[TripleG]

So I have been looking into traveling to the "Last Dictatorship in Europe" as the paranoid US government would want one to think primarily because it is a country that has not been overrun by foreigners, is cheap, has great WWII sites and castles to see (I love historical sights) and most importantly has beautiful, Slavic women. A few of the data sheets that exist in the forums made Belarus, especially Minsk sound like a place of great potential for the more adventurous traveler.

The one thing that has kept me a bit disappointed is the rather complex Visa process ($190 visa for double entry, mandatory medical insurance to purchase in Belarus, a requirement for letter of invitation, mandatory registration at local Passport office within 5 business days of arrival) for US citizens. I sure as hell did not want to go via travel agency and have them sponsor me or pay for an overpriced western hotel just to have them register me, as I usually prefer to travel "solo dolo" or via wingman and just stay at private apartments and hit the ground hard to game, sight-see, and party; the less paper work the better as time can be very precious when you only go for a couple weeks.

'Lo and behold the other day I noticed that the Hockey World Championships

will be held in Belarus from May 9th - May 25th and no visa will be required for fans who travel there between April 25th - May 31st and have purchased at least one match ticket (which are going as cheaply as 6 Euros). In other words one can get into Belarus for an equivalent of about $8
While I do not care for hockey much (unless it is the Olympics) the hassle-free travel that this presents cannot be overlooked!

So for those Roosh Forum members who have been procrastinating I urge you to definitely look into this. I know I am shopping around as I write this post for tickets just so I can cross the border (once in Minsk I will probably scalp them).

[Brosemite]

Nice, will be a lot of Euro hockey fans & NHL players from squads that didn't make the playoffs (or exited early).

NHLers have been known to party like crazy on these paid vacations overseas. Just expect lodging to be more $$ during this time.

[Courage Reborn]

Nice find OP

I wonder how long you could stay in minsk this way without a proper visa?

[Brosemite]

^^^ CR - hopefully past the sausage fest that will be the hockey tournament, haha

[Duke Castile]

Damn thats something to think about!

Are there other sorts of events that have had the drop these visa requirements in the past?

[slubu]

Awesome great find. Loopholes are wonderful.

[calwinston]

Damn!! The scalpers are buying up all the tickets.

[samsamsam]

(01-07-2014 10:41 AM)calwinston Wrote:  

Damn!! The scalpers are buying up all the tickets.

Visa Scalpers.

[bacan]

Nice find! I'm going to look into this..

[Chaos]

As a big hockeyfan I'll definitely enjoy this loophole!

[TripleG]

(01-07-2014 12:59 AM)Courage Reborn Wrote:  

Nice find OP

I wonder how long you could stay in minsk this way without a proper visa?

Thanks. April 25th - May 31st you don't need the visa, so over a month of gaming for us FSU fans. "Insider knowledge" from my locally based cousin is even telling me that at some border crossings there are people who will be crossing without flashing tickets and just verbally mentioning going to Belarus to attend the games though I would not test this theory!

The only issue I see is that during this tournament there will be thousands of rowdy and horney male hockey fans (especially from places like Russia, Belarus, Germany) so ratios will probably be whack and competition stiff in downtown Minsk...Other than a couple token days in Minsk for hockey & sightseeing I am actually thinking of skipping the capital the rest of my journey and hitting second tier cities such as Brest. Has anyone been there?

[Chaos]

Yeah, will every road police be aware of this? If you for example taking a bus from Riga, Vilnius or Warsawa?

[Espresso]

Nice one. I don't care too much for hockey but would definitely like to go to Belarus. Also, I've never travelled to a country for a sporting event, so that might be a bit of an experience in itself. And seeing a live hockey game over a few beers and laughs sounds like a fun time. I'm not too worried about the ratios or competition. I can't imagine the average hockey fan who'll be there to watch the hockey will get much success except for p4p. We can probably easily outgame them. I also know Russian, which would come in handy.

Only thing is I'm not sure yet if I'll be in Europe then or not (currently in Toronto), but it's definitely possible.

In which case count me in!

[Espresso]

Couple photos from Minsk:

[Antipodean]

There is a 2 or 3 level shopping mall underneath that park in the 1st picture.
Noticeably smaller range of goods available in the shops than in other FSU countries.

I was in Minsk in 2012. Booked and paid for 9 nights accom as a requirement for the visa. Left after 7 days. It was boring.

You feel safe there, with a sense that you're less likely to be shaken down by police, etc than in other FSUs.
Public transport is quite good and functional. All the basics seem to work ok.
Maybe it was just my mindset, but I found it boring.

[spalex]

I think Hockey is pretty gay, but I wil definitely be taking advantage of this. I have been thinking about going to Belarus for a long time!

