Exchanging Money In Moscow

[Neonred 3,948]

When we went back to Russia a few months ago I found out that 5000 rubles sure didn't go as far as it used to. With the poor exchange rate 5000 rubles is about $200 and I was able to eat that up pretty quick, and I'm not talking about doing it in Moscow or St Pete. The inflation rate in Russia has been very high and prices are rising quickly. Of course I'm thinking back to my first visits 4 or 5 years ago when the exchange rate was much better too. A few taxi rides, a few trips to buy groceries and essentials, and go out to eat a nice meal and most of that 5000 rubles is gone. I remember my wife's shock a few months back when she saw how expensive good laundry detergent had gotten in the year and a half she had been away. Clothes are very expensive too. God forbid if you need to buy a new pair of good shoes!

[slim 1,533]

So maybe that's why my wife isn't in a hurry to take advantage of my "free plane ticket back home" offer.

[slim 1,533]

Double post....

Edited February 10, 2008 by slim

[visaveteran1 33]

Just to concur with some...cash is the way to go. Before I leave for Russia I go to my bank and tell them I need X amount of clean $100 bills. No marks, no tears, no ink blotches. The bank might take a few days to gather the bills but I am in no hurry. I also heard many banks get fresh currency on Fridays but I don't know if this is true.

[visaveteran1 33]

Our rent, only, when we lived in Kazan' (on local rates not tourist) was 12000 rubles for a three room flat. 5000 can get you by in a month IF you own a flat. We managed to easily get by on 5000 for the rest of our expenses for a month.

Just got back from Russia. The cab fare between SVO 2 and SVO 1 was $60 (wanted to get $80 but i refused)! I paid $40 back in October. I think the cab mafia is getting very greedy. And, of course, Americans pay higher fares. I was in Siberia for almost a month. The costs are going through the roof.

[eekee 182]

Our rent, only, when we lived in Kazan' (on local rates not tourist) was 12000 rubles for a three room flat. 5000 can get you by in a month IF you own a flat. We managed to easily get by on 5000 for the rest of our expenses for a month.

Just got back from Russia. The cab fare between SVO 2 and SVO 1 was $60 (wanted to get $80 but i refused)! I paid $40 back in October. I think the cab mafia is getting very greedy. And, of course, Americans pay higher fares. I was in Siberia for almost a month. The costs are going through the roof.

that's why my policy in many situations is to not say anything and let my guy do the talking. this way no one knows there's an american in their car or trying to rent their apartment or etc.

[slim 1,533]

Now that's cool!!!

But paying $60 for a cab ride when you could ride the bus for a few bucks is crazy! I know there's baggage involved but still, you could hire someone to help you with your bags and which bus to take and still save half that money.

(I'm only posting devil's advocate here... I'd pay that $60 too; I'm lazy!)

[visaveteran1 33]

Our rent, only, when we lived in Kazan' (on local rates not tourist) was 12000 rubles for a three room flat. 5000 can get you by in a month IF you own a flat. We managed to easily get by on 5000 for the rest of our expenses for a month.

Just got back from Russia. The cab fare between SVO 2 and SVO 1 was $60 (wanted to get $80 but i refused)! I paid $40 back in October. I think the cab mafia is getting very greedy. And, of course, Americans pay higher fares. I was in Siberia for almost a month. The costs are going through the roof.

$60 is what I paid too in August. In rubles it was going to be almost $80 going by his exchange rate. I was late for my flight (which I wound up missing anyway) so I didn't haggle. (I hear it's pointless to haggle anyway.)

Having said that, I certainly got my money's worth. When we went outside, the traffic was gridlocked inside the airport. So he told me he would take me in his personal car, parked just outside the airport. Despite all kinds of alarm bells going off in my head, we dragged my luggage through an active construction area, dodging cranes and back hoes and weird pneumatic thumping machines, jumping over trenches, I even tripped on some kind of mine cart track. Finally we crawled through a hole in a chain link fence and got in his car. I couldn't have gotten that kind of fear-for-your-life excitement spending $60 at Disneyland.

There is a sense of fear and excitement and adventure when visiting Russia at times, and in certain situations, that makes for great stories and memories you can't find elsewhere. I went for a ride in a Russian ambulance recently when i had some stomach problems. My wife was concerned so somehow i went from getting a kindly home visit from a nurse or practitioner to going to the hospital in a bumpy unheated refrigerator van. Suddenly I'm off into a new adventure. The visit to the hospital was VERY interesting. They don't get too many Americans showing up there. They actually treated me like a VIP and let me use the doctors bathroom to give a urine sample because the patient bathroom was too funky. A young doctor spoke with me in passable English and told me I appeared to be OK and they didn't charge me any money...which in Russia is a really unique experience.

[KGSodie 0]

Our rent, only, when we lived in Kazan' (on local rates not tourist) was 12000 rubles for a three room flat. 5000 can get you by in a month IF you own a flat. We managed to easily get by on 5000 for the rest of our expenses for a month.

Just got back from Russia. The cab fare between SVO 2 and SVO 1 was $60 (wanted to get $80 but i refused)! I paid $40 back in October. I think the cab mafia is getting very greedy. And, of course, Americans pay higher fares. I was in Siberia for almost a month. The costs are going through the roof.

that's why my policy in many situations is to not say anything and let my guy do the talking. this way no one knows there's an american in their car or trying to rent their apartment or etc.

When I was in Russia, that's precisely what Natasha would say me: "Kevin, keep your mouth closed!"

