Trans-Mongolian Railway : Vital Visa Applications

Russia and China both require those of us on US passports, to get a travel visa ahead of time.

Russian Visa
To apply for a Russian visa you need to fill out a rather extensive application online - Im not exaggerating when I say they want info about your parents, past employment, countries visited in the last 10 years, your education, military history and more. They want to know when you are arriving, leaving and where you'll be staying. Most importantly they want to know who invited you to visit Russia!

Chinese Visa
The Chinese Embassy also requires a lengthy (albeit not as long as the Russian) visa application and an invitation to visit China from a legitimate source.

A Russian and Chinese Invitation to Visit (aka visa support document) can only be obtained from an authorized travel consultant after you have booked flights, hotels and/or tours with them, so that was our first step.

In short time, we found ourselves a Russian travel agent friend:  Alla Menshikova at RealRussia.com. And a Chinese travel agent friend: Ruby Zhou at ChinaHighlights.com. Both have been nothing short of awesome.

Alla booked us a hotel in Moscow and took a deposit on rail tickets. You see, railway tickets are only sold in Russia 90 days before departure, and internationally, only up to 60 days ahead of time - and those would be our Mongolia and China legs. We were now "in line" to buy tickets.
Ruby, armed with dates of arrival and departure, booked us EVERYTHING... an English speaking guide to escort us through sites, into parks and exhibits, drive us to and from hotels, trains and airports and in between, to recommend local eateries etc.

Next we booked flights. Allowing up to $700 to get to Moscow from Denver, we were pleasantly surprised to one day be surfing Cheapoair.com and find stupidly cheap airfares! $458/person. Bonus! We chose a red-eye flight to NYC with a day to explore before our connecting flight to Moscow. Mark has never been to New York City and I was excited to give him a little taste before we left the continent.

Our flight from Beijing to Denver (via DFW) through Travelocity.com was also really inexpensive. $393/person including taxes and fees.

The requirements for specifically sized passport photos (2) to accompany each visa application meant we found ourselves at Mike's Camera. There, I was assured that they had the "Russian Visa Template" and the "Chinese Visa Template" and for $35 per country they could supply us with the pictures that would be of acceptable sizes to the Russian and Chinese consulates.

With our filled out applications, visa support documents and weird sized passport pictures (no smiles included!) we began looking for mailing and application fee paying details. No luck. Where the heck do I send the applications?  The Russian Consulate in Washington appeared to have no mailing address and when I stumbled upon a page requiring an appointment, I began to become suspicious about a need to walk the applications into the consulate. Absurd right?  Not so much!

With no joy in getting information from the Russian Consulate via phone either, I resorted to calling a Visa Service in Lakewood CO. Apologizing for my questions, I explained the situation and asked if they knew where/how to send in visa applications.

BEST decision ever was calling MileHighVisas.com!
Mike was super nice and informed me that as of 9/11, the Russians don't like opening parcels from people they don't know, so you are required to walk the applications in... to Washington DC or one of the other consulates around the USA.
Mile High Visas for a per visa fee, take care of it all without a trip to DC. We paid them $79 each for a Russian service fee and $69 for the China Visa service fee and felt good about it. Yep, a darn site cheaper and quicker than doing it ourselves.

Here's the other thing; Mile High Visas found multiple ways to improve our applications. Based on their 20 years experience with this sort of thing, they knew what info was really required, what was TMI and would start round two of info gathering (possibly including in-person interviews and/or requests for bank statements) and also informed us that the passport pics that Mike's Camera had taken of us, were sure to be rejected. My pictures were cut the right size but my head was too small!  Story of my life, LOL.

As of this date and $960 later, our visa's are in process. Apparently within about 3 weeks, we'll hear some good news. To put it in perspective, one Russian visa would have taken a minimum of a month for us to do without help.

Next post, I'll give you and overview of the whole trip.  :-)

Trans-Mongolian Railway - Bucket List Item

You haven't heard from me in a while, I know.
Not because I have had nothing going on but... well... it wasn't me travelling, adventuring and bringing you along for the ride, so I didn't feel compelled to write about it.

But all that is about to change!

In December 2017, I mentioned to Mark that the Trans-Mongolian Railway was on my bucket list. I asked him if he'd like to come along for the adventure of a lifetime and without missing a beat, he replied "yes". You could have knocked me down with a feather for just a second and then... overwhelming excitement and a bunch of gratitude followed.

By February we had both procured copies of Bryn Thomas' book titled Trans-Siberian Handbook; The guide to the world's longest railway journey with 90 maps and guides to the route, cities and towns in Russia, Mongolia & China.

Opening the pages, was opening the door to a world of new things. We discovered some scary and wild Russian superstitions, oodles of sights and activities to partake in, a new way to travel and a sense of amazement that motivated us to begin planning.

And Mark... well he was about to ask for a month off work, for the first time in his life!

Life changing. Pure and simple.

New Driveway?!

 While I  can't say it was in the original plan, I can say that because Storm Form got our house done on time and on budget, I had some "extra" money - emergency money - burning a hole in my pocket and decided to buy myself something nice for Christmas! 

If you have read this far, you'll know by now that I'm not inclined to go the 'sparkly necklace' route when I'm treating myself.  Let's just say my me-to-me gifts are more like; baby tree, bird fountain or new driveway kinda things.

New driveway?! With extra width? Let's do it!

When Ken offered to come back in early November and pour a driveway and front path while he was concreting his latest Martin Acres project, I signed up. Willingly and enthusiastically.

