[DaveR]

(09-29-2016 08:10 PM)Kendrick Wrote:  

It's unfortunate to hear the club scene is lacking in SPB, as that's my favored way to game.

Clubs aren't popular in the North because they're generally considered uncultured.

(09-29-2016 08:10 PM)Kendrick Wrote:  

I'm hoping there won't be as many tourists there in April/May.

May is peak tourist season.

[Kendrick]

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[Kendrick]

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[Kendrick]

(09-30-2016 05:08 AM)Kendrick Wrote:  

[quote] (09-30-2016 05:07 AM)Kendrick Wrote:  

[quote='Kendrick' pid='1406081' dateline='1475197822']
It's unfortunate to hear the club scene is lacking in SPB, as that's my favored way to game.

Clubs aren't popular in the North because they're generally considered uncultured.


May is peak tourist season.

More reason for Moscow then it seems. I'm flexible, if I stay in SPB for a month in April and it's not great, then it's time to move on.

Thanks for the honest input.

[Kendrick]

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[DaveR]

The only thing I would recommend would be to stay longer (two months at least) in each place rather than trying to see a bucket list of cities. You won't get a good understanding of the local culture if you move around too often, and that would make the trip somewhat of a waste intellectually.

Most of the major sites can be seen in a few days, which could be covered at low cost if you make some cities stopovers between longer-term destinations. For example, after Prague you could spend 3-4 days seeing Bratislava (one day) and Budapest (a few days) before flying to Kiev.

If you find that you like a particular city, you could come back to it for a long-term stay later in your trip.

[Kendrick]

(09-30-2016 06:11 AM)DaveR Wrote:  

The only thing I would recommend would be to stay longer (two months at least) in each place rather than trying to see a bucket list of cities. You won't get a good understanding of the local culture if you move around too often, and that would make the trip somewhat of a waste intellectually.

Most of the major sites can be seen in a few days, which could be covered at low cost if you make some cities stopovers between longer-term destinations. For example, after Prague you could spend 3-4 days seeing Bratislava (one day) and Budapest (a few days) before flying to Kiev.

If you find that you like a particular city, you could come back to it for a long-term stay later in your trip.

I think that's good advice DaveR, I plan for two months at least in Kiev, Moscow, and possibly St. Petersburg (if I like it). That still leaves room for some long-term stay in some combination of Belgrade, Bucharest, Odessa, Vilnius (will likely only end up picking two of those).

I think you're right in the sense it might be prudent to visit several cities for a few days each, fly to Kiev, and then later on should we want to, return to the cities we enjoyed most for long term stay.

Aside from Ukraine and Russian, do you have any strong recommendations between some of the other cities I listed?

Favorite from a local culture/vibe of city perspective? What countries have the highest quality girls (most 8/9s) ?

[Rocha]

Small advice from me. Be aware of the festive dates in each place, that can make for some boring and dull weeks.

E.g: Spent Catholic Easter in an Orthodox country (Russia, Ukraine, Serbia..) and spent Orthodox Easter in a Catholic or atheist country (Lithuania, Poland, Czech, Estonia).

Also, avoid (at least) Ukraine in the first two weeks of January, everyone is inside celebrating new year, Christmas and the Old new year (orthodox tradition).

[DaveR]

(09-30-2016 01:21 PM)Kendrick Wrote:  

Aside from Ukraine and Russian, do you have any strong recommendations between some of the other cities I listed?

Favorite from a local culture/vibe of city perspective? What countries have the highest quality girls (most 8/9s) ?

Well since you asked for a strong recommendation, I would say that, except for Belgrad, they're historically insignificant shitholes.
And I'm not joking... the EU has diluted whatever culture those places once had. These days they're all just Germany-lite.

In any case, Moscow is the place to go if you're looking for 9s. Nowhere else comes close.

If you want to capture a lot of flags, sign up for some Russian courses. You'll find at least 10 nationalities in any major university's preparatory department. 9 months should be enough to get basic conversation skills down.

For short side-trips, Georgia, Armenia, Uzbekistan have much more culture to offer than generic Central Europe.

