As readers of this blog will no doubt attest, travel really helps to shape one's outlook on life. And while the ways in which it does varies from person to person, it's hard to argue that the overall impact isn't positive.

There is an interesting article in the New York Times today about the travel boom in Russia, which is seeing Russians from essentially all walks of life traveling in greater numbers than ever before. It's an obvious change from Soviet days, when travel was limited to those held in the communist party's esteem (and even then such travel was strictly monitored), and it speaks to the relative prosperity to be found today in the world's largest country. Russians have tons of cash, and they're using it see the world.

In 2006, 7.1 million Russians took trips outside the former Soviet bloc, compared to 2.6 million in 1995, the Times says, citing the Russian government. Turkey alone sees 2.5 million Russian tourists a year, surpassed only by tourists from Germany.

But Russians are not just heading to Turkey. They're heading pretty much everywhere. I'm writing this right now from Montenegro, a little country with a disproportionally large tourism industry that is driven mostly by Russians, who not only arrive in droves on cruise ships but are deciding they like the coastline here so much they're buying up as much of it as they can, sometimes directly from Montenegrins eager for some quick cash.

The Times' article notes that many of these destinations favored by Russians know exactly who is buttering their bread: they are setting up services and amenities that cater specifically to them. Along the Montenegrin coast, Russian is the unofficial second language, and many young tour guides and hotel help are fluent in it. Sevastopol, Ukraine, a pretty place on the Black Sea, is another such destination, more Russian, locals say, than Russia itself. There Russian is the official language, the Russian flag snatches at the wind, prices are quoted in rubles, and the attractive harbor is alive with swank nightclubs featuring the same turbo-house music loved in Moscow.

So what? As one person the Times interviews says, traveling and interacting with other cultures is helping to broaden (and soften) Russians' world view, something that might seem obvious when we forget that this is a relatively new phenomenon there.

The Russian writer Viktor Yerofeyev puts it best, telling the Times: "Through all this travel, we are seeing a change in mentality at home. People are now seeking pleasure, whether it is in the night clubs of Moscow or in restaurants. Travel is a continuation of that pleasure. Just to have pleasant lives, not to suffer, to feel positive. Their life compass changes, from 'I don't care about anything' to 'I would like to have a better life.' Travel is a part of this. The world is becoming part of their lives."

If you've ever had the pleasure of visiting Russia and flown into Moscow, you probably flew into Sheremetyevo* airport. For those of you that haven't, I can try to sum it up for you in a couple of words here: It's terrible.

The domestic and international terminals are separated in different buildings on different sides of the airport, so you have to take a shuttle way out and around to get there. The staff are pretty unfriendly and largely hostile to English speakers. And it's wicked wicked far from the city. It's a long, hard bus ride into the city to connect to the subway, that with traffic can take hours.

Luckily, at least that part is coming to an end. Just this week, Russia finally finished a rail link into Sheremetyevo airport, easing the horrible burden on traffic and congestion into the busy airport.

Rail service started Wednesday at the modest ticket price of $10.50/ticket. They could have made the ticket twice that and I would have paid it.

Now, onto the rest of the airport which direly needs the update. Russia started the upgrades to the international terminal last year and the domestic terminal remodeling is slated to start next year. And not a moment too soon.



* Firefox 3.0's suggestions for the misspelling of "Sheremetyevo": Usherette and Magnetosphere. Maybe that's why it's still in beta.

It's not that getting a visa to Russia is the hardest thing you will ever do as a traveler. It's just one of those things you wish you didn't have to do. But since the US makes it difficult for Russians to get a US visa, the Russians do the same. Hence, you end of with a painful process called Obtaining a Visa to Russia.

First, you have to get an invitation letter. Yeah, it is kind of a problem, if you don't know anyone who could possibly invite you. Even if you do, it is such a pain for the person living in Russia to go through the formal process of inviting you, you are better off hiring an agency to invite you instead. I know, it doesn't really make sense, but that's what happens.

Agencies, such as Visa to Russia, can write up and invitation for you for a mere $30-$45, depending on how fast you want it. In the invitation, they can even even include hotel names where you are "allegedly" going to stay, in case you don't know yet.

