I'm not a cat
So getting visas to communist and former communist countries is a b****. For a Russian visa, I need to pay $35 for a "Letter of Invitation", have my hotel/hostel already paid for, and have some particular kind of insurance. And there's no consulate in Chicago. So all this crap (including my passport) is being mailed back and forth between Moscow, Chicago, and Washington D.C. For Kazakhstan it's the same, except I also need a letter from my employer guaranteeing my financial situation. And the "Letter of Invitation" was $75. That's not including the actual visa fee. And I have to mail everything to D.C. as well. Then there's China, where I need ongoing tickets before I can get a visa. Amanda and I bought these cheap air tickets from Beijing to Tokyo/Kyoto online, but since it's a Chinese company, they need to verify our credit cards, and we have to scan stuff and sign stuff and mail it all back to Beijing. Then we can apply for the visa (and pay the $100 fee). Once, you know, are passports have come back from going to Washington D.C. twice.
Argh.
I guess, though, since we already paid the $110 for the letters of invitation, and soon more money will be deducted out of our accounts for the plane tickets, that means that our Russia/Kazakhstan/China trip is pretty official.
Tomorrow Amanda, Amy, and I are taking a break from life and going on a road trip. 5 days in Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa should do the body good. We'll be camping the whole way, and spending most of our time in South Dakota. I'm excited to go west of the Mississippi in something other than an airplane.
"Where do you get the money for all this?", people always ask. Truthfully, I have a little secret. But at the moment it's not too profitable. So when I'm in America, my money comes from the jobs I work (LRC, SLI, VBS... all acronyms), and the only things I spend it on are food and traveling. When I'm abroad, it comes from loans. Not that I wanted to take out that many loans to pay for being abroad; if you remember the whole Kyoto debacle, well, Kyoto would have been a million times cheaper than Tokyo. I would have actually made money. Anyways. Also, when going abroad, taking trains, finding good deals, and sleeping in hostels really cuts down on costs, so I do that.
Ok, I'll see you cats in 5 days.
Argh.
I guess, though, since we already paid the $110 for the letters of invitation, and soon more money will be deducted out of our accounts for the plane tickets, that means that our Russia/Kazakhstan/China trip is pretty official.
Tomorrow Amanda, Amy, and I are taking a break from life and going on a road trip. 5 days in Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa should do the body good. We'll be camping the whole way, and spending most of our time in South Dakota. I'm excited to go west of the Mississippi in something other than an airplane.
"Where do you get the money for all this?", people always ask. Truthfully, I have a little secret. But at the moment it's not too profitable. So when I'm in America, my money comes from the jobs I work (LRC, SLI, VBS... all acronyms), and the only things I spend it on are food and traveling. When I'm abroad, it comes from loans. Not that I wanted to take out that many loans to pay for being abroad; if you remember the whole Kyoto debacle, well, Kyoto would have been a million times cheaper than Tokyo. I would have actually made money. Anyways. Also, when going abroad, taking trains, finding good deals, and sleeping in hostels really cuts down on costs, so I do that.
Ok, I'll see you cats in 5 days.