Who doesn't a visit from these guys and their cute little John Deere friend?

Very exciting... 

It was a fascinating process and all these guys worked their tails off to make sure the concrete looked good before it set. What a tough job though. Certainly not the sort of project I'd ever aim to do without Ken and Co.

But by mid December, our new home was way less muddy and way more festive looking!

Baby Steps

This week/weekend – another perfect one for projects – saw a couple of things come to fruition at 285 Martin Drive. We are picking up speed on projects that add finishing touches now that most of the unpacking and picture hanging has been completed.

1. We got a dining table!  Yes! Finally somewhere to sit in the morning sun for breakfast. After all, the weather has taken a very Colorado turn and with lower temps and now snow too, the price of sitting outside on the front porch is a cold butt!

I have some very specific requirements for a dining table. You’d be surprised. Or maybe not! Firstly it had to be real wood. Laminates and such that are unforgiving when hot dishes meet the finish are just not my cup of tea. Secondly, it had to contract to a size that my ladies and I can play Mah Jong on and then expand to seat at least 10 comfortably. Im thinking we are overdue to have friends over for dinner, plus Thanksgiving is just around the corner.  Thirdly, the leaves to extend the table must be self storing because I have little time in my life to ferret around in the garage for leaves! And fourthly, it should meet budgetary restraints.  This one did. I cannot confess that the instructions to put it together were anything other than “sparse and confusing” but we did it in the end. While you could buy the table at hayneedle.com, I found that Houzz.com had cheaper delivery options.

2. I started work on the front and back yard. Sure, you can’t tell I’ve done anything… But I have and it feels good. This week I moved dirt around with a shovel and flagstone bits around with a wheelbarrow. Some old plants and weeds found themselves in the compost bin too.

3. The master shower got its glass. OMG, I love it. So nice to be using the master bath. It’s light and bright and not going to lie to you, that rain shower head is pretty luxurious feeling. Thanks www.faucetdirect.com

Note that I wouldn’t finish putting the light fixture together until the bathroom was complete.

4. The shades arrived for the windows and Mark and I put them up this weekend. Ok, not all the windows have shades yet, but the ones that really needed it (master bath and bedroom) and everything else that was doable in this months budget, was delivered. Turns out that I’m not bad at measuring. No issues with them fitting or looking weird – that’s a relief! Yay, me!

Yup, I found an up-down shade that was wide enough to fit the sliding door! Check out Blindster.com

Down-Up shades for the master bed, so we can see the view but the neighbors can’t see us (anymore)!

Electric drill and screw driver… No problem for Marley and Smokey Joe. I guess only some loud noises are bothersome?

Black-out shades for the TV room to reduce glare. It was well dark by the time we finished installing last night so this is a bit of a token effort in the light blocking department for the picture. 🙂

Post Move-In Projects

Everyone knows that moving in is the end of one chapter, but it’s also the beginning of several others. Closing the door on construction means saying goodbye (mostly) to Ken and Aaron and co, but marks the start of smaller projects… one after the other, or one alongside another, for a year or more to come.

What’s next, then?

1. Finishing the fireplace surround
2. Hang some art
3. Re-laying the patio with existing pavers
4. Trim some of the unruly trees in the back yard
5. Putting in the shower glass
6. Installing the chandelier in the master bath
7. Acquiring and putting up window treatments
8. Redoing the drive way
9. Adding a paved front walk
10. And then… landscaping with all it entails (grass, plants, sprinklers, lighting etc)

Ken and Aaron arrived last week with the metal for the fireplace surround, putting the modern into the Modern Farmhouse! First things first; they had to remove the temporary trim that framed the fireplace for the purposes of the City of Boulder inspection. 

Ken had already cut and welded the metal at home before arriving with it. As my dad says, “measure twice, cut once”…. And hey presto, it fits like a glove. That is not as easy as it sounds. The top to bottom clearance for the surround, was a fraction of an inch. With care, the guys walked it, pointy corners and all, through the house and bent it gently until it straightened back up against the wall. The openings for cable, power outlets and the fireplace itself, were perfectly aligned and I was mesmerized. 

Aaron and I discussed the virtues of a “remote controlled” fireplace whereby someone holds the switch in their hand, the wires threaded under the rug, and could then turn on the fireplace from the sofa. In the end I decided that mounting that switch on the wall was a tad classier. We have ordered a real remote control… and continue to wait patiently for its arrival.

I hired Flatiron Landscaping for the patio project.

10 years ago, it was me who was on my hands and knees on a gravel base, sweeping a little more or a little less sand under each stone paver to get a level patio. Couple that with memories of trying to achieve the necessary 2% slope away from the house and working with little skinny arms and I was easily convinced that I didn’t need to be the one redoing that patio this year!

The plan involved compacted road base and then sand. Each paver – being a natural product was of a different thickness to its mates and it is a labor intensive process to get it looking just right. 

Friday a week ago,  5 guys descended on my back yard with wheelbarrows of product, heavy tools, camaraderie and smiles. They began work just as the first week long rainy spell arrived over Boulder this season. I was fascinated and impressed with their hard work and so were Marley and Smokey Joe!

Yep, they hung tarps and a shelter to protect themselves and the project from all that unwanted water.

All that remains is a few little details, a final walk through by me and then… it’s ready to put the patio furniture on!  Did I mention that we don’t have a dining table yet, so getting patio furniture in place means dining is about to get a whole lot classier too!

Our downstairs guest bathroom got it's glass and it was nice to see Aaron again!