Things that must not be consumed in the underground in Russia. Cigarettes, spirits and ice-cream. Seriously. WTF?!?!
Ooh speaking of which I might be coming to russia at some point next summer.</p> Probably moscow, then try to fit a few days in st petersburg depending on cash.</p> Whats it like for getting visa's? I could do with booking flights early while its cheaper, but you can't get visa until 3 months before. Is there any problem getting a visa assuming you have all the appropriate docs?</p> And what about Moscow, any tips, and ideas on what to see and do?</p> And any idea of half decent but reasonably priced hotels?</p> Any help, much appreciated...</p> cheers. </p>
RE: Ooh speaking of which Visa will be fine as long as you have the appropriate docs. Would recommend doing it through a firm rather than directly with the consulate as it saves on hassle even though it costs 30 quid or so more as they get your visa invitation and will fill in all the forms for you. As for Moscow, have only been once and thought it was a shithole. A friend of mine is working there at the minute though, so me and the missus are off there for a weekend in November, as have found some cheap flights and I think I should give it another chance. Check www.s7.ru for flights between the two cities. Anyway, hopefully will find some decent places there and will be able to give you better advice than "it's a shithole", which isn't really very helpful! A couple of words of warning though - it's incredibly expensive and people will be out to rip you off left, right and centre. And the other thing, NOTHING is written in Latin script there as far as street signs, metro stations, maps etc are concerned, so if I were you I'd take a couple of days to learn the Cyrillic alphabet. It really isn't difficult and it could save you a lot of trouble.
RE: Ooh speaking of which Had already bookmarked http://www.russiadirect.net/. I figured letting them deal with the crap would be easier, and they can sort your official invitation docs etc.</p> GF's dad works out there, and we would be meeting up with him, so hopefully he has some clue with the russian language, although I had planned to do a bit of learning and get some of the basic greetings etc. He doesn't know moscow though which is why I asked about the hotels. Haven't really looked in depth, but some of the prices I found were extortionate, although GF's dad was going to ask about hotels through his work.</p> cheers.</p>