Hello from NC

[thompsongunner06]

New member,,live in Outer banks area,,Russian women are HOT,,,Too bad Russia has gone back to cold war,,,Uk is open,no visa. We will not go back to Russia for any reason now,,the hard time we had with the Russian Embasy was a joke.  The only reason to invade Russia is the women and vodka!!

[TigerPaws]

What? We were in Russia not long ago and we will be returning before winter sets in and we have never had and problems, I have no Idea what you are talking about.

Please explain?

TigerPaws

[thompsongunner06]

Sure,,here it goes,,1st trip,embassy people very nice,,,2nd trip,we r getting dual entry(going to UK), her friends were going to take us to train station to go to UK. We send US passports and copy of airline tickets for visas. We get a call,,"where are your train tickets?",,I say we plan to get them on arrival so we are not crunched by time problems. "Niet",,we need to see your train tickets. OK,what is the name if the train station,,,"we don't know" ,,,I find a travel agency that can get us 2 tickets,,I call the embassy,,they will not take a fax from Russia,,I get a scan of tickets on email and fax to the embassy. We get visas,,,now we are in a rush to get to train station,,We make it with not too much time to spare. We could have got a 1st class section cheaper once we got there! At boarder it was like the 50's with armed guards like prison! I didn't really care,it was kinda cool but there was a big change toward Americans now.

[TigerPaws]

Sound like everything was as expected or in other words normal. Get used to it that is the way things work in Russia.

TigerPaws

[Jack]

Tiger I know your somewhat protective of Russia over Ukraine but in reality what thompsongunne is explaining to you is an all to common occurrence with many foreign travelers in Russia.

Now I take it you have the one year visa that allows un-restricted travel and not needing to register and it is true if more guys got this type visa they would not have nearly a fourth of the problems others are experiencing.

Most guys are getting the less expensive 30-60 day tourist visas and as such are required to register in every city they are staying in, and not only every city, but every day of there visit.  The good old days of bribing the hotel to add an extra week to our stay on our visa when we only stayed one night in the hotel are over.

I have had more than my share of calls at 2, 3, 4 am in the morning over the last 6 months with guys running into roadblocks and problems with registering there visa/passport in Russia.  On at least 5 occasions this spring/summer we have had guys who have paid anywhere from $50 to $100 to Moscow police at the Moscow airport because of problem with registering there visa.

[TigerPaws]

Jack,

I think you misunderstand, I am not protective of Russia at all in fact the Russian bureaucracy is one of the most corrupt and complex in the 3rd world. Yes if most of the men traveling to Russian would not be so damn cheap and get the business visa many of their problems would go away, additionally if they would paper clip  a new $20.00 dollar bill ($50.00 in Moscow) to their visa in their passport things would go easier when they were stopped.

I was just trying to be a smart ass about corruption being the norm in Russia.

TigerPaws

[thompsongunner06]

We loved the people and culture,,the politics suck. Her daughter was called about her grand mother getting close to death,,,she bought a plane ticket from Orbits and send her copy and US passport to embassy,,,visa denied,,not enough time to verify her trip info(her father was going to pick her up). Asked if she was a spy!! She is almost done in pharmacy school. Orbits gave her a swap on ticket to UK. She never saw her grand mother who is now dead.
$$$$ Makes the world go around!!!