Travel to Russia

[GoblinCrazyy]

Help please.

Hi Folks,

I have been following this forum in recent months while I was traveling and I have found this extermely useful for all kinds of info!

But now I am faced with a challenge. I am traveling to this place called Yuzhno-Sakhalin. Unfortunately despite my best of web searches I am unable to find a single website or forum which provides info about escort service in Sakhalin.

I know its a rural island in russia, but I was disappointed to see that no escort service is there in this island! (I hope I am wrong). So dear friends, kindly provide me info on any kind of service available in sakhalin. Or any experiences that is worth sharing!

[EastGoing]

Update on the immigration form. As I reported in my last post, if you fly to Moscow the Moscow immigration people have a scanner which produces your immigration card filled out. You don't have to fill one out beforehand and, in fact, they don't give them out on the plane anymore.

I think I can confirm. On the airplane I wasn't given any papers and when I landed in Moscow they took a few minutes to give me a very little paper, which I didn't even look at carefully, if I remember right it was something about goods to declare and / or cash over 10000 euros. They put it in the passport and that's where I left it. When I left from St. Petersburgh the officers took it back.

For those who have never been to Pulkovo, buy whatever and, above all, EAT before going to gates: once you are through you are fucked! There's a lilliputian bar with pratically nothing that takes only rubles. This means you may have to go back with all the hassle to ask officers and to repeat the security procedures

[Jake993]

I was thinking about bringing a few bottles of wine with me to Russia. Does anyone know if there is any problem with this?

Also, I am from the USA. I just applied for the 3 year multi-entry visa. Went directly to the consulate at the embassy in Washington, DC. No problems. 10 days later I had my visa good for 3 years, up to 6 months a year, as many trips as I want. $160 US Dollars.

Bottles of wine are not a problem. Either as carry on luggage or in your checked luggage as long as the number of bottle does not attract too much attention. If it is considered "for personal consumption" no one seems to mind. But if they think for one second that you are going to resell the wine for profit, all hell break loose. Doesn't matter if it's iPads or bottles of wine, customs does not want you making a profit off of what you are importing. I guess that crosses the line into "commercial activity".

[YummyPL]

I was thinking about bringing a few bottles of wine with me to Russia. Does anyone know if there is any problem with this?

Also, I am from the USA. I just applied for the 3 year multi-entry visa. Went directly to the consulate at the embassy in Washington, DC. No problems. 10 days later I had my visa good for 3 years, up to 6 months a year, as many trips as I want. $160 US Dollars.

[GoblinCrazyy]

Hi Folks,

I have been following this forum in recent months while I was traveling and I have found this extermely useful for all kinds of info!

But now I am faced with a challenge. I am traveling to this place called Yuzhno-Sakhalin. Unfortunately despite my best of web searches I am unable to find a single website or forum which provides info about escort service in Sakhalin.

I know its a rural island in russia, but I was disappointed to see that no escort service is there in this island! (I hope I am wrong). So dear friends, kindly provide me info on any kind of service available in sakhalin. Or any experiences that is worth sharing!

[ExpatNLookin]

AHAHAHA ARE YOU FOLLOWING ME?

Ya I mean skin, so you know russia too? But you live in Dubai right? Well I'm more of a Thierry Henry color, not black. Anyway. Do not seems tempting to me anymore to go there.

Yes I know Russia too, yes I live in Dubai, I am not even as dark as Thierry Henry, but again in Russia, you, me and Thierry Henry are all considered "negro".

[Member #4180]

1) There are a lot of scams. And a much greater number of genuine wonderful girls. Use your common sense, stay alert and everything should be fine.

2) Moscow IS expensive, no matter what. But Dubai is not a piece of cake either. If you stay away of expensive restaurants (forget about wine.) and trendy night-clubs, the rest is more or less ok.

3) I know some brown skin people living in Moscow. They will not beat your head in every corner, if you know what I mean, not by any chance, but at some places, with drunk Russian men around, and ESPECIALLY if you are with some white Russian doll, you can get a little bit of harrasment. AND if enough of bad luck, you could get into some rather unpleasant situations.

But if you avoid strange places, dark allies, and semi-empty bars, at 5am, you should be fine. But, by all means, STAY ALERT and be cautious. Russian men, specially while drunk, are not very fond of seen "their" women with foreigners. Dark or not. BUT if you are dark, it is a good enough excuse for some good fight. Don't flash out your Russian doll while in this situations. Silly, but wise.

Salud, and happy hunting. SF.

1) I dropped my conversation with 2 girls, I didn't feel really comfortable with them.

