Good news and bad news

Wow, what a day! The first half consisted of my sister's wedding festivities. We got up at 6:30 to get our hair done, and the day continued from there. The wedding was beautiful, and I expect to have some photos soon.

I managed not to cry during the wedding at all. Then I got home and my visa was waiting for me on the kitchen table. I opened it up, and...





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See that date saying September 24th? That's the entry date. But I was supposed to arrive in St. Petersburg on September 22nd.

I had been so pleased with the travel company for being prompt, and here was this big, glaring mistake. I have never had any trouble with a visa like that before.

I am not sure where the glitch was...it's possible that you have to wait a certain number of days after the visa is issued to actually enter the country. Usually it is only about 1 day, but the rules may be different with student visas.

Anyway, regardless of what went wrong, there is no changing the date in a visa. It's not like you can get a note saying that that there was a mistake and to please let you in the country two days early.

Meanwhile, all the relatives were starting to arrive back at our house for post-wedding socializing. I managed to get on the phone with British Airways, and they did have a seat available on Wednesday, arriving (legally) on Thursday. My parents are going to the airport that same day, so we can carpool.

So I went back downstairs to see my relatives. I am really glad that I didn't know about this issue before the wedding! I had enjoyed myself, fully expecting that everything was fine. Now I guess I will just have a few more days to pack and catch up on sleep before traveling.