Getting Ready

I think I have my trip all lined up -- have plane ticket, hotel reservation, and mailed off my passport to some sketchy but confident sounding Russian outfit for my visa.  Still have to go through the mountains of documents I have submitted over the course of the last several months, to make sure I take copies of everything with me.  Packing for 3 days will be a piece of cake.

So what remains, is to get myself emotionally geared up.  I have to say that the delays and asinine paperwork requirements of the last several months have soured me a little toward the process and Russians in general.  Of course, this is somewhat irrational, b/c a lot of frustration came from bureaucracy here and there.... Nevertheless, I am kind of dreading the cold and unfriendly attitudes of Muscovites that I experienced last time.  Especially, b/c this trip there'll be a lot of stress and emotions (again).   I just have to remind myself (and I believe this to be absolutely true) that while there may be cultural differences, people are fundamentally the same everywhere, and not take the cultural unfriendliness personally.

As I was doing some reading in preparation for my trip, I read that Moscow has launched a big tourism campaign called wowMoscow -- trying to rebrand the city focusing on its friendliness.  WOW Moscow, really?  That's the quality you picked to focus on?  Kind of like Miami advertising its fantastic winter sport opportunities, or New York branding itself as small town America.