Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen- You're Not in Kansas Anymore

So, yesterday I had everyone have the photo copy of their passport stamped because that’s what we had been told to do. This morning the Russian Immigration Officials changed their minds and said that a stamp wouldn’t be needed…….. and if hadn’t been for the fact they he was armed to the teeth and that I didn’t want to spend 20 years sharing a Siberian prison cell with a man called Boris the Butcher ………I would have punched him in the face.

This meant that yesterday we spent hours and hours stamping everyone’s photocopy and this meant wasted time for the guests and the staff…………and this was only part of the fun this morning. It started at 6:45am when the officials came onboard. Usually this means a few Immigration officers, one from Customs and maybe the Port Manager accompanied by a representative of the Agency who we pay to look after us…………so maybe ten at most. Today, in St.Petersburg we had a few more than usual……………..28 to be precise. I have no idea what they all did or who they were but I do know they were hungry as they devoured the huge tray of pastries we had prepared for them…………one man………….who had a green uniform and a hat the size of a massive frying pan on his head took half a dozen pastries, wrapped them in tissue and put them in his briefcase.

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