Hello from Toronto Canada!

[Maple Leaf]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to say a big hello from Toronto Canada, to the fine people on this site.  It is refreshing to read many posts about the pursuit of finding the one true love by visiting FSU. 

Although I have not made any attempts to travel, I am seriously wanting to visit the FSU to get a feel for the culture.  Most importantly, I hope to eventually find a good wife!  I have only registered on Elana's Models for the time being, and have started my search.  I am a true newbie, but with much luck....I am learning from other people on this website on what pitfalls to avoid when getting into this new world of courtship.

Thank-you, all for reading my first post and I look forward to reading many tips and advice on how to go about finding a future wife the best way possible.

Regards,
Eric

[catzenmouse]

Welcome Eric!

 You'll find a ton of information here. Maybe more than you really wanted to know!  Good idea to make a trip without a wife agenda in mind for a first time. Go as a vacation and enjoy all the wonderful things that the FSU has to offer. That will really help you out when you get more serious about looking for a partner. And who knows, you might just bump into her while you are on vacation!

Ken

[USCFAN]

Welcome Eric ... I'm kind of a newbie here too, but this site has some really good info to soak in ... and I've met some nice people too ...

[Rvrwind]

Dang, Another Canuck!!!
Its a Canadian Revolution!!! Rise my Brothers, Rise & shout into the unknown that
"I AM CANADIAN!!!"  On a more serious note, Welcome to RWD!!

[Kuna]

Welcome to RWD...  nice to see so many new members joining!

Where are you thinking of travelling when you take your first trip?

[Maple Leaf]

Welcome Eric!

 You'll find a ton of information here. Maybe more than you really wanted to know!  Good idea to make a trip without a wife agenda in mind for a first time. Go as a vacation and enjoy all the wonderful things that the FSU has to offer. That will really help you out when you get more serious about looking for a partner. And who knows, you might just bump into her while you are on vacation!

Ken

Thanks Ken! Yes, I am very glad to have found this website before putting any major resources into this endeavour.  I agree with you on the vacation aspect for the first time.  I am not going to be a "sex tourist" to ruin some beautiful woman's perception of WM. I have a phobia of transmitted diseases, so there will be no "fun on the side" with multiple women on my first trip.  The first trip will be to understand the culture, and meet a woman or two who I will be corresponding with in the near future.  I will take the first trip to visit a female friend who will help me understand this new adventure into finding the true love.

Welcome Eric ... I'm kind of a newbie here too, but this site has some really good info to soak in ... and I've met some nice people too ...

I agree with you USCFAN, this site is awesome for getting information for newbies.  I have learned so much in the short time reading these posts.  The trip reports are great to understand what really goes on in the FSU.  The people are great here too!

Dang, Another Canuck!!!
Its a Canadian Revolution!!! Rise my Brothers, Rise & shout into the unknown that
"I AM CANADIAN!!!"
On a more serious note, Welcome to RWD!!

Thanks for the nice Canadian welcome Rvrwind.  Nice to see a bit of Canucks on this board.  I was a bit shy to join because there are at times a stigma shown to men who look at the route for a foreign wife....but I rather take my chances with a traditional, smart, and well dressed FSU woman then a North American woman who dresses like a man, and only cares about their own well being. This endeavour will be a great life lesson and adventure for sure.

Welcome to RWD...  nice to see so many new members joining!

Where are you thinking of travelling when you take your first trip?

Right now, I joined Elena's Models and currently seeing what ladies I can write to.  I just started this whole process a couple of days ago, so I will probably do my best to fly out sometime early next year.  Right after the busy New Years holiday, as most of the women at this time are busy with family and friends with celebrations.  Also, it will depend if I can find a really good pen pal or friend who can help me with learning the culture, with no hanky panky going on. 

I still need to learn some Russian to help with this trip.  What do the memebers recommend I do to learn Russian?  Is there a place in the Toronto area that has good tutors in Russian, where I don't have to break the bank early on to learn this langauge?  Any help on this would be appreciated.   

