I suppose I probably thought Houston was just going to be another big city full of angry rude people. I'm happy to report that this was most certainly not the case. From personal experience I've found that in most big cities people tend to be rather ... we'll say cold. They could see someone getting raped in the middle of the street and just keep walking. "How sad ... oh well, not my problem." Maybe there are so many people are around they just expect someone else to help. Too bad all of them think the same thing. Regardless, my point is that I don't think I met a single unpleasant person while I was in Houston. From the minute I stepped off the plane at Houston Hobby airport to the time I reembarked, I have nothing but good things to say about this city.
First, I was nervous to use the bus system, having only used taxis before. That being said, the taxi fare to the Russian Embassy and back would have cost nearly $85 and that was certainly well more than I was willing to pay to get a ride about 10 miles. I would sooner walk, and I certainly had enough time to. However, I opted for the public transit with some trepidation. At least it would only cost me $5 to get there and back! Trying to make heads or tails of the map nearly gave me a migraine, but luckily a number was posted that you could call for trip planning. You just tell them your departure point and destination and they tell you which buses to take. I don't know if every city offers this, but that was awesome. The woman was incredibly kind on the phone, and during my trip I spent a good amount of time chatting with people at the bus stops or on the buses. The drivers were fantastically helpful and all in good spirits, and getting directions from random people on the street went better than I could have hoped for.
Unfortunately, since the Embassy was only available from 9am to 12pm, when I booked my tickets I had to buy a ticket the day before .. and in the morning. So I spent from about 3pm until 6am the following day sitting in the Hobby airport watching movies on my laptop ... which I luckily brought ... and luckily had movies on. So I finished reading the last chapter of 'The Master and Margarita', read a few chapters of 'The Sun Also Rises', got 3 chapters written, and then about 6am I caught the 88 bus to the downtown transit center, then caught the 35 to the embassy which didn't open for another 90 minutes. So I grabbed breakfast and Jack In The Box, a coffee, and sat in the cold rain outside until 8:30 when the woman at the front desk let me come in and wait the rest of the time.
A few Russian women came in that had some papers and other documents that they needed to have made official. Apparently I was not alone in not being able to reach anyone on the phone. All of them had the same story. They had called 10 times a day every day for weeks, had finally given up and just bought plane tickets. So far, this is my only real complaint. Why does the embassy never answer the phone? Anyways, once the embassy opened I was the first seated since I just needed to talk to the woman about my visa. All in all, the meeting took less than probably 5 minutes. I was actually kind of hoping it would be more complicated after all the trouble I went through to get there, but I guess I'm happy it didn't take long. But 5 minutes of my trip was dedicated to getting my visa whereas 2 weeks and several thousand dollars were spent in preparation for that 5 minutes ... meh. What can you do? This is Russia.
I took the buses back to the airport, waited another 9 hours, and finally got back to Panama City about 10:15pm. Had an exciting 4 hour drive back home, but that's neither here nor there. At least I got back home safe))) The woman at the visa desk advised me that I could pick up my visa in 3 days. She said she couldn't imagine any reason my visa would get declined, and was tremendously helpful and friendly. So ... I'm very hopeful about my impending trip. Especially since I already have the tickets. =P
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