[capetonianm]

Thanks, ConstantFlyer.
I’ve never had a problem or felt threatened in Russia but my sister is quite nervous about the current politics.
I’ll pass on your tips and wishes.

[Luc Jones]

Downtown Moscow is in fact safer than the majority of the world’s big cities; most newcomers’ biggest struggles are with the language barrier; England (& Chinese) signage is certainly on the increase but by no means ubiquitous. Rip-offs tend to be confined to unlicensed taxis and whenever foreigners do get into any scrapes, it’s almost always due to excessive alcohol (& local women)!

I’ve been happily living & working in Moscow for 20+ years & wouldn’t swap it for anywhere else; whatever you read/hear in the international media, either ignore it or believe the opposite. Incidentally I recently wrote a guidebook on doing business in Russia/CIS (titled “Why Russians don’t Smile”); here is the online version which you might find interesting:

http://antalrussia.ru/upload/medialibrary/6c3/wrds_3rd-edition_2017.pdf

[Cedric_Statherby]

I have fallen foul of the question on “countries visited in the last 10 years” before, so I now keep a spreadsheet permanently updated. There was a time when it was 25+ countries a year, many with multiple visits in the 12 months, and when I submitted the list to embassies I got more grief for taking the mickey than if I had simply lied and filed a selection of them.

The “countries in 10 years” question is pointless because the authorities cannot check whether it is answered truthfully. Travellers who are worried about having been to a given country causing problems at another one, for example, have always got round this by having two passports or simply not having their passport stamped. But then the whole visa and immigration process is full of stupid questions. The US authorities still ask on every visa and ESTA application whether one was a member of the Nazi party. Quite apart from the fact that you would need to be in your 80s now to have been a member of the Hitler Youth even, does anyone even think of answering Yes to that?

[Cedric_Statherby]

Back to the main theme of this thread …

The last time I went to Moscow I was with with a Russian colleague, and he decided to show me how to get a lift in the city. As many will know, Moscow is a city with notoriously few official taxis, but nobody minds this because almost anyone will stop and offer you a lift for a couple of hundred roubles, and as my colleague explained, all one had to do was wait by the side of the road looking like one wanted a lift, and cars would queue up to see if you were going their way.

So we did, and he was right, as within a minute a large grey car stopped, and the driver wound down the window and asked (I presume) where we wanted to go. We concluded the discussion and agreed the price, and were just about to get in when I stopped and pointed out to my colleague the word on the side of the car. Militsiya, it read – the local police. “Oh that’s quite all right”, he said, “they’re just as much in on the taxi game as everyone else!”

[KennyK14]

@Capetonian – no worries at all for your sister & her hubby to visit. As mentioned by ConstantFlyer, August is really quiet in Moscow (in relative terms!), and easy to get around. A. must is to use the Metro, but Uber and Gett work extremely well in Moscow and St. P., and in many ways the easiest way to get around by inputting your destination in English, if you have no Russian.
I can also highly recommend Luc’s book on why Russians don’t smile – I read it years ago, and he’s absolutely on the money. It’s not a travel book, but a great insight into the Russian psyche.

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