Calculations such as this I never studied in engineering school. When you sit on a big, modern jet, you never think about the plane being too heavy, only where to jam your carry-on bags. I hoped the Russian engineers allotted the traditional fudge factor to compensate for math errors, cheap components, and unfavorable alignment of the planets. So far the visit to western Uzbekistan has been relatively straightforward. The Spousal Unit and I have been able to find accommodations and transportation when we needed it.
Restaurants are scarce but the markets have more than compensated.
I am disappointed. In the airport we strut about prominently, making it obvious we are tourists, to bait officials and crooks who are, often as not, one and the same. Our bags are weighed, x-rayed, and weighed again. Our passports are checked a half dozen times, the last time by a representative of OVIR, the local surveillance and control folks, who verify our whereabouts in Khiva with the Orkanchi Hotel. Eventually the plane arrives and the Unit and I board through a small, oval-shaped door.