D-Day has been set

Well it is unavoidable now. D-Day is has been chosen and the troops are already moving. September 4th my lovely wife will be disembarking to her home land, the country of the Tsars. So the long term relationship will begin soon and we can only hope that it will end before the eighteen month period that may be required. Not everything about this situation is horrible, and by many accounts we are in a unique position to deal with these events. But still I have to say that my mood over the whole deal is a little bit sour. It really is too bad the world is so divided and there are the barriers that there are; even though it is probably the best atmosphere globally to travel for normal people that has ever existed. I will be testing this in the coming years and finding out how easy it actually is.

In fact I have already made progress. We think my first visa to Russia has been processes and expect it to arrive by the end of the week. Now that we have gone through this process once it should be much easier this fall to apply for the longer visa. Currently I am applying for a 3 month visa, next I will apply for a 12 month visa. The reason it has been a bit of an arduous ordeal is because I want to be able to come and go as I please. This requires a business visa which requires a sponsoring organization, and HIV test, and plenty of paperwork. I have done so many searches on the internet I also think I have found the best ways to travel. None of them are that easy; the best routes only have 1 connection most have 2 or more. The price tag to fly actually isn’t that far off from Minneapolis right now, though I’m sure I will fly out of Chicago a lot as many times during the year it is $300+ cheaper for each ticket. The one place I have not made any progress is in learning Russian. I know a few words but I don’t think telling people they are beautiful (like I tell my wife) is going to get me very far when I travel. I do have so language guides that may help though.

While I am not looking forward to spend 6-12 weeks apart from the Mrs. there are going to be some things to pile on the in benefits column. First of all this is going to be a great excuse to travel to more exotic locations. Traveling around Russia will of course be spectacular and something very few people get to experience. Beyond that we will most likely meet in several countries in Europe as it is possible for me to alternate travel there cheaper and she can get very reasonable flights from Moscow. So it may be cheaper to meet in the UK, Ireland, France, Spain, or Germany than for me to travel to Moscow. On top of that this will give me a chance to do some major remodels in the house. Gutting and fixing up the kitten won’t be much of a hassle if it is just me living in the house over the weekends. If this goes well I may also try to get a bathroom in before RG returns home. Less hassle for those two project going this route. Finally RG gets to see her family a lot more. Since she has been in the states she has only been able to see her family 4 or 5 times, less than once per year by far and in some case more than 2 years. This will give her an opportunity to reconnect with everyone and catch up.

So now that we know that when she is going we have started to get things ready. In the last week we have purchased new luggage for RG to pack her extensive wardrobe in. I found a cheap ticket from New York on Price line and purchased it for her. Then I used miles to get a ticket to New York to get RG that far! She has turned in her letter of resignation at work and started to prepare her resume for a job search in Russia. We are beginning to plan the trips we would like to take to get together for the next year. Right now we can’t really see past New Year’s but we’re working on it. As soon as I get my visa this week I will probably by my ticket to Moscow as well. So it is all happening and starting soon…. I guess all I can say is LOOK OUT RUSSIA here we come!