Somewhere I'd always wanted to visit was Russia. This is a vast country with a rich history and diverse ethnic groups but can not be done in a single trip. For my first visit I planned to start in St Petersburg before taking the train to Helsinki and carrying on thru the Baltic capitals to Stockholm, something else I'd always wanted to do and a popular backpack route.

Like China and the few remaining communist style regimes this would involve getting a tourist visa. I don't mind if this is just some form of tax to earn revenues as with a Turkey or Cambodia visa which you can just pay for at the airport. However, from my past experience with getting the Uzbekistan visa the former Soviet countries are very tightly controlled and follow Soviet style bureaucracy (see entry Uzbek Visa Problems http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-en tries/londone7/23/1357480350/tpod.html )

I had considered going to Belarus since its only a 2 hour bus ride from Vilnius Lithuania to Minsk Belarus, however their visa rules were quite outrageous

- must have a letter of invitation from govt approved travel agency
- to get the letter you must book a min of 2 services with them
- a 2 hr city tour of Minsk starts from $100 USD, walking tour only, not even a car!
- must have locally purchased travel insurance for duration of trip (I found out they sell this at the airport or border for $1USD/day)
- hotels are old Soviet style and not renovated. To book a modern private apartment the landlord must register you at the police station and charge any exorbitant fees

I decided it wasn't worth the hassle. I can fly to Stockholm from Vilnius instead and enjoy myself in a normal country. I'll try Minsk on a separate trip when I go back to visit Moscow in Russia and combine with Ukraine.

Getting back to the Russia visa its a multi step process
1. Get a letter of invitation from an approved agent
2. Provide confirmation of travel insurance valid in Russia recognized by Russian Govt
3. Apply for visa thru approved Russia Visa agent

The letter of invitation was simple. Because I had booked the train from St Petersburg to Helsinki thru the Russian trains site, thus booking a service thru an approved agent, I could get the letter for $25 extra.

There is another site http://www.waytorussia.net/Travel/VisaS upport.html that will also give you a invitation letter for $25 based on a fake hotel booking. However, this could cause problems when the visa office asks for confirmation of payment to hotel. I had found my own hotel on Agoda as I needed something close to the train station for my early morning train to Helsinki on the last day.

I got my letter of invitation with my hotel details and official stamps from the travel agency. Next I had to arrange travel insurance approved in Russia. I have global travel insurance thru work so had to arrange from the carrier to provide a certificate of insurance confirming the details.

The specific requirements listed on the visa service website is
Please note! The tourist medical insurance policy for citizens of the EU countries must contain:

1. the date when the agreement was signed;
2. the policy number;
3. the full name of the insured;
4. full details of the insurer;
5. the policy must cover the entire period of stay in Russia for single entry and double entry visas, and the duration of the first trip for multi-entry visas;
6. list of medical and medical-transport services provided, including repatriation;
7. the minimum amount of coverage must be 30,000 Euros;
8. the territory must be Worldwide, the Russian Federation, or Europe including Russia;
9. insurance issuer signature.

Only insurance policies issued by Russian insurance companies or international licensed insurance companies that have entered into reinsurance agreements with the Russian insurance companies or have an agreement with service (assistance) companies that arrange medical assistance (medical transportation services), and meet the list of minimum requirements of medical services, will be accepted.Insurance policies and confirmation letters which do not contain the abovementioned information will not be accepted.
http://www.canada-ils.com/main.php?id=t ravel&lang=en

After some back and forth with HR and the insurance carrier I was able to get the letter and confirmation from the visa office it was sufficient, as the letter just said 'out of province' and not specifically 'worldwide'.

Next was the visa application. A website said there was a 70% rejection rate and that you should go thru them, for a $350 processing fee in addition to the consulates own fees!! I figured I could just fill it out myself.

The application can take an hour and was quite detailed
- list previous and current employers
- list schools attended after high school
- have you ever had firearms training
- have you ever been in a conflict zone even as a civilian
- list all countries visited in the last 10 years with entry/exit dates

The last was to prove the most problematic. Who remembers all countries visited in last 10 years with exact dates?? I was going to have to match all the stamps on my passport but not go back to my old expired passports as that was way too much detail.

All Asian countries will stamp you in/out every time you cross a border. This was problematic with Korea where I had pages of stamps for every time I travelled when I was living there. I just listed them once, took a letter of employment, and had to explain I was living there so travelling back and forth.

When I went to the visa office he said no, I must list every stamp even if its for the same country again. I had so many entries in Korea as well as multiple visits to China, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore etc, and hadn't listed them all for each duplicate visit. He said he could amend it for a $25 change fee. I'm not sure what he did as he didn't enter all the stamps though? Then I was told to come back in 10 days to pickup the passport, and that it would be sent to the Embassy in Ottawa for issuing.

3 days later I got a call and email saying it had been sent back. Mother Russia said No. They needed confirmation that the hotel had been paid in full with receipts and official stamp from the hotel. How am I supposed to do that? Don't they know hotels don't charge you for online bookings and don't give you a receipt with stamps until you arrive? This was Soviet bureaucracy asking for official stamps for everything!

The other option was to show a credit card statement that the amount of the booking had been charged to my card. I called Agoda and had them charge for the booking. Then I had to wait 24 hours for it to show up online on the credit card website. I sent a copy of the online credit card statement with the invoice from Agoda back to the visa office.

I was getting quite mad. Russia is under tight sanctions over Ukraine and their credit rating has just been reduced to junk. You'd think they'd be grateful for some tourist revenue. If they sent it back again I was considering just cancelling and going to Ukraine instead and tell them that just to **** them off even more!! I'm not some Human Rights or Democracy activist trying to overthrow Putin.

So I waited patiently. No news was good news. After the original 10 day pickup date I emailed to check the progress and they said it had been here ready for pickup. After my company trip to Montreal I stopped by one morning on my way to work at the visa office.

Once again it was deserted. I seem to be the only person applying for a visa and one lone guy mans the office and the cashiers desk. It was the same guy from last time. He said my visa had been ready for a long time as I thought the original rejection would have caused it to take longer. I guess the Ottawa Embassy isn't too busy either and processed it same day.

Relieved that one big hurdle was out of the way I clutched my precious visa. Now I just had to wait out till mid April for my trip to actually start. As the weeks got closer my boss asked me where I was going this time?

I replied Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia expecting to stump him! His response was 'why'? I replied I hadn't been there and its interesting as it traded hands between Sweden, Russia, Poland, Germany, and Prussia. There are Orthodox and other Churches, Synagogues and even Tatar Mosques, as well as Fortresses and Castles. There is also the Soviet heritage which we forget about something I discovered on my trip to Uzbekistan.

My only other worry was the weather which always tends to become dull and dreary as soon as I arrive even though no rain was forecast. Forecast says it will be in mid single digits most places going back to wintery clothes while Toronto has just high double digit spring weather.

Off to the airport Friday after work and will have stories upon my return!