Blogs from Manchester, Greater Manchester, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 6

A Trans-Siberian trip does require a lot of forward planning - mostly to support the various Visas we need to make the journey. Many of these visa applications required the exact location we will be in on certain dates otherwise they would not be granted. Just to keep things interesting each country has slightly different requirements and application procedures - fortunately it was possible to do each via the post rather than travelling to London to visit embassies. The only exception to this was China which I could apply for in Manchester - John however applied visa the post. For this trip we require 4 visas:

 • Belarus Visa (Transit) 
• Russian Visa (standard toursit)
 • Mongolian Visa (standard tourist)
 • Chinese Visa (dual entry tourist - as we're leaving for Japan after Beijing) Belarus
 This ... read more

In my first post I explained the reasons for this trip, now on to the route we've chosen! The main destination of the trip is Shanghai to see French Tom - but of course the journey is meant to be fun too. As such, John and I have agreed on this itinerary: Manchester -> London -> Brussels -> Cologne -> Moscow -> St Petersburg -> Moscow -> Listvyanka -> Irkutsk -> Ulaanbaatar -> Beijing -> Tokyo -> Shanghai -> Dubai -> Manchester John will be meeting me in London, and leaving from Shanghai via Switzerland rather than joining me in Dubai. That's really just an excuse for me to fly home Emirates and avoid Heathrow during the Olympics! The planning has been split into 4 sections 1.) Getting to St Petersburg This is our first step ... read more

Hi All, Back to Manchester, funny I've never been before and now I've been twice in a week, to see Leanne, my oldest daughter, and Craig, her partner. We had a little walk around Manchester city centre and then after lunch we went off to find the Lowry. Now with Leanne only just moving there we wasn't sure where to go so we got off at Trafford Bar, I saw signs for the Lowry when I was at Old Trafford a few days ago, which was a bit of a mistake because that tram stop is a long way from the gallery. We did find some impressive old industrial buildings and I especially liked the sculpture of a chain near Old Trafford swing bridge. For those wnating to visit the Lowry the correct tramstop is Media ... read more

Hi All, I arrived in Manchester and guess what it was raining. I know what a surprise! This is my first visit here. I came to visit my daughter but whilst I was here I thought I had to go to Old Trafford to see the United museum, even though I'm not a United fan. As soon as I'd checked into the hostel we headed off to Old Trafford but by the time we got there the museum had closed, well the lady on the till told me that the computer was turned off, computer says 'No', so Keeley and I went to find an Ethiopian restaurant. Didn't get much sleep unfortunately, thanks to a drunken roommate, so I got up early and went to Old trafford again to finally see the museum. Lots of memorabilia ... read more

Only 32 days to go (and 19 at work) and all set!... read more