ESC could miss TECHLABS Minsk

17-5-2013 21:15

ESC Gaming ace Filip "Neo" Kubski has revealed that his team have encountered problems during their trip to Minsk for TECHLABS.

The Polish side had planned to travel to the Belarusian capital on Friday afternoon as they are due to tackle TCM-Gaming on Saturday at 18:00 in the final of TECHLABS Minsk.

However, ESC's players were stopped at the airport in Moscow, where they were about to board a connecting flight to Minsk, as they did not have a visa to enter the Russian capital.

ESC Gaming in a hurry to get to Minsk

HLTV.org knows that ESC have been given the option to take a flight back to Warsaw, where they can take the 21:10 train to Minsk, but it is unsure whether they will make it in time.

TECHLABS Minsk will feature just these two teams, with the winner walking away with the $3,500 cheque, while the runner-up will secure $1,500.

SAD

2013-05-17 21:15

fuckin visa.....only on east eu -.-

2013-05-17 21:17

7 replies

Russia or Belarus are not in eu

2013-05-17 21:20

6 replies

wat? learn geography

2013-05-17 21:41

5 replies

He's talking about European Union I guess

2013-05-17 21:46

3 replies

oh my fault

2013-05-17 22:02

1 reply

Not really, as he repkied to someone who said east eu and obv meant eastern Europe So maybe instead of learn geography you should've recommended him to learn deductive reasoning or apprehensive reading but you were right to call him out :p

2013-05-18 13:31

Union of European Socialist Republics fck this

2013-05-19 13:25

If you read it like eu=European Union, they are not. If you read it like eu=Europe, they are.

2013-05-17 21:46

2013-05-17 21:17

rotfl

2013-05-17 21:17

sad world no direct flies to Minsk

2013-05-17 21:18

-.-"

2013-05-17 21:20

nice :)

2013-05-17 21:21

The flights were from different airports or what? Why else they had to have visa for connecting flight? Lol

2013-05-17 21:23

They should have taken a cab from Poland.

2013-05-17 21:25

1 reply

actually not a bad idea. Its not soo long. Or a train in the first place.

2013-05-18 18:57

They saw the arms of Pasha, and though that he would be to damn big to border the plane.

2013-05-17 21:29

2 replies

2013-05-17 21:41

meh, bad one

2013-05-17 23:05

"ESC could miss TECHLABS Minsk" dAFUQ? cLy, Mantis and asmo are already in Belarus oO strux1 on facebook :D

2013-05-17 21:32

1 reply

I guess they would win by default if ESC didn't make it.Nobody wants it obviously.We want to see ESC crushed! (:

2013-05-18 10:47

Why even attempt the flight if they didnt have the visa. Poor management

2013-05-17 21:46

10 replies

i bet they just forgot..its normal.

2013-05-17 21:50

According to Taz's posts they didn't realise they needed a Russian visa to make the connecting flight to Belarus. Typically if you don't leave the airport, you don't need a visa for the connecting country. Don't think management can really be blamed for not knowing Russia's odd rules.

2013-05-18 03:17

7 replies

thats not odd russian rules, it is like in nearly every country that case. If you travel to a country that needs a visa, than you also need a transit visa for connection flights. Usually its cheaper than normal visas.

2013-05-18 03:35

3 replies

I've travelled extensively and have never come across this, not even when connecting in China. Certainly not in any European Union country - and I have one of the most restrictive passports possible.

2013-05-18 04:29

1 reply

Never heard of this either

2013-05-18 11:31

trust me, its odd! most of the other countries issues you a spot visa for 2-14 days :)

2013-05-18 05:45

maybe they had to switch airports?

2013-05-18 11:18

Didn't happened for us in 09 when we went Sweden-Russia-Korea, it was no problem and we didn't need a VISA for that :o

2013-05-18 14:06

1 reply

Again from Taz's facebook: apparently Russia considers flights to CIS countries to be domestic flights. I guess it wouldn't be a problem if you were on your way to Korea.

