Lost at the airport

Egbert ist das Maskottchen unseres neuen Magazins engine ¿ Englisch für Ingenieure. Auf seinen Reise stolpert er über all die Situationen, die Sie aus eigener Erfahrung sicher gut kennen. Begleiten Sie ihn und lernen Sie diesmal all die wichtigen Vokabeln und Redewendungen auf dem Flughafen.
Recently, Egbert had to travel to Moscow on a business trip. His secretary had organized his itinerary and he was looking forward to his first experience of Russia. He had prepared himself well as he was to have a number of meetings and also give a presentation in English. On the plane, he once more looked over the presentation on his laptop and read through the notes he had made. He had a set of transparencies in case there were any technical problems and he was feeling confident, if a little nervous, when the plane taxied to a halt at Sheremetyevo International airport. A company driver would meet him at the airport and take him to his hotel. The evening was totally free so he would be able to settle in and get a good night¿s sleep before meeting with his Russian counterparts.
Going through passport control, completing the customs declaration and collecting his luggage took much longer than expected but at last he was pushing his trolley through the glass doors into the arrivals hall. The sea of faces was rather disconcerting as well as the number of placards with names and company logos on them. Egbert looked around for his name and the familiar red and green logo of the company he was visiting. Twenty minutes later there was still no sign of his name being waved in the air and Egbert¿s heart began to sink. Perhaps he was in the wrong place, perhaps there was a central meeting place, although the e-mail he received said quite clearly the arrivals hall. Time to take matters into his own hands. He went up to a young woman waiting to meet someone and asked politely, ¿Excuse me, could you tell me where the information desk is, please?¿. She looked at him blankly for a moment but then gesticulated with her hand while mumbling something in English which Egbert didn¿t quite catch. Not wanting to push his luck, he wandered off with his trolley in the general direction indicated and finally found the information desk. There were three people in front of him so it gave him time to think about what he was going to say. The conversation running through his head went something like this:
E. I wonder if you could help me. I was expecting to be met but there seems to be nobody here. Is it possible to put a message over the tannoy system.
R. Certainly sir, if you could write your name here for me then I will put a call out over the PA system for you.
E. Spasibo.
Egbert was pleased with the lovely smile his word of Russian produced and walked away hopeful that the person meeting him would now come to collect him at the information desk. Suddenly, he heard his name amongst a babble of Russian words. Feeling more encouraged he sat down nearby and waited. Going through his head was what would he do if no one came. The obvious thing would be to get a taxi to his hotel. He took from his briefcase the folder containing the information his secretary had given him. He was booked into the Sheraton Palace hotel, which, according to the information taken from the internet, was 35 kilometers from the airport in the centre of Moscow. The journey shouldn¿t take too long and with luck he might be able to have a walk before dinner. The hotel was in the main street near Red Square. Wondering how much the taxi might cost, a picture came into Egbert¿s head; he could quite clearly visualize his US dollars lying on his office desk at home. He reached for his wallet and, sure enough, there were only Euros there, hopefully enough to get enough rubles for the taxi but first he would have to change some money.
Egbert looked over his shoulder expecting to see Murphy standing there, he always seemed to be around just when he wasn¿t needed. Egbert caught the eye of the woman behind the information desk who shrugged her shoulders to express no one had turned up for him. So, action was called for. First stop, a bank.
E. Hallo, I would like to change some Euros into rubles please. Is it possible to use my German EC card?
R. You can use the card in an ATM but here I can only change cash or travellers cheques.
E. Fine, then I¿ll just change some Euros.
R. How much would you like to change? The exchange rate today is 33.9 rubles to the Euro.
E. Then could you change ¿100 into rubles please?
R. How would you like the money sir?
E. Could you give me a mixture of denominations please and also some coins if possible?
R. Here you are Sir.
E. Spasibo., do svidaniya.
R. Do svidaniya
Egbert walked away pleased with himself and his courage to speak Russian. Even if it was limited to ¿thank you¿ and ¿goodbye¿, the bank clerk had seemed more impressed than his German secretary had been when he had practiced in the office. Armed with rubles, he now felt in full control and set off to find a taxi. Even if the driver couldn¿t speak English, surely he would understand Sheraton Palace Hotel. But where was the taxi rank?
E. Hello, the Sheraton Palace Hotel please?
R. Hotel?
E. Yes, the Sheraton Palace.
R. Ah, Sheraton, please.
Egbert got into the taxi while the driver put his luggage into the boot and sat back to enjoy the journey. With luck it should only take half-an-hour. What he hadn¿t noticed was that at this time in the evening, traffic in and around Moscow was at its busiest and seemed to be going at a snail¿s pace. Oh well, thought Egbert, maybe I will forget the walk and just settle for dinner.

armed with - mit etwas ausgerüstet sein
ATM (automatic teller machine)- Geldautomat
blankly - verdutzt
boot - Kofferraum
briefcase - Aktenkoffer
catch someone¿s eye, to - den Blick fangen
counterpart - Gesprächspartner
didn¿t quite catch - hat nicht gehört
disconcerting - beunruhigend
heart began to sink - sein Herz fiel ihm in die Hose
itinerary - Reiseplan
mumble, to - nuscheln
PA (public address) system - Lautsprecheranlage
push your luck, to - das Glück herausfordern
set off, to - sich auf dem Weg machen
settle for, to - sich mit etwas zufriedengeben
settle in, to - sich gemütlich machen
shrug your shoulders, to - mit den Schultern zucken
snail¿s pace - im Schneckentempo
tannoy system - Lautsprecheranlage
taxi, to - rollen
taxi rank - Taxistand
transparencies - Folien
trolley - Gepäckwagen

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