We finally bought our tickets to Russia yesterday. We leave the 28th of May from JFK, direct to SVO, returning on June 26th. $796 each, which seems like a reasonable price on Delta. I sent my passport in for a visa last week, should be plenty of time. I also paid for visa registration in advance, after it was such a disaster in Lipetsk last time. The registration is still cheaper than what I paid in bribes/fines last time.

Add $200 each for a R/T to New York. (This was still about 1,200 cheaper than booking it on a single itinerary).

Galina may stay longer, as the return is changeable with a fee.

I need to stay in Moscow for a few days to register my visa, though we were planning to spend a few days there anyway. Galina's parents will probably drive to meet us at the airport, and then stay with us in Moscow for a few days before driving to Lipetsk with us.

So - I'm looking for an apartment now. Options are:
1) Staty at the Metropol. Expensive (this will account for most of what we will spend there), but also a nice treat.
2) Moscow Rick. Apartment would be nice, considering may be 4 or 5 of us. Just spoke with him on the phone, space is very tight in general with the Ukrania being closed (space is always tight in Moscow though)
3) Something else, if anyone has a recommendation.

I have the next 2 weeks off from work before we go, so I will be studying like crazy, starting today. I think that listening to all of the Pimsleurs, begining to end, will be a good review. Conversational Russian starts at the University in the fall, I should be well prepared after this trip.

Just curious, who did you pay for this service?

I dealt with these folks a while back...

http://www.go-russia.com/apartments.php

Good service and the apartment was fine.

Gotorussia.com

I did it myself last time, but for $219 including the registration, it seemed like a good deal. Doing it myself, I still needed the registration (more money), invitation (Galina handled this last time, but it ended up being a few hundred bucks), overnight mail, and the fee itself. Homestay visa was just not practical to get in Lipetsk.

I think we are going with Moscow Rick for the apartment for a few days. Price is reasonable enough, just need to make sure Galina's folks can skip out of work for a few days.

Well, sounds like you will be back in Florida by the time I get there in late August, don't you think?

$800 round trip each from JFK....ouch!!! That seems high. But maybe not. Who knows. Sucks though. Seems like I've seen it for $600 or less before. I guess I better start saving for our trip next year (:

Well, if you fly from Miami, I found RT for $1000 on those dates, but for some reason their site crashes when you try to select the second flight. I dunno why (:

Cheers!
AKDiver

Expensive oil, weak dollar, and peak travel season. Many forces are conspiring against us. Miami is about a 6 hour drive from here, and the parking would make it a wash in the end. Plus, 12 hours of driving which is no fun. And, not fun at all after 12+ hours in the air.

It is reasonable enough that I won't complain. It might be nice having a layover in NYC for a day or two. We haven't been in 2 years.

Not sure about when we are coming back. It is a 150 EUR change fee on the return. Galina may stay all summer, and if so, I will come back a few times for work. In any case, she needs to be home for the university by the second week of August.

That airfare isn't bad at all. When I flew two years ago in "summer" it was a lot higher than that. Good deal!

As for your apartment, I got one through Moscowapartments.com and it was a big two bedroom with a jacuzzi tub, internet, cable, etc., and it was around $200/night or something like that. It was within walking distance to the GTR office, so that was nice. Kind of pricey as far as apartments go, but with the in-laws coming, it would be nice to have them in their own room! It wasn't super, but it was great for a two week stay.

Pimsleur is probably the most helpful tool out there for conversational language, any language. Well, that and hot chicks to practice with!

185/night seems okay to me, given the short notice, short stay, the need for that much space, and having a native English speaker to deal with.

Hotel operators are making a fortune in Moscow now. I don't think any of them want to screw that up by putting more rooms on the market. Even at $500/night, rooms are selling.

So how much is the whole price you payed(including flight and train and everything)?

That's probably about right for Moscow right now.

For 2 of us, $2,000. We will probably spend another $1,000 in Moscow over 2 days. $380 for the flat, no trains. We are staying with Galina's family for the rest of the month, I can't imagine we will spend that much there. They will most likely be picking us up at the airport.

This all just doesn't make any sense to me now... In the other thread that was started by Galina this morning it sounded like there is an assortment of problems with you two including violence, affairs, etc, etc... That would obviously lead us to believe you have split up and there was little hope for your marriage to continue.

Now in this thread you're talking about a trip to Russia the two of you are planning together to go visit Galina's parents... and it sounds like it's just a typical vacation trip that any normal happy couple would be taking together!

Am I missing something? I don't get it!

We are still going, as far as I know. What Galina posted about happened a year ago, since then we have filed for AOS and recieved her greencard, USCIS knew about it.

I'm not sure why she wants to post about it now.

My airfare for last weeks trip Delta non-stop Atlanta to Moscow and back was $1108.00...same window seats I always get.
The plane was about 60% full going and coming and I had no seat buddy and they were encouraging people to move around in the plane and get comfortable without anyone sitting next to you.
When I left Atlanta it was hot, when I got to SVO it was snowing so hard it felt like hail hitting me. When we got to Moscow Centre the sun was out and the wind was blowing off the Baltics..COLD!
The trains going to Belgorod and back to Moscow had no heat...the heat in the apartments had been turned off for the season, it rained and was COLD all but the last day we were in Moscow.
I told the girls I was not going back until it was time for me to go get them...they laughed and said...we'll see.

bruc

Wondering the same darn thing.....

If I was russ, and if any of the stuff in the other thread is even half true and she has some built up hostilities, I probably would not dare to travel to Russia with her to her home town... Over there she could get some thugs to beat him up, leave him on the side of the road somewhere for dead, and then on top of that she could return to America (if she has her green card) and pretend like she had no idea what happened to him in Russia, and than everything that was once theirs would all be hers!

Nice!... Now I am a gangster/killer/poor-tender-Americans-beater! Sorry, with all due respect to your high opinion about me, this is not the way I deal with my problems. My parents, friends, relatives love Russ, respect him, treat him like a son and look forward to seeing him.

Still wondering, but hey, to each their own.
Not posting to any of this anymore, I don't believe in giving this mess anymore attention.
Sides, this post is about airline tickets, sorry.

Galina, I was just joking! Maybe it's innappropriate, but sometimes I like to keep a light-hearted atmosphere when talking about these types of situations. I think it's better then to be serious all the time. Anyway I don't know that much about your whole story because I wasn't around a year ago or whenever it was that russ was airing his dirty laundry.

Ok, sorry!

So if it's all straightened out & everything is peachy, who was tellin the truth?

That was the point - truth, truth and nothing but the truth... Whole of it.

Honestly, I can't imagine what could compel any woman to stay with a man who punched her in the belly and caused a miscarriage. You must be the zen master of forgiveness!

Who said I forgave? I just don't give a damn any more. Que sara sara. Everything is peaceful now.

How can you stand even looking at him?

He hasn't tried to do it again, and I will make sure he never will. Life has punished him already...

Did you just tell a Russian to not be serious??? They wrote the book on serious! When you look up serious in the dictionary, there's a Russian passport photo!