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The travel plans are getting decidedly complicated. I want to get to St Petersburg by train so I can see the countryside go by and take my time about things. Trouble is, to get a visa it seems you need some kind of a confirmation from your booking company and you also need to have tickets into and out of Russia that you can show them (presumably so you can prove you will eventually leave).

I have no desire to do it as a package deal, though. I want to make my own way at my own pace, so that rather rules out the tour company. I did find a company that was willing to sponsor you getting a visa by providing you with the necessary paperwork but that sounded just a bit too dodgy.

So, plan B. Travel north of the arctic circle and see the Aurora Borealia. Lars suggested Kiruna, a large city about 100 miles north of the circle that looks exceptionally cold at the moment. It’s in the town next to that hotel built out of ice that they apparently have to rebuild every November because it thaws out in spring.

This looks easier, as Sweden is part of the EU. Unfortunately, though, all the hotels I could find were prohibitively expensive. We’re talking

This entry was posted on Friday, January 18th, 2002 at 6:32 pm and is filed under Journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.