One thing still haunts Russia, and that is waiting in lines. Simple things in the West can take days or weeks here. More than once we waited in line for over an hour just to be told “Nyet” without any explanation or recourse.

Make all your travel arrangements, hotel reservations and theater bookings as far in advance as possible. Think twice about making any changes to your itinerary once you have booked. Consider using a travel or tourist agency to get things done right.

We spent 2 weeks trying (and failed) to get a Russian visa on our own in Egypt. We spent 2 days of our 15 day visa just on train reservations and a change of date for hotel bookings.

* * * Une chose qui n’a pas beaucoup change sont les longues lignes d’attente... Il n’y a pas d’information disponible autre qu’en russe. Il n’est donc pas rare d’attendre pendant quelques heures en ligne et pour se faire dire un “Niet” sec sans plus d’explication.

Il est donc preferrable d’etablir vos projets de voyage de facon tres precise avec l’aide d’un agent de voyage. De notre visa de quinze jours, il nous en a coute deux a attendre en ligne afin de changer une reservation de train et de chambre d’hotel.

Un pays qui requiers toute votre patience.

We were blessed to have found Alexei Fetisov at palladium@online.ru He can provide safe, clean and quiet furnished apartments in St. Petersburg for $25/night and up. He can procure theater tickets and also arrange letters of invitation and tourist and business visas. If you are interested in Moscow, he has partners there he can connect you with.

We can also recommend Julia Spiridonova at TurSovet in Moscow, tursovet@mail.ru She can arrange flights, trains and visa invitations to not only Russia, but all of the former Soviet Republics like Kazakstan and Uzbekistan.

Altogether we had a wonderful time and I recommend
the country to anyone with a bit of patience. * * * Somme toute, ce fut une belle experience. Nous sommes quelque peu decus de ne pas avoir pu visiter des villages recules. Je suis toujours a la recherche des dames vetues de noir et foulard a la tete comme dans les nouvelle de 18:00... Existent-elles toujours?