[Kendrick]

(09-30-2016 04:46 PM)DaveR Wrote:  

(09-30-2016 01:21 PM)Kendrick Wrote:  

Aside from Ukraine and Russian, do you have any strong recommendations between some of the other cities I listed?

Favorite from a local culture/vibe of city perspective? What countries have the highest quality girls (most 8/9s) ?

Well since you asked for a strong recommendation, I would say that, except for Belgrad, they're historically insignificant shitholes.
And I'm not joking... the EU has diluted whatever culture those places once had. These days they're all just Germany-lite.

In any case, Moscow is the place to go if you're looking for 9s. Nowhere else comes close.

If you want to capture a lot of flags, sign up for some Russian courses. You'll find at least 10 nationalities in any major university's preparatory department. 9 months should be enough to get basic conversation skills down.

For short side-trips, Georgia, Armenia, Uzbekistan have much more culture to offer than generic Central Europe.

Dave, that's some awesome information. We're definitely going to sign up for Russian courses every month we're there, hopefully I'll be somewhat conversational. I speak fluent Spanish and decent French, but Russian seems way more difficult. For the last 6 months my Russian buddy is going to join us, I'm sure that'll help us out at clubs and such, and getting into scenes we wouldn't otherwise be able to. Maybe it'll throw off the sex tourist vibe having a Russian with us in Kiev or St. Petersburg.

As Moscow seems to be held in such high regard by yourself and other RVF veterans, I think I'll dedicate the last 3 months of my trip to Moscow. Maybe if we go through a local realtor (let my Russian buddy handle that), and split a flat three ways it'll still be reasonably affordable, it looks like the Ruble will keep falling against the dollar too.

After Moscow, what cities would you say would be the next tier down for 9s? Kiev? St. Petersburg, Belgrade, Vilnius?

I'd be interested in a list of say, your five or so favorite cities in EE excluding the Stans. Other than Krakow/Budapest, and then Munich and Prague for holidays + wedding, I'm still totally open to where to go. I'm leaning now toward a week in a few cities and then Kiev for two months in mid-February, followed by a month in St. Petersburg and perhaps 2-3 in Moscow. That should put me in the realm of the beautiful for a while. I had recent LTR relationship with a true 9, and its been a bit rough out here is SF since then, I'll go whole weekends without even seeing an 8, thankfully my yield when I finally do spot one is pretty good. Who knows, maybe after Moscow I won't want to come back.

[Kendrick]

(09-30-2016 04:38 PM)Rocha Wrote:  

Small advice from me. Be aware of the festive dates in each place, that can make for some boring and dull weeks.

E.g: Spent Catholic Easter in an Orthodox country (Russia, Ukraine, Serbia..) and spent Orthodox Easter in a Catholic or atheist country (Lithuania, Poland, Czech, Estonia).

Also, avoid (at least) Ukraine in the first two weeks of January, everyone is inside celebrating new year, Christmas and the Old new year (orthodox tradition).

Will do, that's something I never really considered.

[Jpizz]

I went to Russia last June and spent 1 week in Saint Petersburg and 1 week in Moscow. Clearly I'm no expert on the subject having stayed for such a short time, but hopefully my thoughts have some value to you:

Peter is a beautiful city and you should definitely visit. June is a great time to go because of "White Nights" when the sun barely sets. Very cool backdrop to going out when sunset occurs around midnight and sunrise around 2am - the city is bathed in a phosphorescent light that reflects off of the canals and old buildings. Impossible to adequately describe, but very cool to experience. There are also a lot of cultural things to see that are well worth the time: Hermitage museum (kind of like if you put the Louvre inside of Versailles) and winter and summer palaces of Peter and Catherine the Great in the surrounding towns.

