Standing in front of the bus door at Sheretmetyevo airport in Moscow, I steepled my hands at a young woman and begged her to pay my bus fare. I had no rubles and was dangerously close to missing my connecting flight to Minsk. There was supposed to be a free Aeroflot shuttle but it never materialized. This city bus was my only chance of getting to the next terminal. Based on what cab drivers wanted to take me there - $50 - the terminal was in Siberia, or so it seemed.
It was my first time in Russia and it was not a good start. But it was hard enough just getting here. After an intriguing piece about the troubles of getting a Russian visa at the embassy in Washington, D.C., was recently published in the Washington Post travel section, it made me consider my own pursuit to get one. My experience wasn't as bad as writer Ayako Doi's. But for me, having gone through various visa applications a dozen or so times, this was by far the worst.
It was an ominous sign that seconds after hitting "purchase" on the Aeroflot website for a JFK-Moscow-Minsk flight, a big red warning appeared on my laptop screen informing me my credit card had been declined. When I called the bank, they said they just automatically decline relatively large purchases made to Russian companies.
When I called Aeroflot to rebook, Dmitri, the amiable representative on the other end of the line, informed me that I'd needed a transit visa. I was going to have to apply for and buy a $131 visa just to change planes in Moscow on my way to Minsk, the capital of Belarus.Continue reading Moscow On The Hudson: The Pains Of Getting A Russian VisaMoscow On The Hudson: The Pains Of Getting A Russian Visa originally appeared on Gadling on Fri, 20 Jul 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments
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