only entertainment you can come up with there is returning and running around these empty corridors, documentary filming, trolling security, and so on. In the end, when registration starts, you can stand in line as much as you want. The Captain recommends immediately taking a spot in line if there are check-in counters where no one is standing, but which are announced for your flight. Regarding contraband: TAKE A LOT OF CIGARETTES WITH YOU!!!! In principle, no one trolled us at customs about this, because as law-abiding citizens we took one carton each, but in reality, you can easily smuggle 2, and stuff the third into packs in different places of your luggage. If you are flying in transit (through another country), no one will give you your luggage at the airport where you will be transferring, so stuff everything you need into your carry-on. After Moscow customs at Sheremetyevo, you will be provided with a huge number of diverse (but essentially identical) duty-free shops. IMPORTANT! Everything you pick up at the duty-free, regarding alcohol, you must drink on the plane, because at the airport where you will be transferring, they won't let you bring the rest onto the plane; it needs to be checked as luggage, for which you won't have time. So don't pick up too much, and those flying through Rome with Alitalia – on the Rome-New York flight, you will be offered free wine and beer, with which you can get wasted and fall asleep. The service on this flight, by the way, is excellent. And yes, when you arrive in Rome (or wherever you arrive), you don't need to stand in huge lines, that's not where you need to go! You need to find the signs and arrows that say Transit, follow them, go through the metal detector, and calmly find your gate and wait for the plane. The flight is about 10 hours, the flight is non-smoking, so at Sheremetyevo before registration, you quit smoking for at least 17 hours.

Well, you, meaning us, have actually arrived. Many people arrive at JFK, we arrived at Newark Liberty Airport, or something like that. You will spend at least an hour in line at the check-in counter. The officers there are quite friendly, sometimes asking who you are and where you are going. The Captain was subjected to an interrogation by officers about whether he was a relative of the Soviet president beloved by Americans. Next is baggage claim, finding the exit from the airport, or rather finding the AirTrain that will take you to the city; I don't know about JFK, but from our airport, we got to New York Penn Station (the fare is 15 bucks). While waiting for the train, we met some guys from Canada, by the way, a typical American type.

So, we are in NY. Immediately upon exiting the subway, you need to find an officer whose job is to catch a yellow New York taxi that will take you to your hostel, which you, of course, booked in advance (http://www.hostelworld.com/hostels/New-York). If it's on Broadway, the taxi will cost about 15 bucks (that's not much considering the distances here), and it's better to write the hostel address on a piece of paper beforehand so everyone understands each other.

Well, for those who are going deep into America in a couple of days for job offers – the Captain is no longer a helper, as he stayed in New York himself. For those who follow the Captain's example – during these couple of days, or even better before departure, you need to find a place to live. You can do this through the newspaper "Russkaya Reklama," which can be obtained in Brighton Beach (the easiest option), or through their website RusRek.com. Actually, you can try to find work there too, but the best option is to go into all places in a row and ask if they need workers. The Captain himself and his loyal companion stayed in an apartment in Brighton Beach, where besides us live two guys from Uzbekistan, and the owner of the apartment himself – a Russian Jew from Odessa, a terrible troll. We pay 300 dollars a month per head, a bit much, but the neighborhood is good and everything is nearby, the ocean is a stone's throw away.

Regarding local flora and fauna. The most expensive things in New York (as in all of America) are bread, transport, and cigarettes. Bread costs about 3 dollars, one subway ride is 2.25, cigarettes are about 10 bucks O_O. There are, of course, some for 2 bucks here, but to smoke that – excuse me. The local plumbing is depressing – the Captain hasn't met normal faucets anywhere yet, and for hot water to be adjusted normally, the sinks are low, the tubs too, the toilets here are a separate conversation. It seems this is the most air-conditioned country; ACs are everywhere and they cool mercilessly. You can easily catch a cold in the subway from these same ACs. The stories that you can't smoke on the street are inventions. And in general, Americans are quite friendly individuals (at least those I've happened to meet), and Russians – you meet both normal ones and jerks.

Regarding work. For those who are going for the first time and just winging it, the biggest must-have option is to walk around restaurants and ask if they need busboys. The essence of this work is a waiter's assistant. A busboy must run very sharply and bring everything needed and take away what is not needed, set the table when visitors arrive, clear dirty dishes from the table, wipe tables after visitors, etc. The work is undoubtedly hard, but also in demand, especially in street restaurants in the season when it's hot; they say you can't push through there. We ourselves got jobs as busboys at the "Tatyana" restaurant, but while the weather is bad, they don't call us to work. With good restaurant occupancy, you can make decent money (usually it comes out to 400 dollars a week, without tips), and on weekends they say up to 200 bucks. The Captain cannot yet provide information about other types of work, as he is still looking for options himself.

That's all for now, the Captain is going to sleep.