Thanks for all the nice comments and words of encouragement.  This is going to be a site I visit for a very long time!

Cheers,
Eric

[TigerPaws]

Eric,

 While some will say you should make your first trip more of a holiday I disagree, I would highly suggest you get some help on your first trip, someone like Rvrwind for Russia or Kevin at Kherson Girls for Ukraine and by all means meet a number of girls you may be interested in. Just do not put any hopes into finding a lady on your first trip if you do great but do not plan on it.

TigerPaws

[Maple Leaf]

Thanks for the tip TigerPaws.  I have been reading A LOT of the posts in these forums over the last week.  This is a serious investment both in time, money and emotion.  I would be stupid to think this would be a walk in the park, that any woman would throw herself at me because of a misconceived "economic" situation in the FSU.

In some way, I would feel bad dating a lot of RW within a short time frame, as I am a “one woman” type of guy.  However, I understand the luxury of time is not on my side to stay months on end to just exclusively date one woman at a time.  I am trying to find my second half, and I understand now how important it is to find the best connection while in the FSU.  The first trip will not be to fall in love right away, I would have to visit the lady of my dreams a few more times to be sure we are compatible in every way.

I might as well introduce myself a little more.  Please bear with me; I have never done this before over the internet.  Here goes.

My name is Eric. Currently, I work in the Energy sector in Toronto Canada and make a decent wage, enough to pay for the mortgage on the house, maintenance/insurance on my car, and live comfortably. 

I am currently 32 years old, never have been married and do not have any kids.  I understand some RW may question why a WM has never been married at least once after 32 years.  To be quite honest, I just never found the right woman.  Almost all the women I have ever dated in Canada were either to emotionally unstable, not trustworthy, or were not compatible after dating for over one year.  Since I am a “one woman” man, I did not date on the side while in a relationship, so this limited my “pool” of women to seek the right one to marry. I believe you should marry only once, and not test the marriage waters with many different women before deciding on the right one. 

Physically, at this time I am slightly over weight.  However, I have successfully lost weight in the past.  I am currently in the process of a life style change of better eating and more exercise.  I have noticed a difference, and my friends have as well.  People can never guess my true age because I look years younger then 32.  I have a baby face, so most people are shocked to find out my true age.  Personally, I do not consider myself attractive, but I am not ugly either.  In fact many women have commented of my above average physical appearance, but I am modest when it comes to appearance.

I have found there are many potential women to date and marry in Canada.  However, in my experience a lot of these women put their career first and family a distant second.  To top it off, many Caucasian women in Toronto are dating interracially.  This trend has made some eligible women disappear in the last few years.  Toronto is one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world, and this integration of many cultures among people has increased the competition amongst men looking for Caucasian women.

So why did I decide to seek a RW?  Well first, my background is Slavic.  My parents are not from the FSU, but Eastern European.  I have visited other Slavic countries and have ties to an Eastern European country.  My mother is the traditional woman, who helped raise me well throughout my childhood.  Of course, I am not looking for a traditional woman who will cook, clean, and stay at home with the kids, but a woman who would share in these duties with me. 

Most NA women I find are not looking to even consider taking half of this role.  Almost all my female colleagues at work have admitted they do not even know how to cook at all.  These women will waste their money by eating out all the time.  When it comes to my future children’s health, I will only cook healthy meals, and I expect my future wife to help do the same.  Taking the children out to eat fast food will make them obese, which will create major health problems down the road.  I would like to avoid this scenario at all costs.

Also, the women here in Canada dress more casual in jeans, long shirts, and other manly clothes.  Only when at work will they occasionally wear womanly clothes while in the office, but when it comes to outside work, these women will dress more like men.  I would like to find a sophisticated woman who will actually dress like a woman and will let her man be the man. 

On the positive side for me, I have some Slavic background and can understand some parts of the Russian language.  On the downside, I do not fully understand the mentality of the RW, and will need to immerse myself in the culture and talk with the women in person to get a better understanding first hand.  Right now, I am saving quite a bit of money to make the initial journey next year.  I hope this was not too much for people to read, and I hope that my post in some way may have hit a cord with other newbie’s considering to start searching for a FSUW.

