Russia Travel Visa - Vodka and Old Friends
If you think getting a visa to travel to Russia is difficult,
you should try getting one to travel around the country. Living
in Russia, I needed just such a Russia travel visa.
Russia Travel Visa
Unlike many countries, foreigners in Russia must declare on
their travel visa where they will travel in the country. If they
want to add a location, they have to get a new, temporary visa
for the location. Basically, it is red tape and bureaucracy out
the ying yang.
While living in Siberia, I was invited to speak at a human
rights conference in the town of Tinda. I wasn't entirely sure
where this was, but new I needed a temporary visa to get from my
city to it. My host, Oleg Vladimirovich, told me getting one
would be no problem. I should've known I was in trouble when our
first stop was the liquor store.
Four vodka bottles in hand, we hit our first stop at the home of
a retired customs official who was married to someone's half
brothers third sister and so on. We reminisced and drank shots
for a half hour or so. Feeling no pain, the customs official
called a friend and off we went to meet him while leaving the
open vodka bottle behind.
At the new gentlemen's home, we cracked our second bottle of
vodka. Reminiscing was undertaken, which left me out of the
process since I had never met the chap before. Eventually,
another phone call was made and we were off to make a new
friend.
As you can probably guess, this process was repeated two more
times. At our final meeting, I was so "warm on the inside, cold
on the outside" as Russians say when demurely sipping vodka that
I was reminiscing with a man and wife who I had never met before
in my life!
Eventually, we obtained the necessary visa or something that
wouldn't get me arrested. Oleg joked it was a "semi-visa". It
might work or might not. Seeing double, I headed home to pack my
stuff for the train.