Have you been to Russia?

Soldato
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Would love to see Finland. I've done Norway and Sweden, but Finland seems interesting due to its proximity to the old USSR. If I was going to live outside the UK, my first three choices would be the USA (New England), Costa Rica, and France.
 
Caporegime
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Would love to see Finland. I've done Norway and Sweden, but Finland seems interesting due to its proximity to the old USSR. If I was going to live outside the UK, my first three choices would be the USA (New England), Costa Rica, and France.

If you visit Karelia (where my mum grew up) you can get very close to the old border. There's still the old guard towers there.

Beautiful countryside.
 
Soldato
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An interesting thread as Russia has intrigued me for a long time and I would like to visit one day. Admittedly Ive never known how to guage Russians though, so far I havent met the happy jovial type! Im sure they are out there.

The very first Russian I met was the captain of a Typhoon-class submarine and he was in full uniform (huge hat and all), very imposing and never smiled once....left an impression on me hahaha!

Really interested about checking out Sweden, Norway & Finland. Was really impressed with Denmark - would move there in a heartbeat if I could. Copenhagen is such a cool city and the people I met there were wonderful.
 
Soldato
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I'm in Moscow right now! It's a great place to visit with an abundance of culture and the nightlife is just fantastic, you would certainly be busy if u were here for a week. As someone mentioned earlier the demeanour of the russian people (muscovites at least) is very grim faced and unapproachable however, what is certainly true is that once you get to know them they are very friendly, funny and welcoming.

I lived here for a year in 2007/8 and really enjoyed it. It's quite different from the UK in lots of ways and some of the luxuries u are used to (like choice of food in the supermarkets!) aren't here although it is better now even than it was 2 years ago but that shouldnt put u off. I had never been to Moscow before and had no desire to come here but my company didnt give me a choice, turned out I loved it and when my time was up I asked to stay longer. I have been living in London the last two years and am trying to get transferred back over here for at least a couple of years and then probably on to try somewhere else ;)

EDIT: one drawback of living here is everyone in the UK thinks russia is too scary to visit! Then there's the visa issue so if anyone does visit (probly for a long wknd, it adds £120 to their trip and flights are rarely sub £300.
 
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Soldato
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Ive been to Moscow and Rostov-on-Don in the south near the black sea. The people in the south were really friendly, but only a handful i met could speak some english. Luckly i was with a lovely russian girl who i met in moscow, so it wasnt too bad.
I got the chance to visit a Cosack fort, its a brilliant experience and also attended a wedding and it was completely different to a UK wedding.
Having said all that i would never go alone, everything seems to be run by the mafia in moscow and you have to bribe the officials in the south if you want anything done ( like your visa stamped ).
 
Soldato
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If you visit Karelia (where my mum grew up) you can get very close to the old border. There's still the old guard towers there.

Beautiful countryside.

Been there. My mum reckons her family are from that neck of the woods.

Her family are dotted all over the place now but most of them are still near Jyvaskyla.

I am hopefully heading up to Kuusamo next summer to go fishing and drinking with a mate of mine.

Beautiful country. Lovely people.
 
Associate
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Was in Moscow not last Christmas, but the year before. Moscovites are the most depressing, angry, boring, humourless people I've ever had the displeasure of meeting. Awful place.

Ahleckz you tell it like it is, hated Moscow and even more so the little satellite towns around it. It's quite funny actually because we were leaving through Sheremetyevo, and I was going to buy a book of Russian history from the most ancient times, but it was 900R.... I asked the lady at the till what the conversion rate was to Euros or Dollars before paying by card so I knew how much it would cost in pounds....... Big mistake. She threatened to report me to the FSB for laundering non-Russian money!
 
Soldato
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lol i think that was the language barrier kicking in, she probably thought u were trying to use dollars/euros to pay which is illegal in russia and i imagine she would get in serious trouble if caught doing it at the airport.
 
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lol i think that was the language barrier kicking in, she probably thought u were trying to use dollars/euros to pay which is illegal in russia and i imagine she would get in serious trouble if caught doing it at the airport.

