Creative solution to language predicament

What would I have done differently? (See Oct. ’08, pg. 2.)

A few years ago, while on a prolonged visit to London, I decided to fly to Kiev, Ukraine, for a cruise on the Dnieper River. My London travel agent said that if she were to make a hotel reservation for me in Kiev, it would be very expensive. She said that I could find an English-speaking tourist agent at the Kiev air terminal who would be able to help me and it would be much cheaper.

Taking her at her word, I arrived at the terminal to find no tourist desk and no one who spoke English — not at the money exchange, not at the snack bar and, apparently, not anywhere in the small terminal.

After 50 years of travel, much of it on my own, I am quite good at my own brand of sign language, but the attendants at both counters were less than friendly and certainly not interested in my attempts at communication. There were taxis outside, but, as a lone woman, I was hesitant to approach them.

I gathered my luggage and my courage and went to the center of the room and just stood there. My thought was that the worst that could happen was eventually someone would call the police — who might speak English!

After perhaps 20 minutes, a man approached and tried to speak to me. When he realized I was an American, he held up a finger in the classic ‘Wait a minute!’ signal.

Off he went, to come back with a young man who spoke limited English. This man’s first words were, “What are you doing here?”

When I told him my situation, he found a cab driver and explained to him that I needed a hotel for the night and a ride to the pier in the morning. He told me to give the driver $20 when he left me at the pier.

The driver did a wonderful job of getting me to a very nice and inexpensive hotel and to the ship, and I gave him $50! It was well worth it.

Since then, I make sure to have a reservation in advance!

Ms. B.J. RIEDE

Littleton, CO