Introduction:
While my writing lacks the style of many of the great trip reports that I’ve read in the past on these forums, I have enjoyed reading many of your trip reports so much, that I thought that it’s probably about time that I paid my tithe and wrote one of my own. I'm not using my usual login to post this report for the sake of plausible deniability should the wrong or right people every read this post.
For this trip I have used an Agency in Togliatti named VolgaGirl.com. The agency is American owned, which I think seems to be a common attribute of many of the better agencies. In fact, Dave the owner purchased VolgaGirl from another American after he met his wife using that Agency.
I'm at an age where I feel comfortable with women in the 28 to 34 age range, and I often date American women in this age range so I feel very confident in all of my meetings with the ladies I've chosen. I'm a person who believes firmly that if you couldn't date her here, then you shouldn't date her there. however, don't get me wrong in that on average, the women I've dated in the FSU are more attractive than the American women I've dated, but that's as much a product of the FSU women being in better physical condition than anything else. I would like to add, that in the 28 to 34 age range that Togliatti has far more attractive women who seem real and sincere than many of the other places I’ve traveled. Togliatti is a smaller city, without as many tourists as the larger and easier to travel to cities, so many of the ladies seem much less jaded from bad experiences with western men. This is more evidence that taking the path least traveled might produce a better and more desirable result.
As for my method of introduction to ladies, I started writing about 3 months in advance to a few ladies who I thought might be good prospects. At about 2 weeks before my departure I had about 4 solid prospects, but based on my past 2 trips to Ukraine, I knew how quickly you can sometimes go through 4 girls , so I spammed out about 12 more letters to ladies about 2 weeks before I arrived. Keep in mind that in a small city that few of the ladies will have easy and daily Internet access, so don’t expect a quick response from every lady that you write to in a small city.
I arranged my meetings with the ladies meeting the ladies I had written to the least to meet first. My reason for this is that it would be much easier for a lady I written to only once to accept a short meeting with a possible follow-up meeting later in the week than a lady that I had formed more of a relationship with over a few months of letters would accept me seeing someone else before I see her again. The ladies that I had sent only an introduction to I scheduled at 4 hour intervals, scheduling the ladies that might be the best matches first. The ladies I had written to for a couple of months I scheduled for a full day, with the possibility to shift my schedule to spend the next day with her too. Each of my best prospects I had informed that this trip was only to make certain that we have as much of an attraction in person as we did in our letters, so we will have no more than 2 days together, and if we decide that we are a good match, then we will schedule a future vacation together for a longer and more romantic time together. None of the ladies knew the day I would arrive or depart from their city, and while it’s difficult to be vague about such a thing, if you’re meeting several ladies in the same city and don’t want to burn a lot of bridges, then I’d suggest against giving too many details.
Day 1 Saturday:
I arrive in Samara after the usual 20+ hours of travel. The airport is very small and not well kept, even by Russian standards. As I entered the baggage claim area, which doubled as the arriving flights area, I was met by Helen from VolgaGirls.com. Helen’s English is very good and throughout my stay in Togliatti, she and her staff did a very nice job of making certain that I had the tools necessary in order to have successful meetings with the ladies. After a 2 hour drive from Samara, we arrived at my flat in Togliatti at about 7pm, and after a quick shower and shave, I was off to meet the first lady. She was 30 and without children and she looked much younger than her age, but she was not my type; a little too flamboyant and carefree for my conservative taste. We had a nice dinner and talked for maybe 3 hours before I returned to my apartment at about 11pm. I was pretty tired but was unable to sleep. In the past I had worked to change my sleeping habits so that I could sleep during the night, but since most of the restaurants don't open before noon I felt like I could stay on US time and it might serve to my advantage for late-night activities.
Day 2 Sunday:
My day 2 meeting wasn’t until noon, and my Sunday noon lady was nice, but I didn’t find her attractive in person, but we talked for about 3 hour until it was time for my next meeting. These ladies have taken a lot of time to get ready and sometimes spent over an hour traveling by bus to come meet us, so I think that it is correct that we take the time to talk and be friendly even if we immediately see that we're not attracted to the lady. My next meeting was at 3pm and this lady was 34 and has 14 year old daughter, and she is very very attractive. However, my main hesitation with her is bringing what will by then be a 16 year old child to America, and whether the lady will truly be interested in having another child when she is 35 or 36. We talked for a few hours and arranged to meet again at 9pm that night after my 7pm lady because I really didn't have a lot of expectations for my 7pm lady, but I soon discovered that I was so very wrong because the 7pm lady was very very attractive. As I talked with the 7pm lady I continued to look into her eyes because she was so very attractive, but then I would hear what she was saying and decided that I wasn't very interested in her personality. It was a difficult choice to not pursue her further.
At 9pm I met the 34 year old again and I wish that I had time to see her again. She had what I consider the perfect body and a very attractive face, but I doubted it will work out on this trip to see her again, so we agreed to correspond and see how things develop. In retrospect, I don't think that I could have spent the rest of the week in Togliatti without seeing her if she was the right one for me, but she is one of the types of ladies that will probably come to mind on occasion that I wonder what might have happened if I had made the time.
