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This is probably the question I get asked most often, maybe after “You’re doing what?!” and “Why?!” so it’s really the first question of substance. I wish I had a great answer, but it’s that I don’t know.

In the past 3-6 months, Jason and I have put together something of an outline. It’s a list of countries we want to see in a reasonable order, but subject (and likely) to change:

Taiwan – China – South Korea – Japan – Mongolia – Russia – Eastern/Central Europe

Really the only question is how much time we’ll spend in each country and if we’ll need to fill some time elsewhere so it’s warm enough by the time we start heading north.

Enter Thailand. Is Thailand an ultimate bucket list destination for me? No, not really. But is it full with cool stuff I’d love to see? Hells yeah. It’s also warm and doesn’t require a visa, so it’s a great stand-by time filler (if waiting for weather warmer) or tropical “vacation from the vacation” if needed. I’ve been hearing great things about Chiang Mai and have also wanted to scuba dive in southeast Asia – can you say whale sharks?!

So for now, the answer to “where” are you going continues to be be “well, we don’t really know.” I think we’ll only know 1-2 cities ahead of wherever we are at given moment, unless we are meeting people with committed travel plans. A close friend is celebrating her birthday in Hawaii in November, so we’re planning to be there for sure 😎

Drove up to Newark last Thursday and picked up our passports with the Chinese visas at the Kung Fu School – 10 years, multiple entry without any issues 🙂

Saturday we dropped them off again with our agent for the Russian visas. We are using an agent that does multiple countries, so Jason asked her which country is the most difficult to deal with. Her answer? Russia 😭

So now we wait – the official date they are expected to be returned to us is January 16th, but the agent said she’d try to have it back by New Years because the Russian Consulate is closed the entire first week of January.

Success???

EDIT: GREAT SUCCESS!!!

EDIT 3: I went a head and deleted the previous 3 test posts because they are pointless now 🙂

Read it here!

I wish I had pretty pictures to post, but just wanted to give an update on the Chinese and Russian visas that I spent like 6 hours working on yesterday.

Today we dropped off all of the documents for our Chinese visa with an agent in Fremont. By agent, it was a middle aged Chinese woman working at a Kung Fu school, but the reviews are solid, she checked everything over pretty convincingly, and said the visas would be ready for pick up Thursday. I probably can’t get there until Saturday, but still, that’s impressive. All for only $20 additional cost on top of what the Chinese Consulate charges – worth it!

I’m also going to use an agent for the Russian Visas. The timing is tight, so I don’t have room for error, and the process is more complicated than China. Considering the overall cost of the trip and the amount of time we are planning to spend in Russia (doing the TSR with stops, plus time in Moscow & St. Petersburg) I think it’s worth the extra $120 they charge.

The visa is good for 3 years (multiple entry) and you need 6 months additional on your passport past the visa expiration, so the dates are important for me. My passport expires on July 25, 2020. I’ve asked for a visa that begins January 20th, so that means I squeak by with only 5 days to spare. I’m a pretty serious planner, but had I realized all of this like 9 months ago, I would have renewed my passport between the April BVI trip and the September trip to Italy. Oh well, lesson learned.

Tomorrow I started my third-to-last week of work. The last week of work is pretty much a wash because it’s between Christmas and New Years, so really only 2 to go. I wish they’d post my vacancy so we can work toward getting someone picked out to train before I go.

Trying to develop a strategy for getting both Chinese and Russian visas with the least amount of stress and cost as possible 🙂

I’ve only needed a visa once before (for Egypt) and it was not this complicated. Both visas need flights and hotel reservations (which we don’t have, so that means booking and canceling.) Both require they keep your passport for several days, which I’m not super comfortable with, but nothing I can do. Both are pretty pricy – $140 for China, $193 for Russia. So it’s just a headache overall, all though less so than if I didn’t live easy traveling distance from a Russian Consulate, because they charge you another $85 to apply by mail :/

I think I might use an agent for the Chinese visa, since I found one with great reviews that only charges an additional $20. It would cost more for Jason and I to take Caltrain to SF and apply there in person. The agent has an address in Fremont I can use to drop off (and hopefully pick up) everything. If they only allow drop off, it’s another $25 to return the passports via FedEx, but still worth it.

It is my hope that I can start the process this week and have the passports back by the time I go see my family in New Jersey on December 29th so I have plenty of time to deal with Russia. I believe the process starts with applying online and then appearing in person at the consulate in San Francisco, so I can take care of that after I get back January 3rd.

Well, that’s what I’ve been working on this week. That and the packing list 🙂