Trapped in transit looking for Edward Snowden at Moscow airport
AP
June 29, 2013 1:58AM
... The woman at the transit desk raises an eyebrow and stares at my flight itinerary, which includes a 21-hour layover in Moscow before a connection to Ukraine. "Why would ANYONE stay here in transit for so long? There are so many earlier connections you could have taken. This is strange behaviour" ...
The main part of the Novotel is out of bounds. My allotted wing feels like a lockup: You are obliged to stay in your room, except for brief walks along the corridor. Three cameras track your movements along the hallway and beam the images back to a multiscreen monitor. It's comforting to see a sign instructing me that, in case of an emergency, the locks on heavily-fortified doors leading to the elevators will open ...
Now it's midnight, and I'm getting edgy. I feel trapped inside my airless room, whose double windows are tightly sealed. And the room is extortionate: It costs $US300 ($323) a night, with a surcharge of 50 per cent slapped on because I will be staying past noon.
"Can't I just wait in the lobby after midday?'' I asked the receptionist at check-in. "Of course not,'' she retorted. "You have no visa. You will stay until you are picked up'' ...
http://www.couriermail.com.au/travel/travel-news/trapped-in-transit-looking-for-edward-snowden-at-moscow-airport/story-fnihr7xj-1226671722689
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