That said, after a week in Peter, I had my fill and after a week in Moscow I barely scratched the surface. The girls are better looking, and there are way more options for nightlife. I liked the overall vibe better too. It has a very cosmopolitan feel vs. Peter, which is more provincial (not a great analogy, but think NYC vs. Boston). I imagine if you have enough time, you can find your niche there. While in Moscow I had the good fortune of spending a couple nights out with Cicero. He's an all around great guy and the life he's been able to build for himself in Moscow is truly inspirational. It's hard for me to imagine a westerner having the same type of success in Peter

[DaveR]

(09-30-2016 06:34 PM)Kendrick Wrote:  

After Moscow, what cities would you say would be the next tier down for 9s? Kiev? St. Petersburg, Belgrade, Vilnius?

1. Moscow
2. Vilnius
3. Kiev? (haven't been there since the 'revolution'. Recent reports from forum members are mixed)
4. St. Petersburg, but not much point unless you're planning to stay there for half a year. Social circle is difficult to break into because of the layout of the city (dacha culture).
5. Minsk and other Russian cities

Belgrade is probably in there somewhere.. I don't know it very well.

Would recommend going straight to Vilnius. You could do a few days of tourism through Poland, then head to Vilnius by bus: https://luxexpress.eu/en
If you don't like it, take a flight to Moscow or Kiev.

Get your Russian buddy to check out cian.ru for long-term apartments in Russia. Yandex used to work in Ukraine but they've blocked it now. Not sure what they use these days.

[Kendrick]

(10-01-2016 11:14 AM)DaveR Wrote:  

(09-30-2016 06:34 PM)Kendrick Wrote:  

After Moscow, what cities would you say would be the next tier down for 9s? Kiev? St. Petersburg, Belgrade, Vilnius?

1. Moscow
2. Vilnius
3. Kiev? (haven't been there since the 'revolution'. Recent reports from forum members are mixed)
4. St. Petersburg, but not much point unless you're planning to stay there for half a year. Social circle is difficult to break into because of the layout of the city (dacha culture).
5. Minsk and other Russian cities

Belgrade is probably in there somewhere.. I don't know it very well.

Would recommend going straight to Vilnius. You could do a few days of tourism through Poland, then head to Vilnius by bus: https://luxexpress.eu/en
If you don't like it, take a flight to Moscow or Kiev.

Get your Russian buddy to check out cian.ru for long-term apartments in Russia. Yandex used to work in Ukraine but they've blocked it now. Not sure what they use these days.

Excellent. After looking at cian.ru, the prices are easily 50% what they are on airbnb, Moscow is totally doable for 3 months+. Kiev seems too tempting to pass up, I'll report on my findings when I get there. Glad to have a more realistic idea of what to expect about SPB. Vilnius we will definitely check out - do you recommend a couple weeks there at least?

[DaveR]

(10-01-2016 11:48 AM)Kendrick Wrote:  

Excellent. After looking at cian.ru, the prices are easily 50% what they are on airbnb, Moscow is totally doable for 3 months+. Kiev seems too tempting to pass up, I'll report on my findings when I get there. Glad to have a more realistic idea of what to expect about SPB. Vilnius we will definitely check out - do you recommend a couple weeks there at least?

You wrote earlier that you like first-tier cities... I wouldn't describe Vilnius as that. Maybe book one week to see if you like it. It shouldn't be too hard to find accommodation, especially in Winter. When you get bored, go to the next city.

Agents in Moscow usually charge half a month's rent as a commission, so you'll have to factor that in when looking on Cian. You might be able to find one directly from the owner if you get lucky.

Try these for Russian language courses:
http://www.irlc.msu.ru/
http://www.rsuh.ru/ruslang/en/

Both are large universities, so you'll be able to game on campus.

[_Cicero]

@Kendrick. So, DaveR's probably answered your questions, but I pay $1,000/month for a nice two bedroom in the center of Moscow. If you're on a super tight budget, living a few metro stations from the center wouldn't be the end of the world, but of course it won't be as convenient. On Airbnb, you should always negotiate like crazy on long term rentals. Most people on there post expensive prices, but only rent out occasionally. If you stay for 3 months, you could try offering 50% of the posted price (or perhaps even less). Certainly they'll cut you a large discount of some kind. I'd suggest Peter is best hit on a 3 day trip from Moscow with a chick.

