August 1st, 2007

I have finally made up an itenary for my six-week backpacking trip:

Helsinki --> St. Petersburg --> Moscow --> Kiev --> Lviv --> Suceava --> Brasov --> Bucharest --> Istanbul --> Sofia --> Bratislava --> Vilnius --> Riga --> Tallinn --> Helsinki.

As I was planning the trip, I came upon a Kobo Abe quote, "Without the threat of punishment there is no joy in flight", which seemed eeriely appropriate.

August 3rd, 2007

I have the sneaking suspicion that whoever made up the Russian visa application used to work for the KGB. Some of the questions are:

Who paid for your plane ticket? Your hotel room?

What kind of insurance do you have?

Name of your father and mother?

The countries you have traveled to in the past ten years and when?

Your current and past employment (name, address and phone number)?

The professional and charitable associations that you belong to?

Your university and postgraduate studies (major, school address and phone number)

Special training in nuclear physics, explosives and biology?

Ever been in the military (place, rank and date)?

Ever been in a war (place, rank and date)? Were you a victim?