Getting there

And the day came! With packing still to be finished I have to confess I was a bit anxious about the task ahead. It didn't look easy at first!

The task ahead

But it all fit and in the drive to the airport I knew it had begun! :)
We got to Heathrow, London, in a non eventful flight and started discussing where we were spending the night - we had an overnight connection. The options were staying in the airport and stay in a paying lobby with rooms and showers; staying in the airport in a specific area (Terminal 1) with no rooms for free; or try our luck in the city. After we saw the 80/120£ prices of the lobby the answer to that option became pretty clear! Going to the city didn't sound too appealing for me so we finaly agreed with the free airport thing.

So there we went to Terminal 1 and started to prepare ourselves the best we could. The "bed" I prepared looked like this:

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Sleeping facilities - first version

It was comfortable enough even if I was predicting a back ache for the next day. And after a long day, even with the background noise (there was some construction work, there) I was finally falling asleep...
...
...
Something wakes me up, and I see a security guide walking towards us and he is saying that we have to move "Please, move to Gate 2, we will be there in a moment". No reason why,... and I was still too asleep to ask anything. It was around 11h15 and, half awake, we drag ourselves to the so mentioned Gate 2 and wait for someone to open the door for us... and when get inside... "Ahhhh...." (a good kind of Ahhhh), we had these waiting for us:

Sleeping facilities - second part

A number of chaise-longs were just waiting for us, and suddendly, we were completly happy with the change of venue! :)
It actually looked a bit better than what it was. With an intense lighting it was a bit difficult to convince by brain that I was supposed to sleep. But, at around 1h30, I finally did, again!...
...Until 4am when the woke us up again because they were opening the gate and we had to go somewhere else to sleep. Dragging ourselves again we just moved to the most near-by straight line of banches and trying to ignore people passing by we had our third try of falling asleep.
At 6h30 we woke up (I don't think N. actually slept a thing there) and went to our gate, stopping to get the so needed morning coffee!
With a caffe latte or a cappuccino in front of us, enjoying a bit of a fantastic sunny morning in London, we were finally ready to board the plane and get to Russia!

Strike 3 - ready to go

At last, one week before the start of the trip, I am reunited with my Passport, now ready to be with me in the upcoming adventure!
The Chinese visa was a piece of cake compared with the other two (Russia and Mongolia). Just the normal drill of going to consulate, fill a form, give a few other documents and... that's it. Waiting time: ~30 minutes! A few days waiting for it and the result:

The final score? Bureaucracy 0 - Trans team 3 (damn, we still have to discuss the name :P)!
Now, all we have to do is to prepare everything else... in one week! ;)

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Por fim, uma semana antes do começo da viagem, reuni-me de novo com o meu Passaporte, agora preparado para me acompanhar durante todo o percurso!
O visto Chinês, comparado com os outros dois (da Rússia e da Mongólia) foi a coisa mais simples do Mundo. Apenas o processo do costume de ir ao consulado, preencher um formulário, entregar alguma documentação adicional e... é tudo. Tempo de espera: ~30 minutos! Alguns dias de espera e aqui está o resultado:

O resultado final ficou então Burocracia 0 - Equipa Trans 3 (raios, ainda não discutimos o nome! :P)!
Agora, tudo o que nos resta fazer é preparar tudo o resto... numa semana! ;)

Strike 2

Yes, it took us all this time to get the second visa! Just like the Russian visa (see Strike 1 post), the Mongolian visa proved to be a challenge to get. After a lot of research and calls to multiple travel agencies and national offices we still had no definitive information whether we needed, or not,  a visa in advance! Taking the safe course we decided to arrange it anyway.

You may wonder "Why not do it anyway?, that would save you time or potential worries along the trip?". You are perfectly right and that was why, at the end we have done it. The problem is that there is no Mongolian embassy in Portugal and we would have to do it in the French Embassy! :/

Mailing our passports was not something I was thrilled about, and it got worse when we saw that it would cost us each around 50€ more to do it through a visa agency (there was no other way to do it)!
With a deep breath and praying (an atheist kind of pray) for the return of our beloved ones we shipped them to Paris!

Yesterday, after two weeks, we got them back, safe and sound with a new addition to their pages :)
Here is mine!

