Pre-Trip Bulletin #1 21 July 1999Hey.
The trip’s nearly a month away and I have been busy preparing for it (aside from function – just in situation a few of you believe I do not do anything else). This can be a area for which nobody has written any guidebooks in the past few many years – the last Lonely Planet was published in 1996 and because then. Ukraine features a new currency – Hryvna and Belarus has seen its ruble wiped off by inflation. Oh Gosh! I would require a bag simply to carry cash about to get a meal or bus ride in Minsk.
Anyway. what truly maintain me preoccupied nowadays would be the visas. Using the exception of the liberal Baltic republics. getting visas from Belarus. Ukraine and Moldova is just nightmarish. These nations need visas from practically every nation unless of course you come from nations that had been once members of that grand old socialist alliance. And to get a visa. you need either to join package deal tours or get invited officially by a business organisation or private people. Difficult. is not it?
Sure. these workers’ paradise and people’s democracies need stringent immigration controls to stop the entire world from illegally emigrating there. or/and preventing entry of foreign agents out to conspire with enemies from the individuals. No wonder couple of bothered to visit these nations – stunning they might be – or to write about them. What great jobs their tourism departments have done up to now – yes. they do have tourism departments though couple of people have any idea what they do.
I began the process rolling by applying for that Lithuanian visa. whilst waiting for my Ukrainian letter of invitation. Singaporeans do not require visas to go to the United states of america or Japan. but because Singapore’s GDP per capita of US$31.000 doesn’t quite impress the as soon as powerful Lithuanian Empire (which together with Poland. inside a joint monarchy. once constituted the largest energy in Europe). I was required to fill out a type. present a travel insurance certificate in addition to travellers’ cheques to show that I’d not land up begging around the streets of Vilnius (the ancient capital of Lithuania. also a UNESCO World Heritage website). 8 and a week later. I received the Lithuanian visa.
Singaporeans require visas for Latvia also. however they are obtainable at Riga airport on arrival. I chose to get it ahead of time to avoid the possible hassle of displaying an exotic passport at however another equally exotic airport. I visited the Latvian Embassy and was given the choice of getting the processed passport by registered mail. I grabbed the offer. hoping to escape an additional lunch time rush to the embassy. What a terrible mistake. which led to an entire week of sleepless nights.
UK’s postal services. Royal Mail. guarantees delivery within 1 day – thoughts you. my passport was sent from 1 part of London to another part about one kilometre away. One day passed. then two days. and 3. and I haven’t received my passport. Rang the Latvian Embassy 3 days following the supposed receipt date. We sent the passport final Friday. Registered? Hmmno. actually by recorded mail. Oh goodness. you will find differences in delivery. tracking techniques as well as differences in compensation for the loss of products. and no one in the correct sense of thoughts would send a passport via recorded mail.
I contemplated making a police report or ringing the Singapore High Commission (Embassy) about passport replacement. Pictures of an unplanned go to to Singapore to get a new passport as well as the trouble to redo my UK function permit flashed across my mind. Fortunately. I obtained the passport a few days later on – a full 1 week after the promised date. and just following I had decided to make a report about its loss. So much for that Royal Mail’s service promise.
Belarus was subsequent. This really is the most communistic of the ex-USSR states. A couple of many years ago. the republic elected Lukashenko president. The former collective farm manager set about clamping down on the opposition. signing a treaty of union with Russia (with the intention of running for Russian presidency following Yeltsin’s resignation). restoring the Soviet emblems from the old Belarussian Soviet Socialist Republic. closing down foreign embassies in Minsk. and his most remarkable achievement – the depreciation from the Belarus Ruble from 2 to 315.000 to US$1. i.e.. 15.000.000% devaluation! [Of program. the space I booked at Hotel Minsk costs US$40 or 1.26 million Belarus Rubles. Hmm. I'll be a Belarusian multi-billionaire]
To the tourist. nevertheless. his best achievement lies in the visa specifications. In most ex-USSR republics. a letter of invitation suffices. For Belarus. you’ll need to display official tourist vouchers. i.e. proof that your entire trip continues to be prepaid – so you cannot merely spend somebody to obtain a letter of invitation and hope to stay wherever you want. And visa charges have been raised to 40 for a complete visa. Given my restricted time. the complicated rules and Belarus’s relative lack of unusual locations compared to other nations I strategy to cover. I determine to obtain only a 48 hour transit visa which price 10 and does not need any letters of invitation. Only evidence of transit is needed. at least that is what the instead rude and impatient chap at the Belarus Embassy in London told me more than the phone.
So. I set off for that Belarus Embassy on a Monday lunch time. There. I saw the consul arguing with an elderly Belarus-born gentleman – certainly one of those who once lived in Polish-ruled western Belarus and fled to UK after WWII. when western Belarus was occupied from the USSR. The latter had a letter of invitation however the consul insisted that he needed vouchers as well. Of course. the poor guy needed to leave and deal with his visa another day.
Then came my turn. I showed the consul my Minsk – Simferopol (Ukraine) air ticket and my passport using the Latvian and Lithuanian visas. He looked happy initially. but asked me whether or not I had an Ukrainian visa as well. since that is my next location. Old mine! Well. I told him. I’ll be travelling to fairly a few countries and would have to do my visas in correct order of my trip. and therefore I did the Latvian and Lithuanian visas first. Belarus is my next nation. If he doesn’t problem me having a Belarus visa merely simply because I have not received an Ukrainian visa. and if Ukraine won’t problem me an Ukrainian visa with out me initial securing a Belarus visa. then I can get neither the Belarus nor the Ukrainian visa.
Having heard so much about the inflexible and unfriendly Belarus embassies. to my shock. he really accepts my explanation and went ahead and issued me the visa. What a relief ! Definitely. I agreed to pay him double (20) to obtain the visa around the spot (express service). instead than to watch for 5 days (for 10). Who knows. he may alter his thoughts any time.
Three visas carried out – Ukraine’s subsequent. Ok. I’ll tell you my no less amusing experience trying to get the Ukrainian visa subsequent week – that is. after I’ve currently secured it Just in situation a few of you available are spies from the Ukrainian secret services who will report my less-than-friendly comments towards the embassy.
Take care.
Wee Cheng
http://travel.to/weecheng
August 6: The Ukrainian Visa Saga
Europe Travel Guide
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TWC’s Odyssey Through the Borderlands of Europe
Pre-trip #1
Pre-trip #2
Riga
Kaunas
Vilnius
Belarus
Belarus Airlines
Crimea
Simferopol
Odessa
Chisinau
Transdnestria
Chisinau
To Kiev
Kiev
Kiev Again
Last Hours
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From Baltic towards the Black Sea
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