Russia was a slave in Europe but would be a master in Asia.
– Fyodor Dostoyevsky
“The decision to go to Russia?” is a question that many people will ask. Answering yes to that question leads to a poignant story, which is presented in the following sections. We didn’t originally. I had completed my internship as part of my quest to becoming a doctor. I had to begin my social obligation service within a month of finishing my internship. I made plans for my first overseas vacation outside India. This was my plan.
- Plan A – Europe
- Plan B – Azerbaijan
- Plan C – Thailand
- Plan D – India (another Indian trip)
Europe was my dream. Mum and I began researching for a European trip. We had a bucket list of cities and countries, beginning in Frankfurt and finishing in Rome. (I realised that our timing for Europe was incorrect. Guess when we did. February, 2023!).
When we read the Schengen Visa regulations, we were astounded by their thoroughness. We didn’t get very many of them at the time. (That occurred in the last week of February). Another disappointment was that our nation of arrival, Germany, did not have any visa slots available until June. We then considered redoing the trip, but not from Germany, but from Estonia (discarded because the subsequent route to Tallinn was expensive), Finland, Norway (again, expensive), and finally Luxembourg and the Czech Republic.
We received a slot for Luxembourg through VFS Global on March 7th (money was due at the visa counter) and the Czech Republic on March 20th (payment had already been made). With the assistance of my father, we prepared the documentation for the Luxembourg visa and traveled to the center on that date. However, numerous difficulties were raised there. I was aware of these issues because I had gone first. I was able to solve the problem with the help of my father, who was outside the center, but the end result was as follows.
10 days in Luxembourg, and 10 days in Frankfurt. Seriously? Which officer will entertain the possibility of this absurd idea? (This is known as ‘visa shopping’ and can result in visa rejection). Even though I had planned to leave and return on March 20th to process my Czech Republic visa, I stayed because I was a jerk. That decision still lingers in my thoughts. Poor planning. It took almost 6 weeks to process the visas, and we eventually received the passports without them. A rejection letter was delivered to us. Is the European tour coming to an end?
I took this failure seriously and resolved to devote my full attention to my overseas trip. What is Plan B now? Even though Azerbaijan has a range of tourist attractions, I wasn’t completely convinced. Many previous travelogues I’ve read suggested combining an Azerbaijani vacation with one to Georgia. However, Georgia requires a VFS appointment, so that was a tossup. Plan C? I considered traveling to Europe, only to wind myself in an Asian country. My mind yearned for the European continent, and this is when Dad said, “How about Russia?”
Seriously… Russia? I originally declined that offer due to the conditions at hand. The majority of the people there do not speak our language, English. I was not interested in visiting Russia until I read an old short guidebook on my bookshelves that described the nation in a pleasant light. That book suggested watching the Soviet-era war film “Walking the Streets of Moscow”. Mum, who had already seen several European travel short films, now had to view Russian trip videos. Anyway, it film featured the city center of Moscow. I then decided to respond affirmatively to the question asked above.
Okay, then came the choice to travel to Russia. Mum was hesitant about it. We examined this option and if it was prudent to go during wartime. We do the trips ourselves, thus tour guides/packages were not even on my mind. Dad searched for applying for a Russian visa, which led us to the Russia Service Centre website. We read the visa criteria, and they were not as extensive as those for a Schengen visa. There was an odd requirement: an invitation letter. We needed to receive it from an accredited travel firm.
We came across Fortuna Travels. The representative, Alexander, was helpful. We received the invitation letter after paying for it and after a series of e-mails. However, in order to receive the letter, you must provide your Russian residence address. AirBnB couldn’t help because it had exited Russia. Mum instructed me to go to a spot called Ostrovok, which was mentioned in one of the short films (about visiting Russia) she was viewing. Sure enough, we were able to see, arrange, and book the rooms according to the approximate itinerary I had written down. I emailed our hosts about the units we booked. Daria, the manager (assistant) of the Moscow apartment, responded swiftly and provided the requested information. Little did I realize how essential what she said was.
- May 8th – May 13th: Moscow
- May 8th: Land at Moscow (which airport I didn’t know.) and check-in to our place of residence, booked at the Ostrovok site.
- May 9th: Victory Day. Try to go to Pushkin square and get a glimpse of the parade. Plan for Tretyakov Gallery, a walk in Teatralnaya Ploschad and explore the GUM supermarket.
- May 10th: Train to Yaroslavl, and then go to Rostov and Sergiev Posad before reaching back to Moscow on a late-night.
