Expired Visa in Belarus | My Adventure at the Border of Belarus

My Belarus
Welcome to an extraordinary travel…

Expired Visa in Belarus | My Adventure at the Border of Belarus
Author: admin | Category: Belarus, Your Stories

Expired Visa in Belarus

[ In this section we publish Your Stories, send us your travel experiences, adventures, tips, information from your trip to Belarus, email: info@mybelarus.net]

It was 15th December, I was in Belarus and later that night I was catching a flight from Vilnius to London. At 14:00 I took the bus from Minsk to Vilnius, the duration of the trip is 4 hours so I knew I would arrive in Vilnius at about 17:00 (there is an hour time difference) and I would have plenty of time until 21:45, which was my departure time.

Arriving at the border we gave our passports for control and a few minutes later the officer tried calling my bizarre, for him, last name. I stepped out of the bus not knowing what they might want and to my disappointment he informed me that my visa had expired on 14th December (a day earlier). I could not believe how something like this could happen to me because I was sure that my visa was supposed to expire on the 15th. I tried apologizing and saying that the strong Russian vodka made me forget about it to make him laugh and sent me on my way, but instead he spoke to the bus driver and few seconds later – after taking my luggage – I saw the bus leaving. They drove me to the general’s office where I tried to explain my situation that it was actually a mistake and I thought that my visa would expire on the 15th. They were polite enough and offered asked me to sit while the general officer was trying to write some information about the incident on his computer. He asked me some questions (but the communication was very poor since I don’t speak Russian and he didn’t understand a word of English) about my job and my purposes of travelling to Belarus. Soon enough the “conversation” became friendlier, I was trying to explain the financial crisis in Greece and he was trying to learn some English words J After staying 2-3 hours in his office they told me that I had to go to another small city (Ashmyany) to extend my visa and then I would be able to leave the country. They also informed me that they would transfer me there so I didn’t worry…… much, and finally after half hour of waiting outside a bus came for me. I didn’t know which stop was mine but fortunately the driver helped me.

After 15 minutes drive the bus stopped in the middle of nowhere – on the national road – and told me with signs that this was my stop. I was looking around to see some light but nothing, I could not refuse to get off and so I did. Fortunately a gipsy got off at the same stop so I asked him to tell me where the police was and without speaking English at all we managed to communicate and I started following him in the dark night. During our walk and with my poor Polish I understood that his father was Lithuanian, and his mother lived in this small town and he came to visit her. After 20 minutes walk we arrived at the center, we found a police vehicle and I asked about the police station. They told me that the police was closed at that time so with a big disappointment, I asked my gipsy friend, by now, to help me find a place to sleep. He didn’t know the city but asking around some people in the street we managed to find a small soviet style hotel, the only one in the town. He helped me register and communicate with the old receptionist. The hotel was really cheap, 5 EUR, so trying to thank him I also offered him 5 EUR for his help and I tried to invite him for a beer later but as I understood he wouldn’t be able to come into town as he lived in a village quite far from the center.

My room was a real soviet style room, the style that I like of course, just I left my things at the hotel and went for a search of some food, I was so hungry after the adventure I had, but the only restaurant in town was just closing so after walking twice up and down the main road I found a small pizza kiosk opposite the bus station which made me and my stomach very happy. I ordered a pizza with salami but my bad luck continued when the girl told me in Russian something that sounded like no, I then tried to change my order to what the previous customer had ordered, a sandwich, but she showed me her watch and she told me no again. I understood that shop would close in 5 minutes so I decided to buy some crisps and a chocolate croissant to make me forget my hunger. I sat on a table outside and I saw with great surprise another customer ordering and getting his pizza. I was so angry, but i decided to retry so i went in one more time to ask for that pizza. She showed me the bus just opposite the kiosk, which was ready to departure and then I realized what happened. She was thinking that I was a passenger on the bus that usually stops in this small town for just 5 minutes and she was trying to tell me that there was not time to prepare a pizza in 5 minutes. Everything was solved and I finally I got my pizza. With my stomach full and tired after an unbelievable day it was time for bed.

The next day, I took a taxi to the police station; I went inside an office where two friendly police women sat. After a few minutes of aimless tries to explain my situation and with no luck at all of being understood, I called my friend from Minsk to speak to them and make the translation for me. In the end everything was arranged for me J they gave me a paper and they informed me that I must go to the center of the town at the Belarusian Bank to pay the equivalent amount for my visa, 77000 BYR (6 EUR) and the visa would be extended for 2 more days. After paying the amount I returned to the police where they prepared the visa for me and stamped it on my passport. We then started “talking” a bit about the financial crisis in Greece and the current financial situation in Belarus, which is also very bad. Half an hour later I left the police station, went to the bus station and caught the first bus to Vilnius. When I arrived at the border they looked at this handmade visa and they started asking me some things, soon they realized what had happened and they let me leave without any more questions.

As it was expected I had lost my flight to London but at the end I was pleased with what had happened because I took it as a sign and returned to Belarus for 1 more week.

How to get there

From Greece there are not direct flights to Minsk but you can find many connecting flights through European cities. From Cyprus there are direct flights to Minsk only from Larnaca, the schedule is operated by Belavia. The airlines that carry out flights from Greece and Cyprus to Minsk are: Lufthansa, LOT, AeroSvit, Aeroflot, more specifically:

Athens – Minsk:
Lufthansa (via Zurich)
LOT (via Warsaw)
Austrian (via Vienna)

Thessaloniki – Minsk:
Austrian (via Vienna)
Belavia (via Vienna)
Turkish Airlines (via Istanbul)

Cyprus (Larnaca) – Minsk:
Belavia (direct flights)
LOT (via Warsaw)
AeroSvit (via Kiev)
Aeroflot (via Moscow)

All above mentioned airlines land at the international airport Minsk-2 (find more information below). When making plans for a holiday trip to Minsk it is better to make a reservation as soon as possible in order to find cheaper air tickets. Many airlines promote cheap flights and announce special air ticket offers for reservations made 1 or 2 months prior the departure.

Search for cheap flights and special offers to Minsk through Aerobileti.com

National airport Minsk-2

Airport Minsk-2 situated 50 km away from center of Minsk. It is quite small airport, but it can offer all modern services for the tourists. There you can find café and restaurant, shops, duty free shop, bank, money exchange, ATM machines and of course ticket desks for flight reservations. Various buses as well as taxis connect the airport with Minsk.

Buses

Bus station is situated outside the airport’s arrival gates. There you can catch a bus or small transfer that is going in Minsk from 06:50 until 00:00 every hour. The journey lasts approximately 60 minutes and the ticket cost about €0.5. Tickets can be purchased from the bus driver.

Taxi

There are many taxis outside the airport’s exit. But a lot of them can be illegal. Make sure that it is a legal taxi before you board or negotiate about price before boarding. Or inside arrival gates there is a desk of state taxi and you can take a taxi from there. Price will be about €30-40 and trip will take about 40 minutes.