2013-05-18 17:43

airports are considered international space, you usually do not need any visa IF YOU STAY ON THE AIRPORT. That's what i've been told. Now that i (still) live in russia, nothing can surprise me, so at last i don't find it chocking :D

2013-05-21 09:47

wth? whenever i fly to Minsk, my connecting flight is ALWAYS from Warsaw. Why didn't they just take a straight flight?

2013-05-17 22:31

wowowo FIRST AND LAST FIRST PLACE FOR TCM ?

2013-05-17 22:45

GENIUS

2013-05-17 23:05

Bad planning and bad management - just not good enough.

2013-05-18 00:42

I don't understand. If they were travelling from Poland to Belarus through Moscow with a connecting flight, why would they need to have a visa to enter Moscow? They are not entering the country, just staying in the international area of the airport until the connecting flight...

2013-05-18 01:24

who cares?

2013-05-18 01:28

2013-05-18 03:24

Next time let VP or NaVi play :(

2013-05-18 03:24

1 reply

NaVi also had some travel difficulties in the past

2013-05-18 11:38

wut? that shouldn't be a problem if they don't enter outside the airport?!

2013-05-18 03:48

Update?

2013-05-18 06:40

Usually you can just write "IN TRANSIT" on your customs card and they let you straight through. I have never needed a visa for a connecting flight. But i believe different countries have different rules. However, if their connecting flight was more than a few hours i can see how this might be needed.

2013-05-18 07:21

the organizers say that the poles will be in warsaw in 3 hours. in warsaw they'll take a bus with belarusian driver and will be in minsk in time

2013-05-18 08:50

1 reply

smth wrong with my arithmetics - they must be on their way to minsk already

2013-05-18 09:42

anyone who says russia is the only country to require transit visas should try visiting non-eu countries at least sometimes... quite some countries require you to have a transit visa. the UK for example won't let you board a connecting flight w/o the transit visa if you're from their list of ~50 countries (which is mostly 3rd world countries, but China and Belarus are on the list too). I think you also need a transit visa in Canada and Norway too. Those countries are as first world as it gets. And no, they won't even let you remain in the international part of the airport. Russia does not in fact require a transit visa as long as you stay in the international part of the airport, HOWEVER if you're travelling to Belarus you DO need it because it's considered a domestic route. It probably has something to do with the so-called "united state of Russia and Belarus" (anyone who has been in moscow airports in the last 5 years has seen it).

2013-05-18 09:04

at first i wanted to say that ESC were stupid because they decided to travel by plane when they could've just taken a train, but then i checked the travel time between minsk and warsaw and was shocked... 11 hours, what the actual fuck? that doesn't even make sense, they probably have some of the slowest trains in the world lol.

2013-05-18 09:25

7 replies

500km + customs ~ 10h 60km/h train speed. Just average speed in exUSSR for train.

2013-05-18 09:45

4 replies

belarusian railway is the fastest in exUSSR, so at least 100 km/h i believe, max speed is 140 km/h for passenger trains here. just saying

2013-05-18 09:57

2 replies

lmao, Hamburg - Berlin takes 90 minutes, 300km ~

2013-05-18 17:17

1 reply

it's about average speed at non-highspeed rail. we ofc have such routes too

2013-05-18 17:36

Moscow-StPetersburg is 650km and it only takes 8 hours... no way the customs can take this long.

2013-05-18 10:10

train travelling to Belarus must change trolleys. In Belarus there are wider tracks, so the transition takes a while.

2013-05-18 11:49

Tracks in Poland & Western Europe are different than in CIS countries. When you're about to cross the Polish - Belarussian border you have to wait at least one hour for changing the chassis under the train. Tracks on east are wider than the western ones. Don't forget about the fact that Poland is the border of EU. Customs check every single train and look for things that are more expensive @ east :) It takes some time.

2013-05-19 19:59

One of the better 1.6 teams and definitely very long-lasting team. Can't seem to get anything right in GO.. Just wonder when they will retire or break up.

2013-05-18 09:49

why the HELL cant Russia just be banned when it comes to flights.. its ALLWAYS so much crap when you have to switch plane / take a new one from moscow.

2013-05-18 10:10