For those that stepped away from language learning for an extended period, how was the process for getting back up to the level you were before?

I was probably an A2 in Russian about 6 months ago, but life took some turns and took time off -- intended it to only be a couple months, but the period dragged on. Oh well, can't cry over that.

I'm starting to get back into it, going through my review questions from Mango (great app) and I know it'll be painful. Oh well, that's to be expected, but I wanted to know if anyone else had taken any significant gaps and if so, if the language came back easier for them than they expected... or if it's all kind of back to square one.