Team Mongolmania backup on its way
9 JunWhile I get a new, more official invitation for the Ukraine, I decided to proceed with the Russian visa application. This is the most feared of visas, and I won’t be breathing a proper sigh of relief until we leave Russia for the last time.
Every day a lot of people apply for the Russian visa in London. It takes about 5 minutes to check each person’s papers. You then pick your visa up somewhere between that afternoon, and two weeks later, depending on the money you pay, and where you are from.
The problem is the queue that forms. The opening hours are 8:30-12:30, and if you are in the queue but outside at 12:30, you miss out. This is why I found myself arriving at the consulate at 6:30am, and waiting two hours for the consulate to open. Even so, four people arrived before me, such is the reputation of the Russian Consulate! It was warm, and the sun was shining, so not such a hardship. I left the consulate at 8:50am, by which time there were 60 people queued outside!
Our proposed route requires a double entry visa to Russia. This is because you need to drive across a bit of Russia between the Ukraine and Kazakhstan, and another bit between Kazakhstan and Mongolia. On the second entry you could drive through China instead, but the Russian visa is a walk in the park compared to the Chinese bureaucratic nightmare. We have a maximum of one month to enter Russia from the Ukraine, until we have to leave from Kazakhstan. Between these points we have around 6000 miles to cover on terrible roads and 8 borders to cross. This is one of the defining time constraints of the trip. Stay tuned for much more detailed information on the Mongolmania route during the next 2 weeks.
The headline for the day refers to my valiant teammate, Tim Gale, who confirmed today that he will arrive in London at the end of next week. Tim will provide some backup to the Mongolmania campaign. He is flying to Vienna to obtain his visa for Tajikistan, and flying to London when it is completed.
