There is little to no information here on the boards about how to prepare for a Russia trip, or even what to do when you’re there, so I’m going to go over what I’ve done so far to get ready.

First things first, as an American, you need a visa to enter Russia. I went through the whole visa process at the Russian consulate here in Rio. You can either get a business or a tourist visa. You are also required to have some sort of “invitation” in order to get this visa. The “invitation” can take various forms, including an official letter from a friend in Russia (tourist visa), a note from a Russian government certified travel agency (tourist visa) or an official document stating that you will be working in Russia (business visa). The annoying thing about the Russian tourist visa is that it’s only good for one or two entries and it’s pretty damn expensive for a “one-off” visa. A single/double entry tourist visa will set you back anywhere from $75 to $190 depending on how fast you want it. If I understand correctly, the tourist visa is only good for up to 30 days.

When I initially went over this information I was a little pissed. I like to book my own travel arrangements to maximize my frequent flyer miles. I didn’t want to use any kind of travel agency and pay fees and all that other crap. I spend hours online going through all kinds of itineraries to get the most out of my air time. Upon further research I discovered that you really don’t need to go through any kind of official travel agency to get your “invitation”. There are any number of “invitation” services on the internet that will write up a nice official letter for you for a nominal fee. I used a service that came recommended on another board http://www.waytorussia.net to get the visa support letter. Cost: $30. I sent them all my trip information, and the next day they emailed me the letter to print out and include with my documentation package.

One thing you have to remember with the Russian visa is that it’s only valid for the dates you apply for. You are not allowed to enter Russia a day before or stay a day after its validity.

I probably made a mistake in getting a tourist visa, for a few bucks more I could have a business visa with multiple entries for up to a year. The site above also prepares business “invitations”. Live and learn…

My routing on this trip is going to be GIG-GRU-JFK-ZRH-DME (In layman’s terms, Rio, Sao Paulo, New York, Zurich, Moscow (Domodedovo Arpt as opposed to Moscow’s other Int’l airport SVO). I got a nice fare of $859 from GIG-ZRH on AA with a two day stopover in NY, with confirmed upgrade to business class. I will be flying Swiss from ZRH to DME. Swiss wanted $800 for this little trip, but I found it to be a much better value to cash in 20k AA miles instead.

Accomodations

I remember when I first went to Rio I used a hotel, and all subsequent visits I rented apartments from Don. Well, I decided to go right out of the gate this time for Russia and use an apartment because decent hotels are pretty damn expensive. Although I haven’t decided yet which company I’m going to use, it’s going to be one of the following:

The site I mentioned above www.waytorussia.net comes highly recommended. Also, a very well respected American member of another board has just started his own apartment service in Russia www.moscow-star.com . The Moscow-star guy looks really promising and he offers a bunch of great things for the newbie to Russia, including dictionaries, laminated address cards for the cab drivers in both English and Cyrillic Russian. Check out the site, and you’ll see that he pretty much has all his bases covered. Prices for apartments range from $60 a night to to about $180 depending on length of stay and size of apartment. These rates are MUCH better then any kind of decent hotel in Moscow. Also, you need to take into consideration the “fee” you have to pay to the security guards to get the girls up to your room, or the fee the girls have to pay to leave.

I’m hoping to spend some considerable time in the P4P scene in Moscow, but I’ve been messing with ICQ for the last few months and I have about 45 girls on my buddy list that I’ve exchanged photos with and talk to all the time. I never once mentioned meeting these girls until the last couple of weeks or so. Pretty much all of them are dying to be my guide, show me around, and think I’m coming there to meet them. I’ve probably chatted up close to 150 girls, about half were skanks, others didn’t have pics, and the rest I’ve kept in close conversation. Most if not all conversations have taken on somewhat of a “romantic” turn as well.. This should prove to be quite interesting.

It’s easy to find them on there. Just do a search for 18-22, Russia, Moscow, Female, English. You’ll get thousands of profiles and girls to talk to. Just start sending “hi” out to all of them, chat about the weather or whatever, and don’t ask for a pic. 9 out of 10 times they will ask first. What I found really surprising is that most of these girls get professional shots done. I’ve never seen so many 6 ft tall blonde supermodel types in my life. I think the real hook is never ask to meet them. I’ve always waited a long time and said something along the lines of “I’ve always wanted to visit Russia, but I’ve been scared of not knowing my way around!” Gets them every time…

Anything I missed or any advice welcome!

