. .
There are only two countries in my plan that required visas: Russia and China. Since I had residency in Albania, I decided to apply for the Russian visa before I left. I took my passport to the embassy in Tirana in April. I should have had a residency permit from the
Albanian government, but of course as things tend to go, I got my permit and found that it had the wrong picture on it, namely it had Amanda's picture on it. Now Amanda is a very nice person, but I don't think we actually look anything alike, so I had to send it back. This delayed the processing for a few weeks, so they only had a month to get my visa before I left. When I informed the lady at the embassy that I would be leaving the country on the 14th of June, she seemed unconcerned. The visa would get there when it got there and my ability to pick it up really had nothing to do with it. There is no such thing as express service.
The morning that Alexi and I left Albania, we stopped by the Russian embassy to see if my visa would be there for me to pick up. We found the door locked and the windows dark- the embassy was closed for some holiday . . . it didn't really matter anyway, when I was able to get online and call the embassy a few days later I was informed that my visa wasn't ready anyway. Call back in two weeks. Maybe it would be done by then. Maybe.
I started to strategize on how I would get the visa once it was done. One thing was sure, my passport had to get to Tirana. Because I was still traveling on my Peace Corps passport (I have two passports, I know, it's weird) that didn't necessarily mean that I had to be in Tirana, just my passport. Could I find someone to carry my passport back to Albania? Could I mail it? Once it was there, could someone else take it to the embassy for me? What documents might they need? I almost had a carrier (missed them by one day in Budapest) and I almost got the notarized documents and mailed it, but as I got closer to Albania again (Serbia, Bulgaria) I decided it would be easier and safer (although more time consuming and expensive) to just take the passport back myself. I had already made plans with the PCVs in Bulgaria to spend the fourth with them, so I planned my quick return to Shqiperia for after that. For resons that are beyond me, there is no direct bus service from Sofia to Tirana, so I had to go overnight to Skopje and then to Tirana (well, actually to Tetova and then to Tirana). I arrived in Tirana at 5pm, just in time to meet up with my friend Fraiser and watch a World Cup match. In the morning I headed to the embassy bright and early, got my visa and got right back on the bus to Skopje at 9am. 56 hours and I was back right where I started but with a permission to visit Russia stamped in my passport.
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