After you have received your invitation, you can take it to the nearest Russian Consulate. Make sure to bring your passport (at least 6 months before expiration date), two photographs, proof of health coverage while in Russia, complete visa application, and money order for $131. That is how much a visa costs if you are willing to wait as long as 10 days. If you need it the same day, it will cost you up to $450, in New York, at least. Visa fees are cheaper for EU citizens. Be prepared to leave your passport there for visa processing.

If you are planning to be in Russia for more than 3 business days, note that you have to register with the police in Russia. Ask your hotel; they should be able to do it for you. Russian police have been known to stop random foreigners in Moscow and ask them for their registration papers, demanding a fee or a bribe, depending on whom you ask.

From Russia, with love.

Here is a laundry list of my observations based on traveling in Russia and talking to people here. I am stating in advance that this post might offend people (believe me, I've already taken a ton of heat for my prior posts, even if some were meant to be tongue-in-cheek). Since the terms "first" and "third" world no longer carry the same meaning they once did (after the "second" world vanished with the disappearance of the Soviet Union,) I will use politically correct terms "developing" and "developed" instead.

I'll also remind you, dear readers, that this is based on a relatively short trip, focused on Moscow and St. Petersburg, plus some background research into statistics.

I will start by saying that I have never been to a country where you are so frequently thrown from luxury to poverty in a matter of blocks or minutes (sorry, NYC, you're not #1 in this regard). One minute, you think that you are in one of the most developed countries on the planet. The next minute, you feel...completely the opposite. The gap between the rich and the poor is wide in America, too. But it's a little different here. There is no visible middle class in Moscow, so you get thrown from "high" to "low" very abruptly.

Top reasons that make Russia look like a developed country:

I have always wanted to see Russia. Growing up in a satellite communist country, with the Soviet Union--the occupying force--pitched as the Evil of all Evils, it took me a while before I thought I could honestly visit the country with an open mind. Nineteen years after the end of communism in Central Europe, to be exact.

Needless to say, I grew up imprinted with a lot of stereotypes about Russia and Russians: They are expanding. Unemotional. They are alcoholics. Xenophobes. And especially: the world would have been better off if Lenin was never born and the Tsar kept ruling Russia.

It's scary how deeply those stereotypes get rooted when you are bombarded with them from early childhood. I am not saying that some sterotypes aren't true about Russia today, but they are not exactly helpful when you want to have an open mind about a place. Of course, I really didn't want to go to Russia just to confirm the stereotypes. I felt like Russia was the missing piece to my view of the world--primarily the political world--and understanding it would greatly help.

With that said, I do think that Russia would have been much better off had the Tsar stayed in power and the Communists never took over.

Although, finding deals are still on our minds (poor Iva in Moscow is having little luck), food and drink has been one topic of interest this week.

• Iva, for example, has found some solace in the vodka. She's discovered loads of it, and all brands are not the same.
• Aaron has clued us into saying good-bye to free peanuts--even though they cost peanuts-- and has told us where the best places to drink in 2008 are located.
• Tynan was wined and dined at the Lalu Hotel in Taiwan and found out that while staying in luxury you can eat vegan.
• Kent shared the advantages of a two-day trip to San Juan, one being eating Mexican food overlooking the ocean, Must be tough.
• But, if you want to know what it's like to work on an organic farm, ask Jerry. He has first-hand experience. It sounds tough. Check out part two tomorrow.
• I'm the one, though, who knows all about White Castle hamburgers, and I'm proud of it.

Have a great last half a weekend in May. Sunday is June 1. Hope you find something yummy.

Greetings from St. Petersburg! Bolshoi in Russia is my variation on Big in Japan. (Bolshoi means "Big" in Russian. Get it?) Stay tuned for my live dispatches from Russia this week.

Did I mention how expensive Russia is? Oh yeah, I pretty much mention it in every blog, don't I. It really is quite shocking how little you get for your money here. It's one thing to travel around Southeast Asia and stay in crappy hotels for $20/night. You get what you pay for. Russia is different. That same crappy hotel will cost you more like $200 in Moscow and St. Petersburg. It often seems that Russia has all the disadvantages of a third world country (dirt, smog, poor services, etc) and none of its benefits (not cheap).

We stayed in one such crappy little hotel right on 44 Nevsky Blvd (the main drag in St. Petersburg). The hotel entrance is pictured here. The outside is really not the problem, although its classic communist realism look is not exactly the picture of hospitality. It's the inside. It's the smell.

