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VISA
Patience and time are the two keywords
to get the Russian visa. The steps are:
-
in
www.getrussian.com
you find the forms to get the invitation ($30
(nov2010)). In the form you've to indicate the
itinerary. I wrote one completely different than
the one I did, but in the visa it's not specified
so it seems what you write doesn't make a difference.
I wondering what's the purpose. You'll recevied
the invitation and the voucher by email; print
them.
-
Book on line on the website of the
consulate (Russian
consulate in Milan) the appointment for the
visa paying 2.7€ by credit card and inputting
all your passport data
-
Take
such documents to the nearest russian embassy
or consulate. Don't forget to bring all the other
documents they request: passport, photos, sanitary
insurance (if you don't have you can buy at the
consulate for 2€ per day), flight tickets.
Pay an amount of money depending on the days you
can wait for the visa (in Milan for 1 day €
250, for 8 days €30) than you can go and
get it.
-
Do
you really think is over?? Nooooooo, you must
register your presence once you are in Russia
by 72 hours. You can do in a hotel or, like me,
waste one morning doing it in an agency in Moscow,
which address you must request to the agency who
sent you the visa. Of course it costs!! $20 for
two registration, but at least it took few minutes.
MONEY
The currency is the Russian Ruble
(1€= 42 R). You can change
almost everywhere against € or $
GUIDE
BOOK
I used Lonely Planet 'Russia Asiatica
2009 (translated by the english version 'Russia 5th
edition March 09)'; in Vladivostok we stayed in a
low budget hotel (in the centre) not listed in the
guide, I guess the didn't such deep researches, anyway
it's still a helpfull travelmate
OUTFIT
To venure on a winter travel in Siberia
outfit is definitely the main point where to invest.
So we did.
- Boots:
Canadian Boots + thick socks (sometimes also foot
heat producers)
- Pants:
leotard + fleece pants + ski pants
- Body:
thermal shirt + wool shirt + sweater + warm jacket
- Head:
balaclava + nr 2 caps + nr 2 neck-covers
- Hands:
two pairs of gloves (sometimes also hand heat
producers)+ pre-gloves
I know
Western are not used, but fur is definitely the
most appropriate material for the outfit. The problem
is that if you buy, you likely never ever wear in
your life
TRANS-SIBERIAN
TIPS
ABOUT
RUSSIAN TRAINS AND STATIONS:
- 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 (if they speak
english)
- 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 31st
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
2009/2010
|
Price |
Class |
hours |
| Ulan
Ude- Irkutsk |
650rubl
=15€ |
third
(platzkart) |
9 |
| Irkutsk-
Vladivostok |
1800rubl
=42€ |
third
(platzkart) |
71 |
- On
the train you'll get sheets, pillow case, mattress
case and towel. The pravadnitsa will give you
them and ask them back.
- Third
class (paltzkcart) is safe, don't hesitate to
travel in
- 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
- NO,
you cannot buy one ticket Moscow- Vladovostok
(for instance) getting off from the train to stopover
on the way. If you want you need two separate
tickets!
FOOD
ON TRANS-SIBERIAN
On th
train there'r no shops despite a Russian shuttling
along the train with a trolley where you can buy:
biscuits, beverages (water, fanta, cola) pre-prepared
soup (just put boiling water). Anyway dont count
too much on it since choice is very limited or none.
Hence counting on the samovar (typical russian pot
to heat the water for tea and coffee) bring:
- A cup
- A plate with fork
- A knife
- Tea
bags
- Pre-prepared
chinese soups (just pour boiling water)
- Fruit
- Chocolate/
biscuits/ snack
- Bread/
ham
- Water
Usually
the train has 20min stops around every 3-4h, so
you can get off and buy stuffs, but in many stations
we didn't find anything and getting off at -30C
can be a pain.
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