Getting a Travel Visa ...

To get a travel visa in Russia you first need to get an invitation to go to Russia. (I imagine, but can't prove, that this is a historic tradition going back to the days when people traveled with letters of introductions). Invitations can be requested for a fee from hotels, travel / tour companies etc. for a small fee. If your invitation comes from a hotel it will only be for the period of your stay in the hotel and your visa will also be limited to that period. You can't string 5 hotel invitations together into 1 visa (not that you would want to since you pay a fee for each invitation). This forces the traveler to use some type of travel planner. I'm not sure how I feel about that. While it would be nice to have everything done for me, I don't tend travelling in a group, being dependent and paying for the privilege. On the other hand, India was hard.