One thing you'll notice about a lot of Russian bathrooms is that they tend to smell bad. The reason? Poor plumbing. It was explained to me that they don't use a "trap" in the shower. Hence, most bathrooms smell of raw sewage, worse than the New York subway on a hot summer day. All that for only $180/night.

They do give you breakfast with it, though. I even documented it for you: a piece of stale toast, piece of nondescript cheese, some tea and a yoghurt. What they don't give you, however, is a place where you could eat that breakfast. So, you have to take it back to your room and enjoy it while sniffing the aroma coming out from the bathroom.

It was not nearly the worst hotel I have ever stayed at. It must be up there in terms of value for your money, however. The best thing to remember about Russia before going is that you will spend a lot of money and get very little in return. At the end of thee day, it's all about expectations.

From Russia, with love.

Greetings from Moscow! Bolshoi in Russia is my variation on Big in Japan. (Bolshoi means "Big" in Russian. Get it?) Stay tuned for my live dispatches from Russia this week.

Needless to say, the similarities between Prague and Moscow have been on my mind lately. With a group of friends, this is the summary we came up with over a few drinks.

How to turn Prague into Moscow:

1) Turn back time at least 10, preferably 15 years.
2) Tear down 95.3% of the old buildings and replace with communist
realism buildings.
3) Reduce number of pretty women by 20%, primarily through the use
of bad make-up, bad hair dye, bad clothing, and gold teeth.
4) Increase the population by ten-fold.
5) Increase prices to New York City standard.
6) Replace every third car with a Mercedes and one of the two
remaining with a BMW, give everyone two, and park them all on the
sidewalks.
7) Widen every other street and turn it into a likeness of the
Magistrala, then remove all speed limits.

I know, I know. Probably not the most insightful thing you ever read in your life. Isn't it strange how things always sound better over drinks?

From Russia, with love.

Greetings from Moscow! Bolshoi in Russia is my variation on Big in Japan. (Bolshoi means "Big" in Russian. Get it?) Stay tuned for my live dispatches from Russia.

There are two ways to travel between Moscow and St. Petersburg and they cost about the same. Either you fly--and you have to be prepared to fly Aeroflot or worse--or you take the train. They cost is about the same: $100 one-way. It was a no-brainer for me. I boarded the fast train to St. Petersburg this weekend hoping to catch a glimpse of rural Russia along the way. I don't think we quite pulled out of the Leningradskaya train station when the first vodka came out.

Train experience

I had no complaints about this train. It is a pleasant, 5-and-a-half-hour ride through flat, yet picturesque countryside. You can still see signs from the communist times on abandoned buildings by the train station: "Power to the workers" and stuff like that. The farther away from Moscow you get, the nicer the landscape is. We were thankful we took the fast train. There is also a slower, overnight train, that takes about 8 hours, but I honestly can't imagine doing vodka shots one minute longer than we did. The overnight train costs the same as the fast one. The advantage, I guess, is that it save you one night's hotel. (Big savings in this expensive piece of the planet). There is also the new super-fast train that makes the trip in some 4 hours, but it's still very new...hence totally overpriced.

Greetings from Moscow! Bolshoi in Russia is my variation on Big in Japan. (Bolshoi means "Big" in Russian. Get it?) Stay tuned for my live dispatches from Russia this week.

I have never seen a bigger vodka selection than a vodka isle in any supermarket in Russia. There must, literally, be hundreds of vodkas to choose from. The selection ranges from bottles with generic titles, costing as little as $2, to fancy labels that will set you back hundreds. I personally, liked Russian Standard, which is really tasty when served frozen (keep the bottle in the freezer as they do here). It doesn't give you a hangover as far as I could tell. Don't try to prove me wrong, please.

Vodka, however, is a man's drink in Russia. Local demographic stats suggest that: an average Russian man has a life expectancy of only 59 years. Thanks to excessive vodka drinking, of course! Women can expect to live a full 14 years longer.

That might be a thing of the past, however. Vodka-marketers have discovered that in order to increase their sales, they must start marketing to women. That is the short story of Damskaya vodka, literally "ladies' vodka", a feminine take on the lethal clear liquor favored primarily by men. "Between us girls," is the catchphrase for this vodka, IHT reports. Needless to say, doctors are not happy about where this campaign could lead...

From Russia, with love.