Travel To Russia

[moNkaD8]

Please help.
Somebody travelled across Russia? How There?
I Am going to go here, advise, what route is better for choosing? Of what agency to take advantage? On the internet it is a lot of sites offering these services (gotorussia.com, russia-travel.com, 3btours.com, russia.com, etc.), but it were would be desirable to hear opinion of people which already there.
Thanks

[Buzzlightyear]

I used to work in Russia and travelled a fair bit around the country as a expat so I can be a bit biased -

1) Learn bits of the language or use the dictionary: 95% of the population do not speak English, if they do speak another language, it's gonna be more likely to be French. Russian Cyrillic is not difficult best way to learn is take a piece of paper and write down your ABC's on one side and the "equivalent" in Russian beside, it helps to some extend - e.g. PECTOPAH in russian when translated into English comparatively = RESTORAN (restaurant)

2) Your passport is your key to getting tickets around. Best way to travel is by train, they are really comfortable and because the Russians have extra wide gauge tracks , you will find that the trains do not have as much that annoying rocking from side to side. Train is cheap but you need to show your passport, even travelling within the country. Unfortunately it also means you have to fork out more Dengi - cash as you pay foreigner rates. Still cheap.

3) if you want to go to art galleries, concerts and etc, get yourself a local to go with you and get her to buy the tickets (you pay off course)! You won't want to end up paying foreigner's rates.

4) Dress simple and do not wear anything flashy - the mafia and small time gangs will target you. If not the Gai - pronounced Gai-eee, AKA Police will get into the racket to squeeze money off you. I was once taken for a 2 hour ride in their car. I had to act as if I didn't know Russian and eventually they dropped me off.

5) My experience, travel on a free and easy iternary, you'll see more. However remember to have your passport stamped everytime you land in a hotel or location (i think this still holds true). Without this stamp, whenever you get picked up, the police will question why you are there and where's your authorization. Locals have what tey call propiska, which is a travel document showing officials where they can travel too.

6) Get a diptheria shot before you go. It's rampant together with TB

7) Usually there are little if no take aways, so finding a cheap lunch or meal can be difficult. Little trick is to look for Theaters, factories and places where blue collar workers are generally employed. They tend to have canteens which is somewhere in the basement, can have a meal for next to nothing. Don;t forget to try Kompot, a drink made out of boiling fruits like figs and pears and apples and etc (i.e. whatever crap they can throw in). Beware, Russia usually churns out hard water and it will make for constipation, Kompot will do you fine cause you'll see the fruits still in chunks left in the glasses.

8) Bring alongst woolies bag, when you buy something, they do not give out plastic bags.

9) Tell someone you route and call to report back often, you could end up like me going off the beaten track and accousted by the local Mafia

10) Good luck and enjoy yourself:)

[CMB50]

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