[jb]

Welcome Maple Leaf,

You goals do not seem unreasonable to me, I'm sure you will do just fine.

As an aside, one of  my stepson's college days buddies is living in your town.  I'm not sure what Alexi does, but he is originally from Lugansk. UA and recently married a girl from there.   I'm thinking he is about the same age as you... I could ask my stepson for a phone number if you have any interest in meeting someone the FSU and seeing a bit of their lifestyle and culture.

Any way, welcome to the board.

[Maple Leaf]

Welcome Maple Leaf,

You goals do not seem unreasonable to me, I'm sure you will do just fine.

As an aside, one of  my stepson's college days buddies is living in your town.  I'm not sure what Alexi does, but he is originally from Lugansk. UA and recently married a girl from there.   I'm thinking he is about the same age as you... I could ask my stepson for a phone number if you have any interest in meeting someone the FSU and seeing a bit of their lifestyle and culture.

Any way, welcome to the board.

Thanks JB,

When I am ready to travel out for the first time, I will take you up on the offer.  Right now, I am doing lots of research and not even thinking of sending letters out to women on any of the agency boards.  I am torn on the type of method to use.  On one hand, I like what Thor did when he was in Kherson by posting a newspaper advertisement.  On the other, I like the idea of having Jack Bragg from First Dream help me out with the socials, apartment, travel arrangements, etc.   Then we have Tver Angels, from what I see has the Canadian connection from the owner there.  There are so many options for the first trip that my head is spinning! 

I am very lucky to have stumbled upon RWD.  Before coming on RWD, I had my profile up on AnastasiaWeb, who kept sending me all these beautiful girls to correspond with.  I paid for one of their lowest credit options to correspond with women.  I started to correspond with this one lady, but for some reason it did not seem like it may have been her doing the corresponding.  It felt more like the agency was putting words in her letters. 

Then one day she was no longer available.  I was a little bit disappointed, but then one month later I get a message from her again.  I read the message (which deducted 1 credit of course) and it was an introduction letter.  I could not believe it! I caught them in a scam!  I wrote the agency and told them of my previous correspondence with this lady, and why would she out of the blue send an introduction letter as if we never even corresponded before??  They apologized about the matter, and gave me back one credit for the "misunderstanding."  So I knew right there and then that this agency was only trying to get men to write for more money.  Either that or Fat Yuri was corresponding with me.   This is one reason I am hesitant in doing the WOVO, or WMVM method.  I would rather just tell one First Dream, Tver Angels, Thor, or which ever person has the connection in the FSU to hook me up and start my search while in the country. 

There is still lots researching to do, but until I am actually in the country looking for my woman, and learning from my mistakes will I get anywhere.  I do not want to be a key board Romeo who is just interested in looking at pretty pictures, and writing to all these women making empty promises.  That is not me; I am serious with my intentions.  I just need to get my butt on a plane and start the search! 

[docetae]

What kind of information are you collecting ? honestly, this is useless. As I was reading your previous posts, I will recommend you to use services from a well established agency who do matchmaking, you send your profile 40 days before your travel date, you ask the agency to find you women who wants to meet you, based on the list, you do your own choice and you go. And when you will be there, just be yourself. Dating is the same on the both side of the ocean, everything else is neuronal masturbation. just one advise, do not fall in love to quickly.

[Maple Leaf]

I will take your recommendation under advisement.  This is something that I have been thinking about hard, where I can just pick an agency and send my information for them to take care of everything for me.  However, I still need to learn or figure out the following:

1) Which agency is the best fit for me?  Do they take care of all the visas, lodging, setting up the dates with women, interpreters, etc?  There are a lot of good places out there, but which one to choose?  Which city do I want to visit because many agencies may not help me if I want to visit another city or town?  This I need to figure out first.

2) What not to do while traveling in the FSU.  Lots of info from TR, I would like to read these to get a better understanding of what to expect while in the FSU.