[Espresso]

(04-01-2014 01:21 AM)Antipodean Wrote:  

There is a 2 or 3 level shopping mall underneath that park in the 1st picture.
Noticeably smaller range of goods available in the shops than in other FSU countries.

I was in Minsk in 2012. Booked and paid for 9 nights accom as a requirement for the visa. Left after 7 days. It was boring.

You feel safe there, with a sense that you're less likely to be shaken down by police, etc than in other FSUs.
Public transport is quite good and functional. All the basics seem to work ok.
Maybe it was just my mindset, but I found it boring.

How was the nightlife? Girls?

Edit: Just found a datasheet from 2012 on Minsk here:
http://www.rooshvforum.network/thread-14123.html

Seems to be the only Belarus datasheet currently on the forum.

[Antipodean]

Polish Rumble's data sheet and posts looked consistent with what I saw.

I stayed in a hostel because I had to book something quickly to support the visa application which I did on the fly (in Vilnius).

I only speak English. Language was a massive barrier.
Pipelined about 5 girls, filtered for English speaking. Only met 2 due to logistics.

Friday night went to a mid range club with a fellow traveller. M to F ratios about 1:1 The average women were attractive but not stunning.

Saturday night went alone to Next nightclub at the Crowne Plaza. Arrived at 11:45
When I walked in, the ratio was at least 5:1 women, and even the bottom 20% of them looked better than the top 20% in a western club.
However it turned out that women got in free before midnight, hence they were all there, then the guys rolled in at their leisure over the next hour or two. When I left, between 2 - 3 am, the ratio was 1:1.
Language barrier was major, so I could only converse with about 3 girls. Their main focus was to establish if I was staying in the hotel, and I noticed they were all drinking their wine (or water) very slowly in the hope that I would buy them another.
Several of the guys there throwing money around on drinks or bottles did look Turkish or similar to me.
In different cultures I'm hesitant to be be judgemental with terms like prostitution, but my best guess was that it was a kind of semi pro environment.

Daygame is my preferred approach, but the language barrier was just too great.

[Orion]

I can travel freely to Belarus from here. Actually, i think i need to provide some kind of tourist bulletin or sth, but no Visa

As as i heard from first hand accounts - city of Minsk is quite neat, calm, comfy and pleasant. Definitely not a city on steroids like Moscow.

As for promo photos of Minsk

[Espresso]

For those who want more info, the tickets are sold here:
http://www.ticketpro.by/jnp/en/wc2014/index.html

Looks like a lot of them are already sold out.

By the way, I've read that Crowne Plaza is one of the official hotels for the event, so I can only assume Next will be pro-heavy.
http://www.belarus.by/en/about-belarus/s...nship-2014

Don't know if I can make it yet, but I'll keep an eye on this thread and update. And hopefully I'll be seeing some of you there in May!

[William Windsor]

I was in Belarus recently with Vorkuta. We had a blast! Belarus is a lot like Ukraine though it's cleaner and more expensive. IMO, the girls are equal in caliber.

There's a high-end club in Minsk called Black Hall which has excellent ratios and excellent quality. I think this is a new club, entry was $20 for guys. Another club called Africa was good, slightly younger crowd. In the line for Africa, I saw some Turkmenistan dudes get face-controlled. Africa's entry was $8 on Woman

If you opt for 2nd-tier Belarus, I suggest you avoid Gomel and instead hit up Brest. In Brest, locals spoke highly of Grodno for having good nightlife. We didn't have time to check that city out.

This website is great for finding accommodation, used it for Gomel, Brest, and I assume it's also good for Minsk:
http://minsk.localmart.by/nedvizhimost_a...y_komnaty/

[TripleG]

As I'm getting ready for my Belarus trip next week I just noticed the bad news, starting June 1st there will be visa-free travel between Turkey & Belarus.

just a matter of time until the hordes of horny Turkish guys make Minsk look like Kiev circa 2012 and another "pussy paradise" falls
What do you guys think?

[whoishe]

Unfortunately it looks very possible

Some local clubs will have to follow "Metro" (Lviv") misery and host groups of 65 (I once asked the guy who organized it) thirsty Turkish guys... who are getting played by local chicks by the way

[SpecialEd]

Turks aren't really competition though. I was in EE last year...I'd walk into a bar with greasy Turks hitting on everything that moved...on two occasions a local girl grabbed my arm and said I was their boyfriend just so the Turk would go away lol.

[whoishe]

(05-09-2014 09:40 PM)SpecialEd Wrote:  

Turks aren't really competition though. I was in EE last year...I'd walk into a bar with greasy Turks hitting on everything that moved...on two occasions a local girl grabbed my arm and said I was their boyfriend just so the Turk would go away lol.

They are maybe not a direct competition, but I believe reports claiming long term their presence makes things worse.