Less than a week to go: Russia ready!

 Visa arrived! :-D

And I got my nails did:

We almost popped on a hammer and sickle design, but then understood it's a criminal offence to display this. Very political, these Russians! I'd rather not get jailed for my nail art so decided against it (though I did suggest to my nail technician that it would be great exposure for her!).

I also ordered a cash card (because it was advertised to me with 3% cashback for every spend overseas). Why the hell not, Cannyapp?!

I have insurance sorted, so, just left to do:

• Pack
• Print out Covid pass
• Check in to flight

Of course, in between time a fair amount has been happening...

"Mate… are you sure travelling through Russia at the moment is a good idea? X"

"Are you still going towards where there is a war going on?!"

"S…is it still safe to go 🇷🇺 🚌? xxxx"

"Hi Stacey.  I’m assuming you’ve cancelled your trip given current events?"

"It has just hit me that you’re going to Russia. Russia. Land of Putin. Can you still go there?!" 

(I like this last one because this person knows that if I can go, I will go!)

Basically, if I had a penny for every time someone asked me if I was still going to Russia, I'd be rich! 🤑

I'm feeling very loved and cared for and thank you all for your concern. We'll be following government guidelines, which are not currently advising against travel into Russia (and we'll be about 1,000 miles from the Ukrainian border - that's more miles than the length of the UK).

You may have seen that flights in and out of Russia have been stopped; it's a good job we're flying into Finland!

Before all of the fighting kicked off, Tony and I were discussing the possibility of getting across to Vladivostok in the first few weeks, so we can get the train along the Trans-Siberian Railway back to Moscow/Saint Petersburg. That would be incredible. We're pushing on with this plan, but will have to fly out of Moscow to another country to get home in light of the Aeroflots being pulled.

And, I guess, all of that depends on if we're actually able to get into Russia from the Finnish border... 

Tomorrow: Gatwick. Monday: Finland. Tuesday: Russia...?

Watch this space!