Blogs from Moscow, Northwest, Russia, Europe - page 13

I awoke early at 6am in order to get showered and ready. The hostel only had two showers so I did not want to have to fight for one of them. It turns out it was too early though. I was all ready to go by 6:30am and I really did not need to leave until 8am. So, I just surfed the net for a bit and made sure my flight was on time. I checked out of the hostel just after 8am and headed for the metro. I rode on the green #2 line from Novokuznetskaya to Belorusskaya in order to get the Aeroexpress train back to SVO airport. I arrived at the airport at 9:35am and was checked in by 10am. This flight was wide open for stand-by travel so i was not concerned. ... read more

I had wanted to visit Moscow since my youth, I mean who wouldn't want to? The visa process always turned me off though, but I finally figured that it must not be too bad. People go all the time, so how difficult can it be? It was actually easier than I though it would be to get the visa and they have eased restrictions recently. They now even offer three year visas! I had planned to go in early Fall of 2012, but I had the business of life come up. I was then going to wait until Spring and bring my family with me. They told me they had no desire to go, but said I could go if I wanted to. I could not wait and so I braved the cold winter and put ... read more

Houston à Moscow (12 hours; Depart: 4:50 pm Friday, Arrive: 1:50 pm Saturday) So, the fastest way to get to Singapore from Houston is actually through Moscow. If you fly Singapore Airlines, you take the same plane the whole way there and refuel for an hour in Russia. Gate to Gate, it’s about 24 hours total. I’m fortunate enough to fly business class on these long haul trips, so that makes it easier. (That said, SQ’s economy is still top-notch). Anyways, I started this flight by working on a music set to record for Jenn on my laptop DJ program. I am by absolutely no means even close to calling myself a DJ, but if I could be anything when I grow up, it would be a DJ/producer. Unfortunately, I only discovered this a year ago, ... read more

Okay, so to get this straight, no, this post is not about the great condiment, Ketchup. I apologize for getting your hopes high. I am currently on the 8 hour plane ride to Beijing, China from Moscow, Russia and decided to take this opportunity to finally “Catch-up” on my blog. ( I know, I’m clever, tricking you into clicking this post because of the title.) In reality though, I just woke up from an almost 2 hour nap and came up with the title of this post right now and here- clearly I’m hungry and luckily food is on its way!! So while I have been taking over friends’ Twitter feeds and Facebook newsfeeds with the help of Instagram …The ability to share a couple of pictures to show what my day looked like in captions ... read more

After many hours of Visa documentation and an hour of waiting at the empty border, we entered into Russia. We first stopped in the former Finnish Town of Vyborg and toured the castle. Then we were off to Saint Petersburg, but we diverted around traffic to take the coast highway for the last 70km. On the first night, we visited the Church of the Saviou on Blood (where Alexander II was assassinated), crossed several canals and arrived in Palace Square facing the Winter Palace and the Hermitage Museum. The next day we would be given a private tour of the city (as we were the only English speaking people left on our tour) including Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Yusupov Palace (where Rasputin was killed), the St Peter and St Paul Fortress and the Admiralty. We spent the ... read more