3) Most importantly, I still need to learn more Russian to get by while in the FSU.  I rather not have an interpreter communicate the entire conversation.

I know there is A LOT more information to sift through and understand.  Reading about not being too emotional while on the trip, having back-up plans, etc...These are tips I never would have known if I jumped on a plane first and never read these forums.  Just packing up and heading out there is not enough.  I need to cover all of the pitfalls that most newbie’s make before rushing out.  Sometimes it is better to learn from other people's mistakes then to learn them first hand while traveling.  This way, I ensure my trip will be smoother, and I will be able to avoid all the scams, and problems most of us new guys face while on the first trip.  I understand no one can prepare for every problem or issue that will come up, but at least I can have some contingencies before traveling.

Besides, I would prefer to go next year during the spring/summer when it is less cold and nicer to travel.  I could go in the fall, but most of my vacation time was used in January when my relatives from Sweden came over for a month long visit.  I had to entertain them the entire time, and make sure they had a comfortable time while in Canada. 

 I can only take two more weeks because of carry over vacation time from last year and that will not be enough for my first visit to the FSU.  So, I rather bank my 14 days of vacation time I have now for 2008.  This will ensure I have more time to stay over in the FSU to look seriously for my future love.

[docetae]

One big warning : with only 14 days of vacations per year, this will be really difficult to establish a relationship. h
The process is Time AND money consuming. So if you have to take leaves without pays , be sure of your budget (basic estimate : 1800$ transport + 1300$/week (based on one average apartment, 85$/night) so around 11k $CAD for 3 travels per year...

Without the possibility to have at least one month per year dedicated for that, I will not advise to even start the process to find your second half ...

To answer your points, good agencies seems to be more the exception but you can be always lucky ...

[Rvrwind]

Besides, I would prefer to go next year during the spring/summer when it is less cold and nicer to travel.

That is the absolute worst time to come here.
School is winding down & people are planning their summer vacations. The best time & the most bang for your buck is late fall, early winter or very early spring. Thats when most people are still at their jobs & still in the city. You'll get more no-shows at the agencies during the late spring & throughout summer till early fall.
If you want to maximize your chances, summer is a bad choice.

[Maple Leaf]

One big warning : with only 14 days of vacations per year, this will be really difficult to establish a relationship. h
The process is Time AND money consuming. So if you have to take leaves without pays , be sure of your budget (basic estimate : 1800$ transport + 1300$/week (based on one average apartment, 85$/night) so around 11k $CAD for 3 travels per year...

Without the possibility to have at least one month per year dedicated for that, I will not advise to even start the process to find your second half ...

To answer your points, good agencies seems to be more the exception but you can be always lucky ...

Thanks for the financial breakdown.  My company provides in total 20 business days for vacation each year, which would mean four weeks or one month of vacation time if you including weekends.  Since, I will be banking some days from this year to next year, I will have about one month and two weeks for vacation time in 2008.  Based on the financial quote you provided, I am saving up money to make sure the funds are there for my first, second or third trip for next year. 

That is the absolute worst time to come here.
School is winding down & people are planning their summer vacations. The best time & the most bang for your buck is late fall, early winter or very early spring. Thats when most people are still at their jobs & still in the city. You'll get more no-shows at the agencies during the late spring & throughout summer till early fall.
If you want to maximize your chances, summer is a bad choice.

Thanks Rvrwind. This is what I am talking about making newbie mistakes. If you never mentioned the above post, I would have been clueless and went at the worst possible time...
I will save up as much money for the 2008 multiple trips, and as I stated in one of my earlier posts, I was initially considering coming out early 2008 around February or March.  While reading some of the trip reports for this year, a lot of people were going around May to July, so I thought this would be the best time of the year to go.  Now that I have gotten a bit wiser to the time table, I will look at coming over earlier, then ending the last trip in the fall. 

On a side note, I am glad to be Canadian because docetae and Rvrwind have been nothing but helpful and polite, as Canadians! Thanks guys.

Eric