More to come…

I'm jealous.

Well. I'm here.

I've been here about 3 days now. I';m in a "small" town about 4.5 hours north of Moscow called "Yaroslavl". It's been pretty uneventful, and the jet lag has been kicking my ass. After all my business ended yesterday I've been trying like hell to find some action. The language barrier here is fucking huge. I mean, when i was a noob in Rio, at least the alphabet was the same.. I'm completely fucking lost here!

So, when all else fails, what do you do? Try to find an english speaking cab driver... Well, I found one that barely spoke english but it worked. He took me to a dark alley with a car full of girls to choose from. 1 for $30, 2 for $60.. I'll give them a 6-7 at best. Performance, not bad. They were a little "soft" for my taste, but it was either them or the hand..

I'll continute this later.. I'm off to moscow now for the next 2 days and hopefully see some real action

Dood I hope the action picks up for you. Have a great trip buddy. See ya in Rio - Hemp

Dood, you should check with one of the Moscow Vets like Sandman!

Hey Dood you might want to read my recent report...some definite don'ts...
1) Don't buy a drink in any hotel bar in Moscow without first asking the price,especially if you are buying for company. I bought 3 drinks and it was $45 US.
2) Don't go to a girl's apartment, insist on your hotel. I went to an apartment and got drugged.
3) A Do..do take the time to go to the L'Ermitage Museum and the Kremlin, both are awesome.
4) Another do...take the subways, they are a trip. I timed it one time...on the escalator down to the platform was 2 1/2 minutes. You go waaaaaaaaaay down. There are small symphonies playing at stations...no shit, 10-20 musicians playing for donations. Also, do NOT get an english guide for the stations because it is useless, there is no english anywhere in the subway. Get a Russian guide, try to memorize a few Russian letters unique to your station and where you are going. If you get hopelessly lost, get off and show your hotel key or card to a taxi.
Besides getting drugged I had a great time in Moscow, and there are loads of pretty women.

Remember too, not to walk or take a taxi from the Kremlin to L'Ermitage. It might cut into your hobbying budget as the Kremlin is in Moscow and L'Ermitage is in St. Petersburg, some hundreds of miles away.

Ask any taxi driver to take you to Leningradskaya Prospekt for devushkas (DEV-oosh-kas)after it gets dark. You'll find outdoor lineups of as many as a hundred girls in the headlights of your car. Pay the man, probably $100 US or slightly less now, and they'll climb in your taxi for a visit to your apartment/hotel for a couple of hours. You'll have to give them some rubles for a taxi ride back.

There are 5 star hotels in Moscow. What is now the Grand Marriott has views of the Kremlin and is within easy walking distance of it. When under former ownership, no girl fee, no registration. A few high end hookers used to hang out in the lobby at night. Other lower tier hotels will have hookers in the lobby and after you register, you won't even have time to get your room door locked before the phone rings offering one or more.

Hmmm ... great advice for Moscow mongering. Don't forget to check under the Moscow listings here for some clues as to what to do. I am busy exploring Moscow at the moment to generate new listings for you guys.

BTW, the hotels are all full here!

Many thanks to SFHombre for correcting my stupid mistake. I meant to say check out the Bolshoi Theatre and the Kremlin.

A little hint for the "culturati" visiting Moscow. You can buy tickets for the Bolshoi outside the theater itself. There are any number of scalpers who hang out there during the day, and will sell you tix. Obviously it will cost you more than the Bolshoi ticket office, but only a fraction of what a hotel concierge will try and charge you. There are also lots of ticket kiosks up and down Tverskaya (the main drag) which sell tix to the Bolshoi as well as to the other main theaters in town. If you're meeting a "normal" girl in Moscow, she can buy them for you, of course.

I only had 2 days in Moscow and it was a mixed bag. I'm in NY now heading back to Rio tomorrow and I'll give a full report when I get back "home".

Make sure to post your Moscow reports under "Russia" and not here!