So now the score is: Bureaucracy 0 - Trans team 2!! (we still have to debate the name :P)

One curiosity is that all three Visa were stamped on page 9 which is considered in Mongolia a number that brings luck. I hope they're right! :)

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Sim, é verdade. Levámos todo este tempo para conseguir o segundo visto para a viagem! Tal como o visto Russo (ver o post Strike 1), o visto para a Mongólia provou ser um verdadeiro desafio! Depois de muita pesquisa e telefonemas para agências de viagem e instituições nacionais ainda não tínhamos uma informação definitiva sobre se era, ou não, obrigatório ter um visto antes da viagem. Optando pela opção mais segura decidimos fazer o visto agora, de qualquer das formas.

Podem perguntar-se "Mas porque não fazê-lo sempre antes da viagem, poupando tempo e evitando possíveis chatices durante a viagem?". E têm toda a razão e foi por isso mesmo que, no final, mesmo pensado que se podia fazer um visto na fronteira, que decidimos tratar já do assunto. O problema é que não há embaixada da Mongólia em Portugal e isto teria que ser tratado na Embaixada Francesa!

Enviar os nossos passaportes por correio era algo que não me deixava muito entusiasmada e com a notícia de que nos ia custar, a cada um, 50€ a mais fazê-lo por uma agência de vistos (a única forma de o fazer) o entusiasmo ficou ainda menor! Depois de respirar fundo e rezando (uma reza ateia) pelo regresso dos nossos queridos passaportes, enviámo-los para Paris!

Ontem, depois de duas semanas, eles chegaram, como novos (até tivémos direito a capas protectoras) e com uma nova adição por entre as suas páginas :)
Aqui está o meu!

Então agora o resultado está: Burocracia 0 - Equipa trans 2!! (ainda temos que debater este nome :P)

Uma curiosidade interessante é que todos os três vistos foram colocados na página 9, que, ao que parece, é considerado na Mongólia como um número da sorte. Espero que assim seja! :)

Strike 1

And finally, at the end of multiple tears, sweat, and many, MANY hours... here it is!!! The first of many yet to come:

Yes, the Russian visa inaugurated my new passport and it's a beauty! :)

Bureaucracy 0 - Trans team 1! Humm, Trans team might not be the best name for us to call ourselves... Siberian team? Intrepid team? Maybe we should schedule a meeting to discuss such a serious matter!

Ok, coming back to the visa... It filled me with pride and joy when I had just left the Russian consulate and eagerly looked for and found this reddish page! And it is not exactly for what it stands for in the future, but because of what it represents from the past!

Russians are not the most tourist welcoming people of all and they let it show pretty clearly! A strict paper work is only topped by their "welcoming" to the tourists at the consulate... outside! Yes, getting inside is a privilege not accessible to everyone. Only to those who have shown worthy and have waited outside, watching the sun come and go. Fortunately, we belong to that small group of people!

There were 10, ten, TEN hours of waiting involved! Outside! But when Vitor (the Russian consulate own St. Peters) opened the door to us, it all felt like it was worth it! Not really... but almost. Getting the passport back, now a bit heavier, did the rest :)

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E finalmente, no fim de várias lágrimas, gotas de suor e muitas, MUITAS horas, hei-lo! O primeiro de muitos:

É verdade, o visto da Rússia inaugurou o meu novo passaporte e é fantástico! :)

Burocracia 0 - Equipa Trans 1! Hummm, Equipa Trans talvez não seja o melhor nome que podemos arranjar... Equipa Sibéria?, Equipa Intrepid? Talvez esta decisão tão importante entre na ordem de trabalhos da próxima vez que nos encontremos! :P

Ok, voltando ao visto... Quando sai do consulado Russo foi com um misto de orgulho e alegria que procurei ansiosamente pela página avermelhada! E não este mix de sentimentos não foi só devido ao que ele representa no futuro, mas principalmente pelo que ele conta do passado!

O povo Russo não é o mais receptivo a turistas e eles mostram-nos claramente! O processo burocrático bastante rígido é apenas superado pela "recepção" dos turistas ao consulado... ou melhor, às portas do consulado! Sim, entrar é um privilégio acessível apenas a alguns, apenas aos que se mostram merecedores de tal e esperaram cá fora observando o Sol ir e vir. Felizmente, nós pertencemos a esse grupo pequeno de pessoas! ;)

Ao todo foram 10, dez, DEZ as horas de espera necessárias! Cá fora, obviamente! Mas quando o Vítor (o São Pedro do consulado da Rússia) abriu a porta para nós, foi como tudo tivesse valido a pena! Bem, não exactamente... mas quase. Receber o passaporte de volta, agora um pouco mais pesado, fez o resto! :)