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Has anyone done it?
How did you get the visa with all the crazy rules Russia has?
I would love to go but the visa process is enough to make one's head spin!!
They want you to have a sponsor and an itinerary but as we all know that is not possible for us nonrevers!
I usually don't have a hotel booked until a day or two before departure.
I can tell you it takes a long time to complete the visa for crew!! Their system is better than it used to be but still a challenge for anyone, even a genius like me! haha It's a "buster" for sure--and that's with prompts from the visa company DL uses--what to type in the blanks etc. I have Comair pilot friend who did it but he had a sponsor who lives in Moscow.
If you do it, let us know--I'd really like to see St Petersburg.
I am going to go for it!
Going to get it done through a service in Atlanta.
You cannot get your visa more than 45 days before departure and it is good for one month from travel date, so I will get it in August and travel in September...
Red Square here I come!
Will let you know how it was...
Awesome, let us know how it goes!
Krasnaya Ploschad!!! I've always wanted to go--as well as the Hermitage St P. All I can remember in Russian is "where is the library" and this famous toast (phonetic--best I can do):
Yesli te pe-osh pe. Yesli te ni pe-osh pe.
If you drink, drink. If you don't drink, drink.
Send me a PM with the company name/number please--or post it here--guess it doesn't matter. I want to ask them if my husband is on crew visa already, can I get a longer life visa for multiple trips?
We use CIBT for his Russian visa and secondary passport, so I can call them--but I'd be curious if any different with another company. Are you finding decent hotel prices?
LuxuryLink only offers one St. Petersburg property and it's premium...
PS--could I refer you to LuxLink? I need an email via PM. You can get instant $100 off first purchase.
We just did a Neuvo Cancun AI resort and it was very reasonable.
I am so jealous, I have always wanted to do Moscow. The Visa process turns me off. Let us know how the Visa thing works out. At least DL does it nonstop from JFK, do they still do ATL in the summer?
Regards,
Chepos
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrs767er
Will use gotorussia dot com
It is $239 for everything and since I will not stay beyond 7 days, I do not have to have the passport registered with authorities in Moscow.
So far I have found a few hostels I like near Red Square, for about $25 per night.
Hotels in Moscow are very expensive.
I will definitely drink some vodka over there!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chepos
No more ATL-SVO....only JFK
I am so turned off by the visa process also and it seems the process for Brazil is worse.
We got our visa through an agency in Washington. The agnecy covered the ridiculous Soviet-hangover requirement for a letter from a hotel certifying you are staying there. We were not staying in hotels, but rather through Couch Surfing and hostels, so the agency's pitch for us worked fine. At the time -- three years ago now -- I was a US Airways employee. My wife and I flew US Air from PHL to CDG, hung for a day or so in Gay Paree, then ZED on Air France to St. Petersburg. The Russian immigration peoiple gave us no trouble at all on our arrival at St. Pete airport. We might as well have been in a Western European country. It was smoother, indeed, that arrival at US international airports. We took a public bus into St. Petersburg from the airport and met our Couch Surfing hostess at a central Metro station.
We stayed with her for a week -- thank you Yulia and Couch Surfing. She gave us a good tour around this amazing city. Then we took an overnight train to Moscow for a couple of days. Stayed in a hostel -- even so, frightfully expensive -- near Red Square and the fabled Lubyanka. Then we flew back to CDG on Air France.
Bottom line: Our experience was easy-peasy. But as the stockbrokers say, previous experience is no guarantee of furture experience.
Best of luck.
Well, I had some stuff come up last year which got in the way of Moscow...
I now have my Russia visa in hand and will go within the next few weeks.
I did use the gotorussia site, and it took 9 business days, just as they advertise.
It was not as bad of a process as it seems and it is also getting better. They now have a 3 year visa option.
I just got back from SVO and LOVED it!!
Got first or Biz on all 4 legs too.
Moscow is a very beautiful city and I would go back.
Only issue really, is no english in most places and not on the Metro at all. You really have to study the Cyrillic to ride the metro....
Cool but I think I'll stay where it's warm..:cool: