TRAVEL

For foreign participants

You are responsible for all travel arrangements to Russia, including procurement of a visa if necessary. A visa must be obtained from a Russian Embassy or Consular Office in your country of residence.

Please be aware of the following visa-related procedures after you register for the workshop:

• The local organiser, Dr. Alexandra Petrunina, will email you a travel form that you must complete and return. The form will indicate that you are applying for a Humanitarian Visa (this visa is issued to foreign citizens traveling to Russia for religious, humanitarian, political, sports, and scientific purposes).
• After Dr. Petrunina receives a travel form from ALL registered foreign participants, she will include the forms with her request to Moscow State University for official invitation letters.
• Once Dr. Petrunina receives the invitation letters (likely in mid-July), she will email you one to include in your visa application package. To avoid disappointment and unwanted delays, do not apply for a visa until you receive an invitation letter!

NOTE: You will not be issued an invitation letter (and visa) if your passport expires before April 2020. Furthermore, the Humanitarian Visa typically allows visitors to stay in Russia only 4 days before and 4 days after the intended purpose of the visit, but this can be adjusted upon request. So if you plan to have an extended stay in Russia, then make sure to enter your entire travel period on the travel form AND explicitly notify Dr. Alexandra Petrunina (as.savchenko1@gmail.com) to modify the dates in your official invitation letter.

Traveling to the WSBS

The WSBS is in an isolated location, accessible only by boat. Furthermore, there are no direct flights to Poyakonda, the gateway town to the WSBS. Due to the remote location of the WSBS, the workshop organisers strongly advise all participants, foreign and domestic, to travel together in a single group. The plan is to travel:

• from Moscow to Kandalaksha by train,
• from Kandalaksha to Poyakonda by car and
• from Poyakonda to the WSBS by boat.

All participants will need to meet the local organiser at the Moscow Leningradsky Railway Station at 11:30 PM on 26 August, 2019 for the 12:41 AM departure on 27 August, 2019 to Kandalaksha. You will receive a train ticket if you had selected the "Registration plus round-trip train ticket" option on the Registration form (see Registration page for more info). Otherwise, you will need to purchase a train ticket upon arrival. One basic meal (breakfast or dinner) is included in the price of the train ticket. Additional food items may be purchased at a store near the Leningradsky Railway Station, at the train's restaurant car, or from local vendors at select stops along the way to Kandalaksha. Free hot water for tea is available on the train. The journey to Kandalaksha will take approximately 30 hours. After we disembark at the Kandalaksha Railway Station on 28 August, 2019, we will travel about 1-2 hours by car to Poyakonda where we will board the vessel for the 1 hour ride to the WSBS. The transfers between Kandalaksha and the WSBS will be organised for you as part of the basic registration package.

Returning from the WSBS

We will depart the WSBS between 5:00 to 6:00 PM on 4 September, 2019 and arrive at the Kandalaksha Railway Station in the late evening. We will relax at a local restaurant before departing at 1:20 AM on 5 September, 2019 for Moscow. The train should arrive in Moscow at 6:50 AM on 6 September, 2019.

NOTE: You have the option of disembarking at the Ladozhskiy Railway Station in St. Petersburg at 10:16 PM on 5 September, 2019 rather than continuing on to Moscow.

If you wish to travel on your own to Kandalaksha or Poyakonda, or wish to disembark at St. Petersburg on the return trip, please notify Dr. Alexandra Petrunina (as.savchenko1@gmail.com).

Flight delays may negatively impact your connections so we recommend you allow extra time and purchase travel insurance.

Additional travel information is provided in the two documents below.