- May 11th: Red Square, Great Patriotic War museum, State Historical museum, St. Basil’s Cathedral and a walk in the Alexandrovsky Sad.
- May 12th: Plan to go to Kremlin complex and explore the Armoury Chamber and the Cathedral Ensemble. Plan for a show-watching in Bolshoi Theatre.
- May 13th: Go to St. Petersburg. We were yet to explore this option of the mode of transport. Check-in to our apartment.
- May 14th – May 19th: St. Petersburg.
- May 14th: Go to Peterhof and see the palace and park.
- May 15th: Go to Peter and Paul fortress and the Hermitage museum
- May 16th: Go to Pushkin and see the Catherine Palace.
- May 17th: Explore St. Petersburg city, including Nevskiy Prospect and St. Isaac Cathedral.
- May 18th: No idea.
- May 19th: Go to Moscow back.
- May 20th: Return back.
If you read the travelogue, you will notice that that was not the itinerary we followed. We had to arrange a hotel from May 19th to May 20th because the VDNH and Moscow Botanical Garden were not part of our itinerary. Therefore, the return from St. Petersburg on May 18th, which was in my plans, “No idea”. We decided to have some rubles as cash on hand in case there are no currency exchange centers at the airport. We needed those rubles to pay for taxis and rent, which had to be paid on the spot. To be honest, it was not easy to arrange them. Many Western corporations, including Thomas Cook, Western Union, and MoneyGram, had discontinued trading in rubles.
We had to obtain them, at our expense (because the exchange resulted in a loss of 10,000 rupees), from the BookMyForex program, which is part of the MakeMyTrip firm. Sure enough, the representative arrived and handed over the rubles. We also had to arrange for dollars and euros, which we easily obtained at Thomas Cook. An coworker commented, “It is a very risky trip you are taking.” That statement was ominous, but we decided it was worthwhile to visit Russia. Our options for reserving flights were as follows: (Why did we choose these? Because Emirates and Turkish Airlines were expensive at the time, and we wanted to spend as little as possible on our vacation to Russia.
- Aeroflot: From Delhi to Moscow.
- AirArabia: From Sharjah to Moscow
- Oman Air: From Muscat to Moscow.
We had a lengthy conversation about choosing the flight. We chose Aeroflot because of the shorter trip duration, however we had three concerns.
- We live in a city somewhere across the country. I had gone to the capital’s airport and noticed it was quite congested.
- Payment choices. The payment method on the Aeroflot website or mobile app was fuzzy. I didn’t have a Russian bank account, so making an online payment was out of the question. I had to call an Aeroflot representative in English via their website, who instructed me to contact the capital city’s Aeroflot office, which was located inside the airport. Finding their phone numbers proved challenging, and contacting them resulted in an invalid call.
- Safety. Due to the sanctions, we were unsure about the aircraft’s maintenance. There is a safety of flying aspect that Boeing/Airbus is supposed to give, but an unconfirmed claim concerning its maintenance in Iran swayed me away from Aeroflot.
Oman Air was swiftly ruled out due to lengthy journey times. So we went with AirArabia. To be honest, we did not conduct any research on the socket type, SIM card pricing, or museum opening hours, which cost us a lot of money and prompted us to drastically change our agenda when we arrived. During the pre-travel phase, I attempted to learn Russian. Kirstine Kershul wrote “Russian in 10 Minutes a Day”. Learning the Cyrillic script was difficult, but once I was on the streets of Russia, I realized how important it was. The majority of the signs are not in English.
Two extracts from the book: (I kept questioning if it was worth 10 minutes every day). After reading all 26 chapters of this book and practicing writing phrases and conjugating verbs, I felt I could easily interact with any Russian. You will undoubtedly agree that my presumption is someone living in utopia. We were unsure whether we would be able to accomplish our first trip overseas without incident. But one thing was certain after our return journey. It is a beautiful and attractive country with a rich culture, history, and tradition. And the Russians were polite and helpful (with the exception of what happened in Vyborg), and they will respect you if you speak their language. Even if it’s a trivial mistake, they won’t make a big deal out of it. The majority of them are conservative and old-fashioned, while the younger ones have a stylish, modern attitude. Did you think that since the war in Ukraine, ordinary activities and events in Russia have declined? Did you believe that parts of communism in the former USSR influenced this country? Absolutely not. Life goes on as usual in Russia, and despite the sanctions, Russians continue to have access to Western items, whether it’s a chicken burger from Burger King or a bottle of Coke.
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