Latest News

ASLA - Russian Visa Made Easy!

Well the good news is I finally got my visa today; particularly good as I leave in only four days time and was beginning to panic! The visa process for Russia (as I've mentioned before) is rather long-winded to say the least. First you have to apply for an invitation- but you can only apply no earlier than 45 days for departure, this takes about two weeks to process, so by the time you get it through, there's not much time to spare for the Visa application to go through.

Must say though I found an excellent travel group (ASLA- based in Cambridgeshire), who were fantastic in guiding me through the process, writing me a support letter (visa requirement) and generally making sure everything went as smoothly as possible.

So now that's it. All I have to do is pack....

I confess that I'm not exactly great at organising myself for a trip, usually that's bad enough when dealing with a one or two week holiday, but this time I'm packing for THREE MONTHS!
Nightmare.
I'm trying to only pack the necessities, but given I'm going to one of the coldest parts of the world, in winter, that's no easy task. Jumpers, thermals, coats and heavy trousers make that 20kg limit difficult to reach, That's before I add a couple of books (I can't survive without reading material!), children's books (for the teaching job), camera, hairdryer and the various chargers for ipod, phone, camera and laptop!
Trying to remember everything is a challenge enough, without having to squeeze it all into my bag.
My final pre-work challenge is the travelling down to Heathrow.
Even this is far from simple. I was going to travel down on Saturday itself (my flight isn't until 2pm) but then realised that there are going to be engineering works on the Norwich to London line ALL weekend. This means there's a bus (usually old and battered) replacement service between Colchester and Witham; thus turning a 1hour 50 min journey into a 3 hour nightmare- and that's if the roads are okay; looks like snow all week!
Thankfully however my friend in London has come to my rescue, so I'm now travelling down on Friday afternoon (normal service), staying at hers, then taking the tube down to Heathrow in the morning. On the plus side it means I get to see my best friend before I leave (which I didn't think would happen), so maybe a blessing in disguise.

Now all that stands between me and Russia is an unpacked bag, four days, a day of airports and that's it! Next time I write I'll probably either be in Russia or be well on my way!