My First Trip To Russia

Hello Everyone,

Iam planning a trip to St.Petersburg Russia to meet a gal I met off here at LP. Any advice as far as how much cash to take? Where to stay? How to cope with the first time of flying overseas alone. Rusian customs? Stuff like that. Thanks

Hello Todd,
Russian customs
you are legally allowed to bring 1 litre of alcohol and 10 packages of cigarettes

Registration
According to the law all foreigners visiting Russia should be registered in special authourity. How to do that ?
It depends on the visa type you have- business, private invitation or tourist. I have a feeling private one and business one are not your case.
So in your case while flying you will be offered by the crew to fulfill Immigration Card. You should fulfill this paper (it contains usual information about the traveller). While passport checking an officer will put a stamp on it. When you check in the hotel they should take this paper together with your passport - to organize a stamp of his special authourity. Please, take care of this piece of paper. It will be required to be shown on the way back. The loss of this paper means troubles with leaving country. Please, take of yourself while travelling and good luck

Todd, Good luck from me too
almost have no any contributions to the information

know only that the weather in St Peterburg is very unpredictable..can be raining often and starts suddenly...but I was with visit at the end of the August
how much money depends on - the place you are going to live
the tickets to the musiums for foring persons cost more than for russian... I've heard that usually girl goes to buy the tickets but you have to stand silent not always works because the control checkers are skill already to see such tricks
A LOT of walking be ready

sorry "for foreign person"
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1 min to edit the text is not enought if to use vocabruary - seems it was more time before

Thanks for the replies!! Sounds like St. Petersburg weather is alot like Alberta Canada weather very unpredictable . Well I look forward to going to Russia! November will be the month as I love the cold and I love snow!!

I think it is more difficult that what has been described. I read this page:

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_t ... quirements

It says you need an entry and exit visa, you need to register, and you even need a transit visa if you are changing planes to go somewhere else. Can anyone clarify?

And even more information:

http://www.russianembassy.org/Embassy_e ... _visa.html

Hello,

"first time of flying overseas alone" ????

Maybe you should ask your girl some of these questions.
For instance, she may be able to help searching for accommodation.

Best regards,

Luis

For my purposes I did extensive research and this is what I found.

It isn't easy. There are a lot of ins and outs, registration, forms etc.

I have decided to take one of two routes

1) Use the hotels visa service. Book at least one night and they will assist you in getting the visa. I am working through this now because I have time. It is also the cheaper option.

2) Use a service recommended by the Russian consolate. http://www.russianembassy.org/Embassy_e ... neral.html The advantage is you don't have to go get it in person, it can be done through the mail. I would not use a service other than the ones they reccomend.

If you do it on your own and mess it up, the consular fees are not refundable. That is up to 250 USD depending on how fast you want it.

This seemed like a good thread to address travel. There have been many messages on the womens forums about having your lady set up travel. I have been thinking about for months and have formed an opinion. Again, this is just my opinion.

My advice on setting up travel is, handle as much as you can on your own without your lady's help. There are a couple of reasons for this.

1) You are just getting started in the relationship, you have no history together. You are essentially asking a stranger to set up a trip for you with no compensation.

2) You come across as lazy, incompetent, or helpless. These three are a relationship killer.

Either way, you send a bad message to your lady. I think questions and discussing what you learned about the process are OK, but do not ask her to do any of it for you. I wouldn't even accept if she offered. She will already be your translator, caretaker, host, guide, and your lover. Don't turn her into a travel agent.

Do read the Anti-scam Guide - there is also this third reason. Do not feed scam.

I completely disagree. I once went to Ufa by myself and I stayed at the hotel where my girl made the reservation. She actually picked me up at the airport and took me to the hotel in her car, and never thought that I was lazy or anything else. And we talked about VISA, but I found out an easier way, so finally I did it by myself.
Just two adult people talking about the details of the trip, not big deal.

By the way, I bought an invitation letter for US$30 in :

http://www.waytorussia.net/RussianVisa/

They faxed it to me, I presented it in the Russian consulate and they gave me the visa. Very easy.

I think the process varies by country. The US visa request form is twice the size of yours. I found several reports that the invitation could not even be faxed, it must be the original. I go to the consulate in the next few weeks so I will let you know how it works out.

On the rest, it is just my opinion. A lot depends on the lady and what she is comfortable with. My opinion came from what I learned reading the complaints on the womens forum.

To kalki1970


Thanks for the advice it makes alot of sense to me! I asked my lady about her helping me find a hotel she had no probs with that. She is also picking me up at airport. I also agree with what some other people say yes you have to do your research. Thanks again for all replies.

Good luck, rockford75. I hope she is the one you are looking for

I am glad that you asked her, because she is also interested in you, and I am sure that she will be very happy to help with the trip details. The way I see it, you are both, together, already building something, a story together. She is not just a spectator waiting for you to act in the stage. She is part of the play. Both are.

Good luck again.

Luis