Agencies?

[spectris]

This theme has been beat to death, but heck I'll throw my 2-cents in anyway.  For those of you new to this, I’m going to lobby that agencies are GREAT - but don't bother with their web content till you get to the city you want to visit, just don’t do it - you are just going to waste a lot of time.  None of these women really believe you are going to come see them (99% of the men don’t) so they don’t update their status, photos, etc.  HOWEVER if you do actually go you can forget all the age, size, requirements, whatever fields you find in the web profile – it’s real life when you are actually there and some women will be eager to meet you and some will be terrified by the reality of it all.
Yeah, re-read that - forget about the profiles, the pix, etc. and just decide where you want to go and research the AGENCIES not the women.  Like life, the women on the websites come and go (real or scam), they age (my photo on this site is now 18 months old) and most of the info is pretty much BS or translated poorly.
[/size] With that said, agencies are an amazing resource for finding a woman - there is nothing in the US at least to compare.  **Disclaimer here** My experience is w/ mostly 30-something year old women only (w/ a few late 20’s by accident) so I can't speak for any other demographic, but I will guarantee you that if you are sincere about meeting someone - you can't beat an agency for giving you a jumpstart.  BUT, almost everything you see/read on the websites is old or marketing fluff.  Some here would call it scam, but really in my experience at least most of the LOCAL agencies are just businesses that struggle to make a buck like the rest of us and they tweak the truth a bit from time to time.  [/font]
[/size] So what to do?  My advice (based on the past 2 years and 5 trips of current info) is to just decide where you want to go and start communicating with the AGENCIES not the women.  All the photos are out of date, the bios are silly (best word I can think of) and none of the general info is relevant or important.  BUT, with that said - there is a sincere connection here between the agencies and the women.[/font][/size]  [/size]In my experience with UW that have the courage or spunk or whatever to actually go to the agency and take the photos and put themselves out there – they are very serious about this.[/size]  [/size]And the legit agencies are pretty much all owned/managed by sincere women who actually know the ladies on their site and when you are actually sitting next to them in real life talking they will tell you pretty much exactly who wants what and who you might be compatible with.
[/size] But, they are like everyone else, they need to make a buck so they push the edges put up photos that are out of date, tweak the bios, etc.[/font][/size]  [/size]At the end of the day, the agency is very much a business and the $35-60 meeting they charge you is their revenue stream and who doesn’t want to maximize it?
[/size] My advice after a few trips is just GO.[/font][/size]  [/size]Go to Kiev or Luhansk or Kherson or Cherkassy and work with the local agencies in advance and I guarantee you will at least get a shot at meeting the kind of woman you want. After that, it’s up to you and her right?
[/size] As a final aside, I have gone to dinner with 2 of the women that I see are being  promoted on THIS site tonight J.  Amuses me for some reason J
But, if you are serious – JUST GO…[/font]

[spectris]

Aaarrrggghhh, sorry about the line spacing - the new MS Word is beating me down!

[Faux Pas]

Aaarrrggghhh, sorry about the line spacing - the new MS Word is beating me down!

Why do you use Word?


Overall there Spectris that's good advice IMHO although nothing earth shattering. Of course it could be great advice as I never been to Ukraine to know. Seems to be the kind of experience you can't really learn until after you've done it?


Much of what you mention is 10 commandment stuff. "Don't fall in love with a photo" can't be repeated enough for newbies. I would question your apparent "love affair" for lack of a better word with the agencies though. Agencies are but another avenue to meeting ladies. Usually, the more expensive of options. Granted, for the first time traveller a very viable and easy one. It should be mentioned for those willing to invest the work and the time, agencies aren't needed.

[spectris]

I use Word because the text editor on this site freaks out after about 2 paragraphs (at least for me) and I write for too long


But I would respectfully disagree about the agency thing.  If you are 40+ and just show up in Ukraine, you are not going to have a very good experience - no matter how out-going or confident you are - its just way different there.  Again, I'm speaking about meeting women over 30 - the 20-somethings are worthy of a whole "nother" post or PM if anyone is interested!  A 30+ year old woman works long hours and takes care of her family in the other waking hours - she doesn't go out to clubs or restaurants or whatever, you will never meet her - simple as that.


