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Welcome to my travel log! You will find here a lot more than in the travel reports, stripped from political correctness. Enjoy! 
Jul 22, 2008 02:00 PM Russian Federation - visa obtained!
The Russian Federation kept its promise and issued me a visa in a day. I nipped out from the office to Queensway and... had to stand in a queue again! This time I was at the end of a sizeable line, and began worrying that I might not be able to make it. I could not understand why there was a need for queueing - people were just collecting (between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. only). It turned out that for some reason, people were swarming inside the consulate as they wanted their visa checked at the Visa Check desk, set up in the waiting area. This way, they were overcrowding the room and the consulate took a decision to regulate the flow of the travellers inside the building.
It seemed rather silly to me that the applicants decided to queue twice just to have their visa checked. For it is not that complex. Yet, I guess not everyone can read Russian, so to just double check... (?)
Anyway, the line was going alright. Not too fast, not too slow. I was in and out within 25 minutes. At least I have what I wanted. On the hindsight, if one wants a visa to Russia urgently, it is possible to get one within 36 hours. The online invitation service can be obtained within a few hours, provided the requrest is submited at a reasonable time during Moscow working hours, and then the next day one can drop into the consulate, deal with the queueing and get the visa within 7 hours. Not too bad at all, afterall. But not cheap. The online service is $45 and the same day visa processing £95...
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Jul 22, 2008 02:00 PM Russian Federation - Applying for visa
I got up at 5 a.m. this morning, so I could be early at the Russian Consulate. It is open only until 12 noon and I wanted to get a guarantee that I would get it. I arrived at the scene at about 7 a.m. and I was third in the queue. The line grew and grew, but it was not totally unreasonable, I think.
The gates opened at 08:30 a.m. sharp and people trickled inside the building. Out of three counters, only one was operating. I stood in line there for about 10 minutes and then the other two opened, which speeded up the process. My application was examined carefully (the Consulate accepts only applications generated from their website) and I paid £95 to get it considered today.
I was at work on time, despite problems with public transport. I am due to pick up my passport at 4 p.m. this afternoon. I will show the visa here, when I get it.
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Jul 21, 2008 02:00 PM Russian Visa - an invitation letter
It was supposed to be relatively easy with the Russian visa. It was not. Previously, a booking at a hotel in Russia was sufficient to secure a visa application, now the Federation requires all the cumbersome process of getting an invitation. I have arranged a hotel booking alright, but not the tour voucher or the invitation. I had to think quick, as the time is short. I am leaving to Russia in a week.
Fortunately, I foud www.waytorussia.com who are happy to arrange everything for the independent traveller. They do not require tour bookings, hotel booking or any other crap like that. They do charge for the formal invitation letter and the voucher, but there are no obligations to book anything else with them. They prices are on the website ($30 for 1 day service; $45 for same day service) and they are competitive. One can pay by credit card online and they send the paperwork over the email.
I went for the immediate service. It took only a few hours. They sent me the invitation and the tour voucher and they both look very professional. Now, my visa application papers should be complete, so I just need to go the Consular Section of the Embassy early in the morning to lodge the application.
The visa section is open daily from 08:30 am to 12 noon, and the last person is admitted at 11:45 am. So, I am thinking of getting up early and stand in the line at about 7:00 am, so I can get in or perhaps even come to the office on time, who knows. They are located at Kensington Palace Gardens, some 10 minutes walk from Notting Hill Gate Tube station on the Central Line.
I will be opting for the same day service, which costs £95, and hope to be done with it as soon as possible, so I could concentrate on packing. I am meeting my friends in Siberia, and I have some extra stuff to pack to take to them. That will be an exercise I will attempt on the weekend.
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Jul 20, 2008 02:00 PM Uzbek Visa - stage two. The applying.
I went to the Embassy of Republic of Uzbekistan in London, which is located in Holland Park, three minutes walk from the Tube station of the same name, on the Central Line.
The consular section, dealing with visa applications, is open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays between 10 am and 1 pm. I went there for 12 noon. There were only two applicants at the consulate. I handed my documents. The clark took my papers, cut down my two photographs to fix them to the applications and stapled them on. He said only one word to me: 'Friday'. This meant that my visa should be ready this Friday. He handed me a number on a yellow paper, with which my passport was tagged for identification purposes.
The official website of the Embassy states that unless the visa is pre-arranged, it may take up to 10 working days to issue one. Obviously my visa was being pre-arranged, so I expected relatively quick turnaround.
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Jul 17, 2008 02:00 PM Uzbek Visa - first step complete
Roxana Tour from Tashkent sent me an invitation to visit Uzbekistan today. I cost me 50 USD, and they insisted that I book acoommodation with them. I have to say that I hate this process as it only provides cash to those travel agents without them needing to prove that they are any good or worth the money you give them.
The invitation letter looks really inconspicuous and I cannot believe that they want to charge me so much for this one silly page. Perhaps there is something that needs to be done in the background, as it took them two weeks to issue it, but surely they should have those processes perfected by now. I remember that when I had to get an invitation from Libya, the tour agent waived the invitation fee, when I agreed to a tour with them.
Anyway, I will go to the Uzbek Embassy on Monday to submit my application and we will see what they say and how they react to my paperwork. At least now I am a little happier that I managed to complete required documentation.
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Jul 16, 2008 02:00 PM Manchester - what's going on?
It looked like Manchester has been following other cities in the UK but regenerating its old shabby warehouse district into a funky areas of hyper modern buildings housing offices, posh shops, trendy bars and fashionable restaurants. Yet, it all looks like work in progress and the less attractive structures remain looming like ghosts between the construction sites.
