I just copied this from what I wrote in the Moscow section to keep it all together...

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.

Accommodations

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 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…

They ask me "were is my invitation" when i produced my passport for my visa at the Russian embassy in London.
But i had allready booked my flight,
So in the end there was a visa service Tourist shop nearby
who did both the visa and invitation
to go to the russia
cost £140

Thanks for the information. Sounds like a little red tape to get there. How long did the visa take to get once you had the invitation letter?

That's a damn good fare to Zurich from Brazil to USA to Zurich. And an awesome use of miles for your ZRH to DME flight. You sound like my kind of traveler. Thanks again for the helpful information.

Hey GF,

How fast you get it depends on how much you pay. I did the 10 day route and it was about $75. You can have it same day if you pay like $250

Check out the deals on www.aa.com.br All the europe flights are through the US. They keep the prices low to compete with the direct-to europe carriers from here. Double the miles for the same price! Gotta love that! Plus one upgrade is good for up to 3 segments, so GIG-GRU-JFK-ZRH costs only one upgrade cert.

Dood

Think of the miles that he got on the Brazil-Zurich rt through US. If he's still AA Platinum, then the Zurich-Moscow leg was basically paid for before he even got to Zurich. How many miles did you net Dood?

First one Rio pornographer claims to go to South Dakota, and now another claims to be in Russia. It's just so hard to trust anymore - I feel so used . It's hard to know who to trust anymore?

DG, I have ticket stubs

Mitch, I'm executive plat on AA, the roundtrip netted 36,868 miles. I try to go to NY once or twice a month to keep my status on AA and buy electronic goodies I cant get here.

Actually, the whole trip only netted 16,868, after subtracting the Zurich-Moscow flights right? That's still awesome though.

well yeah.. Earned 36,868 burned 20k

Thanks for the link to that site. Didn't know about it. Damn great use of the upgrade certificate. Hard to believe but even with all my traveling I didn't hit EXP last year and this year it's a toss up if I'll make it or not. I'm not the type that banks ff miles. I use them as I accumulate them. I also never do "mileage runs" but I'd sure do the trip you did.

GF,

I'm usually flying to a bunch of places I dont need to go in December just to cross the threshold. JFK-LHR is usually $199 at that time, so a few of those do the trick.