Day 3 Monday:
Monday I had no plans during the day so I was able to sleep in and go to the VolgaGirl office to check my email. At 6pm I had a date with a lady who was 25 who was very very attractive, no children and excellent English. However, I soon discovered that she seemed a bit self centered and self important, while acting like I’m the man of her dreams. The date ended after we made plans to see each other again the following night, you know the whole big head little head issue we all have.
Day 4 Tuesday:
Tuesday is the first day I’m meeting a lady that I’ve exchanged a lot of letters with, we’ll call her L1, and based on her photos and letters, I wasn’t certain if I would be very attracted to her; I was very very wrong. I think that I had based my low expectations of some of these ladies based on the airbrushed photos that have been to my demise at some of the other agencies that I‘ve used, but what I re-learned this trip is that if a girl can look decent in a home taken Russian photo then she has a good chance of being very attractive in person. We talked for about 5 hours before I had to leave, but we scheduled a meeting for the following evening. She wasn’t happy that it would be so long until our next meeting but she agreed to meet me again. Tuesday night I met the 25 year old again, and when she entered my apartment she laughed and complained about how poor taste the person who decorated the apartment had, point and laughing and different things around the room. Regardless of whether I agreed with her opinion, I found her to be completely without tact, and once my mind took control of my actions once again, I knew that I would not see her again. I wasted an evening that I had known from the start would be a waste, just because she was very attractive, and I found myself wishing I'd saved the time to meet another lady or spent more time with someone that I liked better. As it turns out, she wasn't even the most attractive lady that I would meet.
Day 5 Wednesday:
It is now Wednesday and I’ve already shifted my schedule because of poor judgment with the 25 year old, but I’m meeting another lady for lunch on Wednesday that I’ve exchanged several letters with (L2), but was actually hoping that I don’t like her so that I can start clearing up my schedule for L1, but I liked L2 too. L2 and I talked for about 5 hours before I had to leave to meet L1 again, but before we parted, we scheduled another meeting for the following evening. I made an excuse about being tired, which she saw right through, but she accepted my excuse so that we didn't have to confront the reality of the situation. L1 and I met that evening at 6pm and had a nice dinner and then went back to my apartment to talk and spend some time alone together. I asked her to meet me again Saturday night and she agreed. My plan was to see the other ladies in my schedule and then finish up the week with L1.
Day 6 Thursday:
I met a very nice lady that I had corresponded with at 1pm and we enjoyed a good lunch and then walked back to my apartment to spend some time alone. I liked this lady very much but I still continued to think more about L2, who I was scheduled to meet later that night again. I met L2 that night for dinner at 6pm with her daughter, and then we went to a toy store because I wanted to buy a toy for her daughter. I had been exchanging letters with this lady for over 2 months so this isn’t unusual in my mind, and L2 was careful to make certain that her daughter didn’t select a very expensive doll. I also purchased a cartoon DvD for her daughter to watch while we spent a few hours at my flat. The present for the child including the DvD (which was more for me so that the child would be occupied while I talked with L2) was about $20. As I see L2 balance her attention to me with caring for the needs of her daughter I find that I become even more attracted to her.
Day 7 Friday:
L2 and I went to lunch today at a sports pub that is located in a local shopping mall, we spent about 4 hours talking and drinking tea, then she had to go home for a few hours to take care of her daughter. We met again at 7pm, she was about 10 minutes late, which seems to be standard for her. I asked her what time she needed to be home for her daughter, and she said that her daughter is at a friends house and that she may leave her there over night if we stay out too late. The restaurant had very good live musical entertainment for the whole evening, and then at 11pm they began to play dance music. L2 wanted to dance, but I know that the most positive aspect of my dancing talent, is that I can keep a beat, but that’s about it; fortunately, Russian men like to dance and most were worse than me so I was reasonably comfortable on the dance floor. The really good news is that L2 is one of those rare people who moves like she was born to dance, so when people looked at us they saw only her, and I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. Day 7 was worth the entire trip all on it’s own.
Day 8 Saturday:
L2 and I were up very late Friday night (actually until about 8:30 Saturday morning) so we both needed some rest, so she went to collect her daughter from the friend's home so that she could go home and rest, while I slept most of the day. We met again that evening at 5:30, she had her daughter with her and we went to one of her friend's birthday party. It was a small party of about 15 people and 4 children, and I liked that she felt comfortable introducing me to her friends. L2 had once again arranged for a friend to take care of her daughter for the evening so after we dropped off her daughter we had another evening together before my departure from Togliatti.
Day 9 Sunday:
At 4am the taxi called as I began to pack my bags and I could tell from L2's comments that she had a lot of doubt about whether I was sincerely wanting to know her better or whether this was just a short fling for me. She wanted to accompany me to the airport, but it was a 2 hour drive to the airport and I had thought that I would rather her not have to wait around the airport for me and then take a taxi 2 hours back to her home, so I took her to her apartment in the taxi before I departed to the airport. As I said goodbye to her I could see a lot of doubt in her eyes about whether I truly wanted to see her again.
After I returned home yesterday I sent roses to L2 and a letter telling her that I do want to see her again and see if our relationship will continue to grow.
