"The Other Mr. President"

When you wake up and it’s snowing, so you dress in full winter gear, and then it’s sunny and 13 C by afternoon.

Mmmmm, you’ve never felt sweatier on that warm-tunnel of escalator down to the metro platform.

When you leave at noon and it’s sunny and 13 C, only to walk home from the metro in slushy snow. ​

The 13 degree weather drop leaves your immune system ravaged and weak.

Army boots are the only outside shoe that will get you through

This is a cautionary tale to long-distance fliers who have hungrily eyed cheap tickets through Moscow. Aeroflot is not the only airline who provides these discount tickets, but being the largest Russian airline, they offer quite a lot. Russia, the enormous continent it is, holds important layover potential between western and eastern destinations. There are multiple international airports in Moscow: Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo, and Domodedovo are the three major ones that transport thousands of people daily. 

Here's the important tip: Check before purchasing a flight through Moscow that the connecting plane leaves from the same airport. Foreigners need a visa to enter Russia, even if it's just for an airport connection. And no, you can't buy or obtain one of these visas in-country, on the ground, upon arrival. 

This actually happened to a dear friend recently. Her airline didn't mention anything about the necessary visa she needed to obtain in order to carry out her flight while connecting in Moscow on her way to Japan from New York. She was forced to miss her flight and give up her ticket. I can imagine that the last-minute flight she had to buy from Moscow to Tokyo set her back an ugly penny.  

I remember when I bought a cheap ticket from Japan to Bulgaria I had a 16 hour layover in Moscow. I thought, "cool, maybe I can get a short-term visa like I did and Shanghai and check out Red Square." No- also not possible. I ate M&Ms in the airport the whole time. This minor inconvenience was due to insufficient googling on my part and it was nothing in comparison to the travel nightmare story that happened to my friend.

Yet, would you all not agree that the airline provider and/or flight company should bear some responsibility for not notifying its passengers in the extra steps they will need to carry out in order to make it from point A to point B? I would never think to look into that kind of thing on my own. Although, let's also take that as a lesson too. Don't buy a ticket before checking for airport connections and then immediately look up visa requirements. For Russia, I can say with confidence that you better get yourself a visa. 

Just Call Me God

Anti-Corruption Demonstrations

Media Roundup of Protest Photos

Home Sweet Home

Foreigner's first Banya 

​When you get naked in front of your friends for the first time

​And then you realise you don't give a F***

​When some boss babushka throws ALL the water on the steam stove 

​And then you try your hardest not to be the first one to run out of the sauna

​Enjoying alcoholic beverage in between sauna runs. Not a healthy choice, but a happy choice. And tradition.

When you regret volunteering to get beaten with the birch leaves, cuz it actually hurts quite a lot

And then there's how relaxed you feel at the end of it all