Have you seen Argo? The 2012 movie about a true-story CIA op to smuggle six American embassy employees out of Iran in the midst of the 1980 Iran hostage crisis (with the help of Canada. Thanks, Canada). Ben Affleck appropriated the role of Tony Mendez, because there were apparently no Hispanic actors available, but that’s another blog post. Pretty good movie actually. Anyway, the point is that the entire end of the movie is intense and you’re on the edge of your seat waiting to see if these folks will make it out of Iran alive. The airport scene is almost too much. And though I never felt like I was in mortal danger trying to get out of Russia, my airport scene felt a little Argo-y.

Here’s what happened.

Arrived at Pulvoko Airport in St. Petersburg. Checked in manually because online check-in was not allowed. That should have been my first clue…