Manchester, no surprise there, offered rainy weather. The city is known to be the place in England, where it always rains. This is of course an overstatement, but isn't it great when the city does not disappoint? He he.
I have not seen much of Manchester this time round. I was working too hard! But I managed to take a picture of this part of the city with my iPhone.
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Jul 15, 2008 02:00 PM Manchester, England, England
... Across the Atlantic Sea. A song from the famous musical Hair said.
I am here on a business trip. Although it should be a short hop from London by plane, it sometimes takes longer than a train. I had to be at Heathrow airport at 6pm for my 7:20pm flight. And then the flight was cancelled. This was due to a strike by a ground services company, which was dealing with the luggage. So, the airline put me on 8:45pm flight, the last one on the day. This got me checking into the Hilton hotel in central Manchester just before 10pm.
I quickly sorted myself out at the reception, and made my way up to the top floor, the bar called Cloud 23. It is reportedly the poshest, best and most expensive lounge/bar in the city. When I walked in, I have to admit that it looked really trendy. There is not much special about it and one cannot drink at the bar. There are no stools. Instead, there are five tall wooden tables on the bar area, where people can lean on the illuminated glass top. It is a cool and popular place, though. It attracts both the late-teen crowd as well as professionals at wise age, who probably just stay at one of the hotel floors below. Plus, of course, the view is splendid.
I ordered one of my favourite beers, Hoegarden (£4.50 for a 0.33l bottle) to start with as I browsed the drinks card. The majority of the drinks were £8, and after a long deliberation with my imagination and the left side of my brain storing my drinking experience, I made a mistake and ordered a drink known as Vertigo. It was a major mistake as it contained lychee liqueur. The liqueur, unusually, carried very accurate taste of the fruit. And that is fruit that I hate the most! I think I totally overlooked the ingredients list and focused on the fact that it was gin-based. Silly me!!
Anyway, I have been to Manchester before. Only briefly! I never did any sightseeing and I am most certain that on this trip I will again see nothing. Just the iconic (now) Hilton tower and my firm's office. The view from Cloud 23 does reveal that Manchester is not amongst the most exciting cities in the world. There are promontnt landmarks in the skyline and ... full stop.
I hope my next trip to Manc (ad it is fondly called by the Northerners on England) will be more exciting. I might be able to see more than just the airport or a train station, and hotel lobbies and bars. The problem was that I always came to Manc alone and no-one could do a crash-course for me about the city.
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Jul 10, 2008 02:00 PM Holiday Plans 2009
I have been thinking about travel plans for 2009. Soon, I will go on my last holiday in 2008, and with no short weekend breaks that will be it for my travelling this year. I hope I will figure something out for a few weekends. There are still a few places in Europe that I have not visited yet and want to visit again:
Finland - Helsinki (new)
Sweden - Stockholm (new)
Ukraine - Lvov (new), Kiev, Odessa (new)
Italy - Naples (new)
Macedonia - Skopje (new)
Slovakia - Bratislava
Austria - Salzburg (new)
Bosnia & Hercegovina - Sarajevo (new), Mostar (new)
Anyway, I made a quick exercise to think what my plans for 2009 holiday could look like, and I almost forgot about the total eclipse of the sun on 22 July 2009! So, for now, the plans look like this:
January - quick hop to see my football team in Elmina, Ghana
April (Easter) - Tunisia
May (May Day Bank Holiday) - Montenegro
May (Spring Bank Holiday) - Spitsbergen
June - (First main vacation) - Brazil, French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, Venezuela
July - (total eclipse) - Shanghai, China
August (Late Summer Bank Holiday) - Cyprus
December/January (Second main vacation) - New Zealand and a few Pacific island states.
This all depends on the budget. The economy is stumbling a little recently, so we will see... Well, the plan is very stretched. There is no way I will be able to squeeze any more there.
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Jul 09, 2008 02:00 PM Kazakhstan - visa obtained
Ha! The consular section of the Embassy of Kazakhstan in London kept its promise and I am now a happy holder of the Kazakh visa.
I spotted a long-ish line there today as well, but the collection of the visa is done bypassing the queue. So, I went there and within 75 seconds I was out with my passport labelled neatly. They also gave me a receipt for the £20 it cost to get it done.
Probably as any other seasoned traveller, I am strongly against the visa process conducted by the embassies or consulates. I am not against visas altogether and I have no problem getting e-visas or visas on arrival. However attending to the embassies, et al and collecting all the applications, etc does my head a lot.
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Jul 07, 2008 02:00 PM Kazakhstan - the Embassy first
I waited two hours to step into the Kazakh territory. This is how long I spent in a queue for the Kazakh's visa officer at the Consular section of the Embassy of Republic of Kazakhstan in London to see me. It was raining a little in London today, but lucky me, I had a small brolly with me. I do not understand why it was taking this long. When I eventually got to the window and the officer took my application, it only took five minutes. The line was not long, so where all those two hours were lost is beyond me. Anyway, the process of applying for the visa was simple. The only requirements for the Kazakh tourist visa are to submit a two page straightforward application and one passport size photograph, and yes, the fee - £20. In the past, not long ago, it was not so easy. An official invitation was required from Kazakhstan, confirmed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. This is no longer an issue for citizens of the majority of the developed countries, including the UK, and all of the EU countries.
According to the official statement of the Embassy of Kazakhstan in London, the visa should be ready within 24 hours, unless the Consular section is closed for holidays. So, we will see. I should be collecting my visa on Thursday - since on Wednesdays, the Consular section does not deal with applicants. Then, I will be advancing to the Embassy of Russian Federation...
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