I honestly believe the "agency" business model would be viable here in the US if someone wanted to do it.  Sure, there are sites for rich men to meet gold diggers (sorry, is there a better term?), but I've never seen/heard of one that was sincere and just based on my own employee pool - I think it might work.  I know dozens of single people that "can't find anyone".


So, if you want to do this FSU thing - I say use the agency and don't bother with any prep work beforehand other than WITH THE AGENCIES.  Kind of like Match.com, but in real life.  You will get real time info when you are there in real time.

[ML]

Spectris, you have put out some interesting thoughts in this thread.  I think they deserve some consideration.

I have previously posted a completely different alternative, and will repost it here for comparison.  Might be good for newbies to see the approaches almost side by side.  There are many pros and cons to each approach and each  might be appropriate for different men.

A few points  come immediately to mind when comparing.  My approach takes a lot of time before the trip, but results in a complete schedule of ladies to meet upon arrival.

Your approach takes less time pre-trip, but results in a much higher risk that the man will not 'fill up' his available time with pre-screened women.

= = = = = = = =

Avoid all agencies and any websites that require pay per contacting each woman and/or pay per each letter.

Instead go here:

http://singles.ru/
http://www.luckylovers.net/
http://www.rbrides.com/
http://www.ukrainedate.com/
http://www.allsinglerussiangirls.com/
http://freepersonals.ru/
http://bride.ru/
http://fdating.com
http://www.1vipdating.com/
http://freeukrainianwomen.com/
http://okfreedating.net/
http://luckylifepartner.com/

The below are in Russian language.
 
 http://www.edarling.ru/
 http://vmireznakomstv.ru/
 http://www.your-ideal.com/
 http://www.24open.ru/
 http://loveplanet.ru/
 http://www.maybe.ru/
 http://znakomstva-sitelove.ru/

Go to the above free and monthly cost ($19-30) dating websites.  Make up a nice profile of yourself.  Use the search engines to find about 800 - 1,000 women who are in the age range you want and have the education, height, weight, language, children, drinking, smoking, etc., parameters that you desire and are in a single target geographical area.

Do this screening first rather than look at pictures first.  After you have done the screening; then look at the pictures.

When you are two months away from your trip departure time, then start sending out your first message.

Send a generic but well written introductory message to all with each individual name typed at the top.

Of those  who reply, filter out all who make you worry in any way or give you concerns.

Send second generic but well written letter to all with their individual names typed at the top.  Modify it a bit to answer any questions that an individual woman may have asked.  Yes, this takes a lot of time.

Repeat these procedures over about 6-8 weekly emails and you will have narrowed down your list to 15-30 gals.  You can continue to use a generic letter for each successive mailing, but be sure to modify it a bit to answer specific questions any gal may have asked and to ask specific questions of your own related to the family, interests, jobs, etc., of each individual woman.  Yes, this takes a lot of time, but each week you will be cutting your list down. 

Finalize your trip plans and start scheduling the women into time slots.

If you follow the above procedure, you will not have the need to ask us questions about scammers, etc., as you will have filtered out all scammers.  And if any of the women you are writing to give you any sheeeeet or cause you any concern at all, or ask for money for ANYTHING you simply drop them off your lists and continue on.

[Manny]

I use Word because the text editor on this site freaks out after about 2 paragraphs

I write live and I have to go back in and edit every post here too. The site inserts double paragraph spaces and all kinds of imported formats if you paste anything. I thought it was a Chrome thing.....

[Turboguy]

I use Word because the text editor on this site freaks out after about 2 paragraphs (at least for me) and I write for too long

I am pretty sure you are talking about the text starting to jump around after a couple of paragraphs.   Just to to your browser setting for "tools" and select "Compatability Mode" and that will stop.
 
You do need to be careful if you decide to switch to compatability mode in the middle of a post, it will usually delete what you have written, but if you copy it, set it to compatability mode and then paste it back in you will be fine.