But I continue to talk with a real stunner and a mother of one. Very good looking too. Both of them really genuinely likes me. The stunner makes some effort for me, re-learning english for me every day.

I am 100% sure there is no scam.

The stunner is ready to come here end of may if I don't go there (actually she prefer to come than I go) , of course, it implies I send her a ticket. I may do so as I really like her, I am just afraid of the real barrier language as her english is very limited.

Has anyone experience such situations?

For the mum of one, living between minsk and moscow, I told her to come over too, she wanted us to go istanbul for 3-4 days but I denied. She is more independant and won't ask me to send any money or tickets. YES I AM A GREEDY BASTARD AT TIME.

3) Well, I think I am not ready to go and spend my money in a country where in 2013 you can get trouble just because you brown or black. I will just have those girl to come over here, or go to russia if few friends want to come over with me maybe. But I won't go alone.

You confirmed what I was thinking, it could be even worst if I am with a Russian stunner, they could go even more easily mad.

Not that I can't defend myself against 1 or 2 guys if I needed to, but I'm really over those weird situations.

Thanks for your feedbacks!

[Member #4180]

Go to Al Ain center and buy a white "screen". LOL sorry could not resist. I know you must've meant "skin".

Well, being a darkie myself, I know first hand that we are not very much welcomed in CIS countries. If your bad luck leads you to cross paths with a drunk company of Neo Nazis, you are screwed.

AHAHAHA ARE YOU FOLLOWING ME?

Ya I mean skin, so you know russia too? But you live in Dubai right?! Well I'm more of a Thierry Henry color, not black. Anyway. Do not seems tempting to me anymore to go there.

[Skwiskwis]

Update on the immigration form. As I reported in my last post, if you fly to Moscow the Moscow immigration people have a scanner which produces your immigration card filled out. You don't have to fill one out beforehand and, in fact, they don't give them out on the plane anymore.

However, today I flew to StPb via Amsterdam and the immigration card was given out on the plane with instructions to fill it out and present it to the immigration officer. I ignore the customs form.

And so I can confirm the automated immigration card so far only works in Moscow. Definitely not working in StPb as of 5. 40pm today.

In either case you still have to register, although it's actually the responsibility of the owner to register you now. Hotels of course do this as a matter of course, but if you rent an apartment it's the responsibility of the owner to register you and if she doesn't and is caught she can be fined a goodly amount. I know this as a fact because I had an unfortunate incident involving the police late at night in stpb and even though it had nothing to do with the altercation as such, the police checked where I was officially registered, noticed I was staying with a girl at a different address, and so they called the owner of the apartment the girl was renting and called her down to the station and and fined her 35000R. Calamity of errors to say the least. Outrage was the word of the night and next day.

And yes, it's 7 days now, not counting weekends and holidays.

[Spanish Fly]

Just arrived in St Petersburg and have something new to report regarding luggage and immigration. The two part immigration form was NOT passed out on the plane and there were none in the immigration area and when I arrived at the immigration officer she produced one herself and simply stamped it and gave me one part. Seems you still have to carry it around and return it when you leave, but you no longer have to complete one yourself prior to your passage thru immigration.

Baggage. I flew from NYC to St Pb via Moscow. I was told in NYC to "Pick up your bags at St Pb." And, as in past trips, I translated this to mean, 'Pick up your bags in Moscow, go thru customs, re-check your bags, and collect them in St Pb' (I was flying to Pulkovo 1, which is the domestic airport and it does not have a customs area for luggage. Like flying to the US to Omaha, via NYC, you have to go thru customs at your port of entry). Anyway, when I arrived in Moscow, no bags! I asked at the desk and was told "They are on the plane for St Pb." So it seems now they really will send your bags to St Pb even if you stop in Moscow first. And in St Pb I simply picked them up from the carousel and left the airport, no customs at all. Strange. And finally, in another strange development, there were no Russian airport officials at the baggage exit in Pulkovo 1 causing a major back up as they tried to match baggage claim tickets with the bags.

Still a little shocked as they have actually made it a little easier to enter Russia.

Wow. Six months out of the country and they changed all this wonderful pleasantries? .

I have had experienced the no-immigration from before, last year. But only in some airports (in Krasnodar it was like that, but not in Moscow). At least in my case it was actually the very SAME immigration card, but now they have a wonderful thing call passport scanner, and they deliver a pre-printed version of it that you have to keep inside your passport as usual (and subject to OVIR registration, etc.). However, during 2012 they also changed the number of days that you can stay in the same city without needing to register. Double-check, anyone, but if I remember properly, now it is 7 days instead of the typical 72 business hours since arrival.

