Where Shall We Go? To Russia, Of Course!

AAHHHH! I'm so excited...I really think it's happening. So yeah, we're going to Russia! Some people think it's kind of a weird place for a relaxing get-away, but really, we're so excited. Adam served his mission in Russia and so we've talked about going back since we met pretty much, but we sat down about 3 weeks ago and looked at the calander and our bank account (small as it may be) and we figured, "Hey, let's spend almost every penny we have AND let's just go ahead and do it on these days".

Yes, planning a trip to RUSSIA in about two weeks....not the easiest of tasks. And, if you want to add a little more stress? Try travelling across the entire country! Oh yes, and let's not forget...I had to get a passport AND we still have to get visas. And what fun would it be if you could plan things while in Russia if you didn't have to have your passort number? Obviously none at all, that must be why those smart Russians DO make you have your passport number for anything that you would be remotely interested in having ahead of time, such as flights within the country and hotel rooms. Man, they really were thinking.

So hopefully the travel broker we are working with can get my passport number to us today and Adam can make the reservations for hotels and flights. We have our flights to and from the US to Moscow and got a screamin' deal...$395 each round trip...thanks to a guy Adam works with whose wife works at Delta. I'm a little scared because they're standby tickets, but I think we'll be ok. Plus, she sent us an flight schedule and we're scheduled right now to be flying business class the whole time, so that would be awesome, seeing how the flight to Moscow is something ridiculous like 16 hours or something.

Here's a rough break down of how our trip will be. Click on the map above to enlarge because it shows all of these cities.

Wednesday August 16: Fly from SLC to NYC, then from NYC to Moscow
Arrive in Moscow on the 17th--stay until 18th--fly to Omsk
Stay in Omsk from 18th-21st
Take train (Trans-Siberian Railway) from Omsk to Novosibirsk
Stay in Novosibirsk through 23rd
Take train the night of 23rd to Krasnoyarsk
Stay in Krasnoyarsk until 27th
Travel somehow (train or plane...I don't remember) to St. Petersburg on the 28th
Stay in St. Petersburg until evening of 30th--take train back to Moscow
Leave Moscow on 31st--Fly to NYC, then home to SLC


Yay!! I am so excited! I'm not going to understand a word they say, but I can say "I don't know", "I don't understand Russian", and "Please", "Thank you", "Hello", and "Goodbye", so really, I think I'm set. Adam tells me I probably won't like a whole lot of the food there except for bread and a few other things, so if I'm lucky I'll shed a few pounds while I'm in the motherland as well. Woohoo! JK, I'm sure I'll manage to eat enough of something so I don't drop any of my much needed weight. (HA!)

Ok, well that's our plan for now. We'll see how our reservation making goes today and turn in our visa applications tomorrow. Just a tip for anyone planning to journey on over to Russia in two weeks notice without proper travel documentation...it costs a freakin' ton! Wanna know how much it costs to get a visa overnight for the two of us? Almost a thousand dollars. I guess we bring it on ourselves by being fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants kind of planners in this venture, but oh well.

I'll keep you posted on how things go today. Let me know if any of you have suggestions on MUSTS for things to do in Russia!