Russia travel tip

1. PREPARATION
     Visa
     Money
     Outfit

2. TRAVELLING
     Train
     Train tickets prices

3. SAFETY
      Drunks
      Street crossing
      Postcards

4. GENERAL
   

VISA: do you wanna travel as free as a bird? http://www.waytorussia.net

MONEY:

• Remember that Russia is not a low budget country to travel in. Of course is not like travelling in west Europe, but forget the south asian budgets! In two people, travelling with the pubblic means of transport, sleeping in the cheapest hotel and esting one time per the restaurant, it was about 35 euro a day.
• It quite easy to find place where you can change money. US dollars are always accepted and most of the time euro as well.

OUTFIT:

• looking the average winter temperature in Russia is quite scaring and thinking to backpack there even more. Trekking shoes with thick socks, leotard under the pants, very expensive thermal shirts under a sweater in turn under a warm swedish jacket, a cap (often double), a scarf (sometimes I wore the mask to shelter the chin and the mouth) and two pairs of gloves was my outfit. I've never frozen up apart from the hands every time I needed to take off the gloves, namely to take a picture or to show the passport that happens very often. But frankly I've been lucky since in such period the temperature was over the average (between -5 C and -12 C, left alone -18 C in Moscow the last day) so I've never faced the real coldness (luckily!). Hence, as I presumed, the hands and the feet are the most critical parts.

TRAIN:

• To buy a train ticket can be quite time consuming and irritating. Consider at least 2 hours and go equipped with a piece of paper and a pen. Remember you'll be asked of your train number and you'll have to show the passport. If you wanna travel in third class (plazkart) you must buy the ticket at least one day in advance. Don't underrate it; read the Lonely Planet session about the train tickets and the schedule, if you wanna halve the wasted time and your frustration in such operation! Alternatively if you can spend a bunch of dollars more you can have the ticket issued by any agency, I think often it's the best choice
• Watches inside the station and even immediately outside are set to the Moscow time wherever you are in Russia
• It's very important to be able at least to read the cyrillic and memorise the main word about the schedule (leaving, arriving, moscow time, local time). Lonely Planet is indispensable in it
• Train stations have the old name of the cities, I mean the name before the collapse of URSS. Hence instead of Yekaterinburg station there's Svierdlosk, and instead of Nizhny Novogorod there's Gork'ij
• Pay attention that in Russia train ticket prices depends on the period; considering the price of the first week of the year, they vary according to a coefficient from 0.90 to 1.3 (on the trains there're tables indicating all the details). August and the last week of December are the most expensive periods. prices depend on the period. The 31^st of December you can travel by train paying just half of the price you'd have paid the week before!!!!!! Below are the prices I paid in december/january 2003/2004

• On the train you have to rent the sheets, pillow case, mattress case and towel (30 rubls= 0.9 euro). The pravadnitsa will give you them and ask them back.
• Third class (paltzkcart) is safe, don't hesitate to travel in
• If you are used to sleep at the station, in Russia forget it. We tried unsuccessfully, because the police , used to kick out the drunks, control the station. Also to enter the waiting room you have to show a valid ticket for a night train
• One of the most irritating things queuing at the station to buy the ticket is to see the militaries skipping all the queue: however it's their right, so don't complain as I did
• The hotness and the drought inside the train especially during the night sometimes didn't let me to sleep. Be prepared with light clothes ready in you rucksack and a bottle of water
• Bring the nestle' small packs of coffee and a glass to have coffee for free on the train using the samovar (typical russian pot to heat the water for tea and coffee)
• If you'll get used of the tidiness and the rigour of the national russian trains, you'll get very disappointed getting one from or to central Asia: the are a mess, but at least people smile!

SAFETY:

• Watch out the drunks, if they aim you they can be a danger, in such cases smile and greet them getting further
• In the cities for pedestrian to cross the street is a danger. Take for granted drivers won't stop, and in the winter time when streets are covered by snow and ice the risk is even higher. In Moscow to cross large streets, I experienced "the group street crossing ": I mean people waiting at the side of the street till a big group is gathered, then they dare to cross. The problem is that it can take several minutes to the group to reach a sufficient number to discourage the driver to knock down pedestrians, so you must be patient. I wasn't and once I had the green light I tried by my own, but after few meters I had to run back
• Forget the postcards other than in Moscow, and, even here, for the stamp you must go to the post office. Do like I did: don't send postcards

GENERAL:

• Forget easy and cheap international phone calls, and don't use the mobile for them, I paid something like 3$ per minute!!!!!
• Remember: Russians usually seem rougher than they are, don't pissed off for them. Smile and greet anyway.
• Organise your belonging so that it'll be easy to remove your passport because you'll be asked to show it very often.
• Don't trust Lonely Planet as concers prices of the hotel and trains,I had the 2000 edition and turned out to be absolutely unreliable. On the opposite is a goldmine of info for the trains and for the cyrillic translations