First off, I know I said that I'd have pictures and commentary... but jetlag and a lot of work won out so that'll have to wait. I've got a long weekend of recovery ahead... so maybe something will appear then.

In the meantime, this is shaping up to be the longest day of travel ever for me. It is 1:39 Ante Meridiem local time here in Almaty, and I am about to leave for the airport. I will be traveling until 11:45 Post Meridiem local time, Albuquerque, along with 13 hours of time change (in the unfavorable direction). This is due both to a long distance to travel and sub-optimal layovers in both Frankfurt and Atlanta. So you will likely find me updating this post with some whining later.

Bon Voyage!

Update 1: OK, it's been the better part of 12 hours, and I am now in Frankfurt. Local time is 7:40 AM. Time remaining until my flight to Atlanta: 5 hours. Terminal D here in Frankfurt is completely vacant at this hour. I wandered around for about 20 minutes looking for the key combination of a chair, an outlet, and wireless. During that time, I saw maybe three people. Landing in Frankfurt I noticed something interesting: they don't seem to use sodium lamps in their street lights here. Almost all of the lights in town were the bluish-white of halogen or mercury vapor lamps, not the orange lights you see all over the US.

Update 2: Welcome to Atlanta. That was a long flight. 200km/hr headwinds led to an additional hour and a half of flight, for a total flight time of 11.5 hours. It did, however, shorten my 5 hour layover by quite a bit (especially when combined with the unusually long customs processing time). Local time is 8:00 PM. Only two hours before my last (and shortest) flight of the day, and this flight will be in first class. I'm definitely ready for some sleep.