If you're going to be here 3 months, and on a shoestring budget, you could pick up some part time English tutoring work. You should be able to fetch $30/hour. You do 10 hours a week and you've paid for your flat in the center for the month.

[Kendrick]

(10-04-2016 07:09 AM)_Cicero Wrote:  

@Kendrick. So, DaveR's probably answered your questions, but I pay $1,000/month for a nice two bedroom in the center of Moscow. If you're on a super tight budget, living a few metro stations from the center wouldn't be the end of the world, but of course it won't be as convenient. On Airbnb, you should always negotiate like crazy on long term rentals. Most people on there post expensive prices, but only rent out occasionally. If you stay for 3 months, you could try offering 50% of the posted price (or perhaps even less). Certainly they'll cut you a large discount of some kind. I'd suggest Peter is best hit on a 3 day trip from Moscow with a chick.

If you're going to be here 3 months, and on a shoestring budget, you could pick up some part time English tutoring work. You should be able to fetch $30/hour. You do 10 hours a week and you've paid for your flat in the center for the month.

Cicero that's pretty incredible advice! My budget isn't super shoestring, and $1000 for a 2BDR in the city center sounds amazing (In SF a 2BDR goes for 3k these days). If that's the case, and Moscow is as incredible as you say, perhaps it merits an even longer stay. DaveR had some great Russian language course links. I have some experience tutoring and both my buddy and I went to top private east schools (if that carries any weight), so the English tutoring might be a good idea.

More and more I'm thinking the best way to approach this trip is to spend a week in the cities that interest us in Central Europe/the balkans for travel and exploration, and then dedicate the most of our time in Kiev and and especially Moscow. We'd get more out of it intellectually, as DaveR mentioned, be better positioned to learn Russian, and (in addition to Vilnius) this is where the most tier one girls are. That and I love tier one global cities.

Do you have anything to add to what DaveR touched on Cicero?

It'd be awesome to meet some of you guys when we get out there. A little less than a month left until we leave, data sheets will follow.

[_Cicero]

^Yep, you're welcome. I don't have much to add aside from tamping down expectations of Peter, and not to decide too much in advance. See what you like. Basing yourself in Kiev/Moscow and making invasions of other areas based out of there could be a good strategy, I think... You could learn quite a bit of Russian in this time if you tried, which would help as you travel around the region, and actually make you enjoy your trip and your lays more. See the Russian language thread, but the gold standard for this is 1-on-1 Russian-only language lessons while listening to language tapes constantly. You'll also find loads of Russian speakers in almost all all warm/beach direct-flight-from-Moscow areas in the summer, so it will pay dividends.

[Vinny]

I have not been gaming in Moscow, but I passed through it. Tinder seems to be exploding with talent, but it is hard to say how real it is.
With it being super expensive I say spend a week there and better spend a bulk in St. Petersburg (awesome city for daygame and online game, nighlife seems pretty decent too) and south of Russia in the summer. And definitely do at least a month in Kiev and couple of weeks in Odessa and Lviv. In Baltics drop by Kaunas in Lithuania.

You are right to start from West and move to East. If you do it other way you would enjoy it less.

Pipeline with Tinder 2 weeks in advance before coming to a new country. These will make short stays more fruitful.

Be sure to post on your location and progress. Contribute your observations of each place and comparing to others. This way you will get quite a few experienced members meeting you and showing you around.

With the scope of your travels I am pretty sure I will stumble upon you somewhere in EE )

[Slam]

Yo Kendrick, is this trip underway? What did you end up deciding on?

[Kendrick]

Got off to a late start, landed in Krakow a few days ago. Tentatively our route will be Lviv>Kiev>Minsk(maybe)>Vilnius>Riga/Tallin(maybe)>St Petersburg>Moscow

Random trips to Prague and Bucharest will be thrown in at some point.

Updates to the thread will come soon. Already astonished at the quality here compared to SF. Can only imagine what Russia and Ukraine will be like.

[jselysianeagle]

Yo! Any updates? Very keen on hearing about your adventures :-p

[jselysianeagle]

I trust that you guys are so busy getting laid you have no time to post updates on here :-D