In april 2014 i made the decision to drive with the trans-mongolian railway to Beijing. Nobody from my friends wanted to join me so I started my search in the internet. I found an Swiss guy on the website joinmytrip.de. We talked on facebook and made the decision to meet in Moscow on 14th of august. We searched for an Russian travel agency for the train tickets. We got them quickly and start from Moscow on 18th of August arrival in Yekaterinburg 20th of August. Departure from Yekaterinburg 21th of August and the finally arrival in Irkutsk on 24 of August. I wasn't sure if i get the visas without an travel agency so i started with the Russian visa first.
After 2 weeks i got the Russian visa without any problem after that i got the Mongolian and Chinese visa 2 weeks later. (As and European this was the last month you needed an Mongolian visa). So after that i thought nothing could go wrong and i can start my trip on the 14th of August, wrong. Because i was traveling without my girlfriend i made an beach holiday in Tunis with her. At the passport control in Tunis he didn't look at my passport and just stamped in. And you know what he did yes. He stamped my Russian visa. As he realized what he just did he said no word and gave me the passport back. I was angry 2 days of my holiday but then i thought i can't change it now. Back in Austria i contacted the Russian embassy and they didn't know what too do ether. So they talked too higher ranked persons and they said i have to change the visa. I had only 2 weeks left until my flight to Moscow and therefore i hurried to get the passport to the embassy in Vienna. The Russian were waiting for my Passport i think and so i got it back after 2 days. New Visa was in and so i could start the journey. 
Ps: Let me know if you are interested and if i should write more about this experience. Dominik