Going to Russia

привет, my friend!

I'm still in New York. Here's why...

Traveling overseas is usually easy:
Step 1- get your visa
Step 2- buy a ticket
Step 3- pack your bag.
When it comes to Russia, Step 1 is not as simple as it seems. In order to get a Russian visa, you need to be invited by an entity affiliated with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
And that's where I am stuck right now... waiting for the invitation letter. It may take between 1 and 18 business days to get such a letter, depending on the visa status (tourist or business) and number of entries (single, double or multiple). Guess which kind of visa I need? If you answered the "one that takes 18 days", you're correct! In order to get a multiple entry business visa, be prepared to wait 18 business days for the invitation letter before you start arranging for a visa.
Some good resources are:
http://www.waytorussia.net/Travel/VisaSupport.html
http://www.cibt.com
http://www.visatorussia.com
DISCLAIMER: I am not recommending you use any of them! These are just websites that give a lot of information. The company I work for uses CIBT -- I'll soon find how good they are :-)

пока!