I flew from South Africa to Saint Petersburg.

I first had to get through customs and border control. It isn’t the easiest process, getting a Russian visa. I went through an agency instead of doing it myself, but I did have to pay a bit for the convenience. As an American going into Russia, even with an already-approved visa, I was a little concerned I was going to get taken into a dark room and grilled for a bit before they would actually let me enter. I was standing in line for the passport control for quite a while. It was finally my time. I walked up to the counter and handed the agent my passport as I was ready to show tons of supporting documents I had saved on my phone, just in case. She looked down at my passport. The looked at me. She then glanced at my Russian visa and then back at me. “Thank you,” she said as she handed my passport back. Way easier than I was expecting, not that I’m complaining, haha.

I had planned on leaving Africa to come up to the northern hemisphere in May so that I would be chasing the warm weather. As the southern hemisphere enters fall, my thinking was that it should be nice in May in Russia. Wrong! Continue reading →