Paperwork's in...

So, I dropped off my passports (yes, plural, I'm traveling on my British *AND* my Canadian passports to save some time and money with the visa processing), and most of my paperwork, at Visa Connection in Vancouver earlier today... I still need to fax them my proof of medical insurance, which I brilliantly forgot in Victoria, and which is needed to enter Russia... Gonna have to do that on Monday or Tuesday... As soon as I can find the paperwork, though I think I know where it is...

It's a bit nerve-wracking to just *LEAVE* a pair of passports with a company, but these guys come very highly recommended (Thanks Brian !) so I'm not too worried... I should have my Canadian passport back on May 1, and my British passport back on May 23rd... Each loaded up with 3 visas... Russian, Mongolian, and Cambodian on the British one, and Chinese, Vietnamese, and Thai on the Canadian one. The Visa Connection people seemed to think this would be best, though I'm still not *QUITE* clear as to why...

I picked up a Thai visa as well because I figure if there's anywhere I'm going to want to just crash out on a beach for a while, it will be Thailand, and the last thing I want to do is get stuck with only a 30-day limit in the country... The Thai visa was pretty cheap, compared to the Mongolian and Russian ones at least, so I figure it's probably money semi-well-spent as an insurance policy, if nothing else...

The total bill came to just over $1600, for 6 visas, all with "level 3" or "level 4" expedited processing... If I didn't fork out the dough for em', it would take about 6 months, maybe even a bit longer, to get everything I need processed and such, AND I would have had to deal with 6 independent embassies... With these guys, it was 2 1/2 hours of paperwork, in one office in downtown Vancouver, so I guess it's a worthwhile investment as much for the convenience as the speed...

More updates as they come.