Nope, my first language is Russian so I doubt that was it :D

She started ranting about how she was a Russian woman on Russian soil and did not know or want to know anything about foreign currency and if I kept asking her she would report me (to the FSB, the replacement for the KGB...) my thoughts were "lolwut, ok you go do that you mad old bat!"
 
Soldato
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I'm in Moscow right now! It's a great place to visit with an abundance of culture and the nightlife is just fantastic, you would certainly be busy if u were here for a week. As someone mentioned earlier the demeanour of the russian people (muscovites at least) is very grim faced and unapproachable however, what is certainly true is that once you get to know them they are very friendly, funny and welcoming.

I lived here for a year in 2007/8 and really enjoyed it. It's quite different from the UK in lots of ways and some of the luxuries u are used to (like choice of food in the supermarkets!) aren't here although it is better now even than it was 2 years ago but that shouldnt put u off. I had never been to Moscow before and had no desire to come here but my company didnt give me a choice, turned out I loved it and when my time was up I asked to stay longer. I have been living in London the last two years and am trying to get transferred back over here for at least a couple of years and then probably on to try somewhere else ;)

EDIT: one drawback of living here is everyone in the UK thinks russia is too scary to visit! Then there's the visa issue so if anyone does visit (probly for a long wknd, it adds £120 to their trip and flights are rarely sub £300.

What company do you work for? Any vacancies?! :o
 
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lol i think that was the language barrier kicking in, she probably thought u were trying to use dollars/euros to pay which is illegal in russia and i imagine she would get in serious trouble if caught doing it at the airport.

Heh. When I was in Ukraine we paid for practically everything serious in dollars. The notes for the native currency - the "Coupons" were hilarious. I had some 20,000 coupon notes and they were worth about 2p. I took some of those out of the country with me, which is illegal.
 
Associate
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I live in Russia but unfortunately for you I'm in Moscow.

Is there snow on the ground in Red Square?

No, there was yesterday but it all melted last night. No more snow likely till the end of the week. Still really waiting for winter to start here.

I'm in Moscow right now! It's a great place to visit with an abundance of culture and the nightlife is just fantastic, you would certainly be busy if u were here for a week. As someone mentioned earlier the demeanour of the russian people (muscovites at least) is very grim faced and unapproachable however, what is certainly true is that once you get to know them they are very friendly, funny and welcoming.

I lived here for a year in 2007/8 and really enjoyed it. It's quite different from the UK in lots of ways and some of the luxuries u are used to (like choice of food in the supermarkets!) aren't here although it is better now even than it was 2 years ago but that shouldnt put u off. I had never been to Moscow before and had no desire to come here but my company didnt give me a choice, turned out I loved it and when my time was up I asked to stay longer. I have been living in London the last two years and am trying to get transferred back over here for at least a couple of years and then probably on to try somewhere else ;)

EDIT: one drawback of living here is everyone in the UK thinks russia is too scary to visit! Then there's the visa issue so if anyone does visit (probly for a long wknd, it adds £120 to their trip and flights are rarely sub £300.

Where in Moscow are you?
 
Associate
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Russia was always interesting to me... and my girlfriend is dying to go but I've not heard good stuff in regards to how women are treated. Also heard that its extremely dangerous for a girl to walk the streets at night without hiring a body guard? that is absolutely mental and for those reasons... I'm out
 
Associate
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Russia was always interesting to me... and my girlfriend is dying to go but I've not heard good stuff in regards to how women are treated. Also heard that its extremely dangerous for a girl to walk the streets at night without hiring a body guard? that is absolutely mental and for those reasons... I'm out

Where did you hear that? My wife walks around Moscow on her own without any problems day or night, I know lots of other girls living here who travel on their own all the time.

Like anywhere in the world you have dodgy areas but then that's just common sense. Honestly I feel safer here in Moscow than I do in central London.
 
Associate
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Where did you hear that? My wife walks around Moscow on her own without any problems day or night, I know lots of other girls living here who travel on their own all the time.

Like anywhere in the world you have dodgy areas but then that's just common sense. Honestly I feel safer here in Moscow than I do in central London.

I think he's worried about abduction for human trafficking, which is a risk, but its there in any capital city
 
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