Getting the Visas

To do our overland section to China we needed the following visas: Belarussian (transit), Russian, Mongolian, and Chinese. Because we didn't sort ourselves out with our route until about 6 weeks ago that didn't leave enough time for a visa processing company to do the visas for us, unless they charged an exorbitant amount of money. So we decided to do it ourselves and started with the Mongolian visas, which we applied for by post. It took about twice as long as they said they would take but we got them back ok. Next we tried to get the Belarus visas, but they were sent back (3 days after they should have come back) saying because we hadn't got the Russian visa proving we'd be in transit through Belarus we couldn't get that visa yet. By this time it was a week before we were due to leave our house in Bristol and we didn't have time to try any more postal applications - so all of them would have to be in person, at the embassies in London.

It fell to me to do the Russian Visa. We were very concerned that the Champions League Final would be in Moscow the day before we would be there and that I would be competing with 50,000 Chelsea and Man U fans for a visa, so I was determined to go as early as possible. The first day I could go was on Tuesday 6th May as there had been two Russian bank holidays on the 1st and 2nd May and a British one on the 5th. It was £108 on the train from Nottingham so instead I took the 2.45am coach for £18.50.

We had been sent the "voucher" from the Russian hotel we're booked into which you need to apply for the visa. We had also been sent the visa forms from the travel agency which we had duly filled in, signed and affixed photos.

So on the appointed day I set my alarm for 2am. Got up and dressed and was just about to go out and meet the taxi I'd booked when the phone started ringing - it was the automated callback to remind you about the taxi's arrival that I had expressly told them not to make, since it would wake my parents. I told the driver off but it was too late by that point - both my parents were awake. Anyway, I got the 2.45am coach to London. Arrived 7.00 at the embassy but realised I needed cash to pay (£95 each for same day processing so £190 in total) so dashed off to get some... came back and there were more people in the queue but still ok. The guy in front of me said this was unusually quiet.

Got inside at 8.30 and was seen by 9.00. The lady told me I needed to have filled in the form on the website, not fill in the printed out form, which was what the travel agent had instructed us to do. I was very annoyed but dashed off to find an internet cafe. I found one after about 20 minutes and then filled in the form. I'll leave you to work out how I got Steve's signature on the form. I started walking back to the embassy before I realised in my fluster I'd filled in a few details incorrectly. I went back, did it all again, found somewhere selling glue on the third attempt, restuck the photos on the form and went back to the embassy. Fortunately they'd given me a priority pass because the queues were now big. It was now 11.00 and the embassy shuts for applications at 12.00. This time the lady said the form was fine but told me because we were unemployed she would need to see 3 months' bank statements. At this point I got quite upset and said 'of course I'm unemployed, I'm emigrating to New Zealand, as it says on the form and why didn't you tell me this when I was in here before?' But they weren't budging on it so off I went again... thinking I'd have to come back the next day at this point....

I phoned Steve and told him to email me his 3 months' bank statements and meanwhile dashed off to the Halifax to get 3 months' statements from my account. I got a taxi and reached the bank about 11.10. At 11.30 I was still queuing behind all the old codgers who insist on having involved discussions about everything during the day because they can I suppose. Got my statement, called Steve who couldn't remember his online banking details but had managed to get his statements from the bank and was prepared to fax them. We both found fax shops and I waited for the fax to come through - but it came out all black... by this time it was 11.40 and I realised I'd have to go back if I was to stand a chance of getting even my visa that day. Another taxi back and very very luckily I got a different guy behind the counter this time and he didn't look too closely and just processed both forms! So after all that stress I was, eventually, successful. I spent in total around £50 that day excluding the £190 for the same day processing of the visas - used all my phone credit (£15), £20 on taxis, £5 in the internet cafe, £1.30 on the glue, £5 on tube fares... It ended up costing nearly £250 for both visas as a result (normal price would have been about £90).

Steve managed to get the Chinese visa the next day but despite arriving at around 8am didn't get into the office until after 12, so just a lot of queuing. Then he did the Belarussian one, again with very little stress, lucky him. On the whole I think I got the short straw!

We still need a visa for Vietnam but after all this stress have decided to leave it until Beijing. I hope that isn't a bad decision...