[KGSodie 0]

Our rent, only, when we lived in Kazan' (on local rates not tourist) was 12000 rubles for a three room flat. 5000 can get you by in a month IF you own a flat. We managed to easily get by on 5000 for the rest of our expenses for a month.

Just got back from Russia. The cab fare between SVO 2 and SVO 1 was $60 (wanted to get $80 but i refused)! I paid $40 back in October. I think the cab mafia is getting very greedy. And, of course, Americans pay higher fares. I was in Siberia for almost a month. The costs are going through the roof.

$60 is what I paid too in August. In rubles it was going to be almost $80 going by his exchange rate. I was late for my flight (which I wound up missing anyway) so I didn't haggle. (I hear it's pointless to haggle anyway.)

Having said that, I certainly got my money's worth. When we went outside, the traffic was gridlocked inside the airport. So he told me he would take me in his personal car, parked just outside the airport. Despite all kinds of alarm bells going off in my head, we dragged my luggage through an active construction area, dodging cranes and back hoes and weird pneumatic thumping machines, jumping over trenches, I even tripped on some kind of mine cart track. Finally we crawled through a hole in a chain link fence and got in his car. I couldn't have gotten that kind of fear-for-your-life excitement spending $60 at Disneyland.

In February of last year, it cost me about $40. I had only just met Natasha in person at the airport, and no sooner did we embrace than the hawker for the cabs interrupted us. He and Natasha spoke briefly, and then we walked through the terminal to find a place to sit. The hawker followed us the entire why, animatedly speaking with Natasha who kept telling him no. We found a bench and sat down and she sent him away. After 20 minutes or so, he returned, and we got up to leave the terminal. As we had literally one foot out of the door, he must have lowered the price because Natasha then turned to me and said "we will take a taxi"! So maybe haggling does work, though it is true I really didn't understand enough Russian to follow the conversation.

[Satellite 1]

Just got back from Russia. The cab fare between SVO 2 and SVO 1 was $60 (wanted to get $80 but i refused)! I paid $40 back in October. I think the cab mafia is getting very greedy. And, of course, Americans pay higher fares. I was in Siberia for almost a month. The costs are going through the roof.

You guys are just suckers, that's my conclusion after reading this over and over again. Last time I was going between SVO1 and SVO2 I paid 15 rubles to ride in a shared taxi with other Russians! Nobody would have charged me more even if I spoke English only.

Read before you travel:

http://www.sheremetyevo-airport.ru/?act=part&pid=2

If you can't read have your fiancee read it to you!

[KGSodie 0]

Just got back from Russia. The cab fare between SVO 2 and SVO 1 was $60 (wanted to get $80 but i refused)! I paid $40 back in October. I think the cab mafia is getting very greedy. And, of course, Americans pay higher fares. I was in Siberia for almost a month. The costs are going through the roof.

You guys are just suckers, that's my conclusion after reading this over and over again. Last time I was going between SVO1 and SVO2 I paid 15 rubles to ride in a shared taxi with other Russians! Nobody would have charged me more even if I spoke English only.

Read before you travel:

http://www.sheremetyevo-airport.ru/?act=part&pid=2

If you can't read have your fiancee read it to you!

I went from SVO to a hotel that was a LONG way away - almost an hour by taxi. For 15 rubles????

[KGSodie 0]

I went from SVO to a hotel that was a LONG way away - almost an hour by taxi. For 15 rubles????

LOL, it took me an hour to get from SVO1 to SVO2 on my return flight from Kazan because of some rain. Had the only taxi driver in Russia that refused to drive on the shoulder.

Sounds like he must also have insisted on keeping all 4 tires in contact with the ground at all times too. You sure he was Russian???

[visaveteran1 33]

Just got back from Russia. The cab fare between SVO 2 and SVO 1 was $60 (wanted to get $80 but i refused)! I paid $40 back in October. I think the cab mafia is getting very greedy. And, of course, Americans pay higher fares. I was in Siberia for almost a month. The costs are going through the roof.

You guys are just suckers, that's my conclusion after reading this over and over again. Last time I was going between SVO1 and SVO2 I paid 15 rubles to ride in a shared taxi with other Russians! Nobody would have charged me more even if I spoke English only.

Read before you travel:

http://www.sheremetyevo-airport.ru/?act=part&pid=2

If you can't read have your fiancee read it to you!

A sucker does not know he's getting the business...I'm well aware of it. I happily pay because I'm handicapped (gunshot wound...Vietnam 1968) and the Russia buses and shuttles operate like the wind...variable. With a two-hour connection time for my flight to Siberia, I'm not paying roulette with missing the flight and sleeping in SVO 1 to save 60 clams. The true sucker counts his pennies as he sleeps on the airport floor.

[Satellite 1]

Russia buses and shuttles operate like the wind...variable. With a two-hour connection time for my flight to Siberia, I'm not paying roulette with missing the flight and sleeping in SVO 1 to save 60 clams. The true sucker counts his pennies as he sleeps on the airport floor.

Based on your "opinion" you have never been on Russia's buses, shuttles, or shared taxis. As a person who has ridden all three numerous time I can assure you they work like clock work. The US can learn a thing or two about public transit from the Russians. I probably made it from SVO1 to SVO2 in a shared taxi faster than in a taxi, because with a taxi I'd lose 15 minutes negotiating the price! And the only difference between a shared taxi and a regular one is how many seats and how many people ride with you. But hey, its your money, I just prefer to spend mine on something else.