I actually have travel arrangements now for my trip to Kazakhstan. I don't think they're final, as they've changed a couple times already... but the dates are starting to look more-or-less set in stone. I'll be leaving on October 15th and returning on November 1st. Hrm... looks like I'll be spending Halloween in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The flight home leaves there at 1:40am local time, November 1st. Not sure if they're into the whole halloween routine there or not. But regardless, I'll be wearing my Capitalist Devil costume.

Yeah so if things don't get rearranged again, the flights will go something like this:

Albuquerque -> Denver (1.25 hours)
Denver -> Frankfurt (9.25 hours)
Frankfurt -> Almaty (6.5 hours)
Almaty -> Aktow (3.5 hours)

Aktow -> Almaty (3 hours)
Almaty -> Astana (1.5 hours)
Astana -> Frankfurt (6.2 hours)
Frankfurt -> Dallas (11 hours)
Dallas -> Albuquerque (2 hours)

And no, not every major city in Kazakhstan begins with an "A." But most do.

Here's something really reassuring: DOE considers trips of this magnitude in economy class to be a health/safety risk and allows us to upgrade our tickets to business class on the company dime if the duration of flight is above some threshold (which this trip, with 44 hours of flight, certainly qualifies for). However, if the move to business class is too expensive, then DOE can choose to deny the upgrade. Which they did for us. So... it's a health risk, but it's too expensive to alleviate the risk. Thanks, DOE. (it's an $8000 increase per person to upgrade this itinerary to business class, btw)

But the good news is this: because flights from Frankfurt to Almaty don't happen every day, we ended up having to leave a day earlier than planned, which will strand us in Almaty for a day. Mike and I have already decreed that this day will be spent hiking in the Himalaya. Here's a view of the "foothills" of the Himalaya as seen from Almaty:

Oh yeah. Those peaks are as high as 7000 meters (23,000').