Travel professionals know that this is a resource they can not do without and many have successfully moved their retail business online, where everything is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Especially for me with my busy lifestyle, I like to plan my next trip at my convenience.

The perfect time for me to assemble my personal priorities is when my hectic day has come to a halt and winding down for the night. This would be also be right about the time when telephone customer service for most travel related agencies is closed for the day. And really, how can I sleep and wait another day to talk to someone when I am so excited about the prospect of visiting Catherine’s Palace and spending an evening watching the Russian Ballet for the first time in St Petersburg? How can you?

With the stricter passport and visa regulations ushered in 2008 for cruise passengers, just the idea of taking time off work and standing in line for four hours applying for a passport and visa to Russia at a government office does not give me a warm fuzzy feeling either. Neither does having to wait eight weeks or more waiting for the final paperwork to come in the mail!

I am a big believer in keeping my holiday plans fun and simple. This also includes the planning part before hopping on the plane that will take me to my embarkation cruise port. What I would just like to do is go online fill out an application and be able to chose to receive my documents within twenty four hours or perhaps between three to six business days. That is exactly what VisaHQ.com offered me, along with the an awesome feature that lets me track the status of my application package on their website or through email udpates. How convenient is that!