Thanks Coffeecup! I was just being stupid, I guess, not checking this beforehand, and planning better. I think the visa processing vary from country to country; the ones I got recently (for Asian countries) were more a matter of paying up... My "workaround" will be to apply for the visa in Ukraine, and spend a bit longer there, perhaps going to Belarus while waiting (their visa processing is really fast).Here in England we have lovely spring weather at the moment - hoping for more of the same in Easter Europe.