The baggage thing SOUNDS great, great, great. (Because of my job, I always carry SO much luggage). Can anyone else confirm that this is also true in other airports (SVO, DME, etc. And not only in PULKOVO?

Now, the best next-thing would be to get rid of the stupid visa-registration duty, and THEN, the visa itself. One step at a time.

Happy hunting.

SF

[Spanish Fly]

Dear all,

How are you?

I am in a situation where 4 different girls are inviting me to moscow, including 2 I actually know from where I live (in Dubai) and 2 girls I have never seen but chatted with on mamba?

1) is it dangerous you think to go and meet and live at the place of a girl I never met? Is there some scam going on?

2) Is moscow expensive if you do not pay hotel? (For example, transportation within moscow, a medium restaurant or cinema for 2.)

3) Is moscow dangerous for a guy with brown screen? I am from western europe but I am not white, and I am so sorry to say, but in our country Russian people has a little bit of a rascist reputation. (even if since I liv ein Dubai I noticed it seems to be bullshit).

1) There are a lot of scams. And a much greater number of genuine wonderful girls. Use your common sense, stay alert and everything should be fine.

2) Moscow IS expensive, no matter what. But Dubai is not a piece of cake either. If you stay away of expensive restaurants (forget about wine.) and trendy night-clubs, the rest is more or less ok.

3) I know some brown skin people living in Moscow. They will not beat your head in every corner, if you know what I mean, not by any chance, but at some places, with drunk Russian men around, and ESPECIALLY if you are with some white Russian doll, you can get a little bit of harrasment. AND if enough of bad luck, you could get into some rather unpleasant situations.

But if you avoid strange places, dark allies, and semi-empty bars, at 5am, you should be fine. But, by all means, STAY ALERT and be cautious. Russian men, specially while drunk, are not very fond of seen "their" women with foreigners. Dark or not. BUT if you are dark, it is a good enough excuse for some good fight. Don't flash out your Russian doll while in this situations. Silly, but wise.

Salud, and happy hunting. SF.

[ExpatNLookin]

Dear all,

How are you?

I am in a situation where 4 different girls are inviting me to moscow, including 2 I actually know from where I live (in Dubai) and 2 girls I have never seen but chatted with on mamba?

1) is it dangerous you think to go and meet and live at the place of a girl I never met? Is there some scam going on?

2) Is moscow expensive if you do not pay hotel? (For example, transportation within moscow, a medium restaurant or cinema for 2.)

3) Is moscow dangerous for a guy with brown screen? I am from western europe but I am not white, and I am so sorry to say, but in our country Russian people has a little bit of a rascist reputation. (even if since I liv ein Dubai I noticed it seems to be bullshit).

Go to Al Ain center and buy a white "screen". LOL sorry could not resist. I know you must've meant "skin".

Well, being a darkie myself, I know first hand that we are not very much welcomed in CIS countries. If your bad luck leads you to cross paths with a drunk company of Neo Nazis, you are screwed.

[Member #4180]

Dear all,

How are you?

I am in a situation where 4 different girls are inviting me to moscow, including 2 I actually know from where I live (in Dubai) and 2 girls I have never seen but chatted with on mamba?

1) is it dangerous you think to go and meet and live at the place of a girl I never met? Is there some scam going on?

2) Is moscow expensive if you do not pay hotel? (For example, transportation within moscow, a medium restaurant or cinema for 2.)

3) Is moscow dangerous for a guy with brown screen? I am from western europe but I am not white, and I am so sorry to say, but in our country Russian people has a little bit of a rascist reputation. (even if since I liv ein Dubai I noticed it seems to be bullshit).

[Stravinsky]

I was wondering if it could be a good idea to come there with the zloties, instead of making 2 convertions, zloty- euro euro-ruble

EG,

Zlotys are pretty much worthless in Russia. Even if you could find a bank that would be willing to buy them, they would give you a terrible rate.

Your best bet is to change them into Euros, or Dollars, before leaving Poland. Check the exchange rates and see which is the most favorable for you.

[EastGoing]

Hi guys,

Currently I'm in Poland with zloty. Next month I'll come to Russia for a river cruise. I was wondering if it could be a good idea to come there with the zloties, instead of making 2 convertions, zloty- euro euro-ruble, I could make directly zloty-ruble. As of now I know the rate is about 10 zl= 98 rub. Can you tell me about a bank or a kantor in Moscow, possibly not too far from where the boats are, that gives a good exchange rate? I mean, if it's 98 and they give me 90 obviously it will not be good, but if it works the same with a change euro-ruble than it still would be a better option than going through 2 conversions. In a couple of days I'm going back home and I need to find out quickly. Unfortunately the cruise company seems uncapable to handle this request.

Thank you in advance.