Thread: 3 months travel on 2000$..?

Hi there,

I`m off to russia in a few weeks, and wondered if i would be ok traveling there with 2000$ to last me 3 months>?
I`ll be training it around the place, starting in St. Pete, going to Arkangelska, back to Moscow and on the trans-siberian stopping off here and there all the way to Ulan Ude, spending 3 weeks camping there, onto Vladivostok to chill out and THEN all the way back to Tallinn/estonia by train.
I`ll be staying in hotels most of the time, and intend on eating food from markets or making my own sandwichs etc..from shops.
Alcohol won`t be costing me alot as i won`t be indulging much...a fe wmeals in average priced restaurants here and there...

I`ll probably go to some gigs/concerts here and there though.

Am i cool to go!?

Moscow and St-Peter are quite expencive, but in general, that sum should be enough, if you keep your eyes on spending. A russian would survive on even smaller amount, but that comes with expierence.

Do you plan to pay for train tickets out of this money also?
It might be not enough, then..
But you better wait for the answer from someone actually living there now, not taking our words for it.

hey, i was in ulan ude for 3 months last year. If you need any info on stuff, especially camping around baikal i can help you out. How did you happen to find ulan ude? reap? -Drew

Buy platzkart train tickets the whole way, otherwise youll spend a ton on tickets.

2000 bucks is enough. Just watch your luggage and don't talk to bald guys, dressed in black, with a silver or gold necklace.

Are you planning to carry all that in cash? Not all places have ATMs or accept VISA!

Originally Posted by kalinka_vinnie

Just watch your luggage and don't talk to bald guys, dressed in black, with a silver or gold necklace.

If he will go in platzkart he will NEVER meet that kind of guys.

Are you planning to carry all that in cash? Not all places have ATMs or accept VISA!

Well I dont know about Siberia but in the Ural Visa and Mastercard are commonly used and there are a lot of ATM's here, in my little town (200 000 population) there are at least 20 ATMs accept VISA.

Originally Posted by JJ

Well I dont know about Siberia but in the Ural Visa and Mastercard are commonly used and there are a lot of ATM's here, in my little town (200 000 population) there are at least 20 ATMs accept VISA.

Little town = 200 000 people!!! Umm... In Norway our biggest CITY is 500 000. That is, like our capital!

Back to the topic: One problem I had when living in Peters, is that the ATMs never say how much they will charge you for extracting money, you had to find out later and sometimes it was a large fee (~10 bucks), luckily my friend showed me one were it was free and I used that ever since... just a sidenote...

oh, and in Vladivostok, beware of the chinese market! But if you do go there and you happen to see Boris, tell him that I will not be renewing my "protection" there this year.

Originally Posted by kalinka_vinnie

Little town = 200 000 people!!! Umm... In Norway our biggest CITY is 500 000. That is, like our capital!

I'm speaking seriously. Imho the cities with population less than 500 000 mostly considered as small here. My town is 3rd by population in my region, it's Sverdlovskay oblast' - 1. Yekaterinburg (1 300 000) 2. Nizhniy Tagil (390 000) 3. Kamensk-Uralskiy (195 000).

Back to the topic: One problem I had when living in Peters, is that the ATMs never say how much they will charge you for extracting money...

I agree. There is the same problem here.

Some of my Russian friends tell me that they lived in small towns or villages. When I ask them how many people lived there they reply with "Oh, not many.... 100,00 or 200,000 people". This staggers me because America is made up of thousands of small towns of only 5 or 10 thousand people. I have lived in two towns that were so small that I found them listed in a book on American "ghost towns". One was Midas, Nevada and more recently Tuscarora, Nevada.

Russian's aproach to the size of towns/cities is different. They are quite isolated from one another, so in USA or Europe if you live in 200 000 town, it may be a part of bigger city, kinda. Like, I live in West Sacramento, it is a separate town from Sacramento city. It is even in different county. But, downtown of Sacramento is 10 minutes drive for me. West Sac is just 50K people. But Great Sacramento includes many towns (and there is no physical border between them) and it is about 2 million or so.

Thanks for the answers!
Actually, i`ll have more like 2300 euro - which i guess is a bit more than 2k$, seeing that the dollar is`nt the strongest against the euro.

I guess i`ll be better taking Euros then?

I`m going to be taking travellers checks - that should be fun trying to cash them i reakon!
Cash
And a Cirrus atm bank card.

drw881 - i`ll be doing some volunteer work with Lake Baikal Watch.
We`re all meeting in Ulan Ude(well out group anyway):
http://www.earthisland.org/project/view ... ubSiteID=1

So we`ll be based around Barguzin Village and the surrounding area - should be fun!
http://www.earthisland.org/ecotours/vol ... pdate.html

Although when it comes to camping etc...i`m a pure novice - i think i stayed in a ten one drunken night about 7 years ago!
Oh well.

Originally Posted by Pioner

Russian's aproach to the size of towns/cities is different. They are quite isolated from one another, so in USA or Europe if you live in 200 000 town, it may be a part of bigger city, kinda.

There are both variants (isolated from one another and agglomerations) in Russia as in any big country. It is depend on density of population in every concrete region.

Originally Posted by CTPEKO3A

Do you plan to pay for train tickets out of this money also?
It might be not enough, then..
.

Yes, i`ll be buying train tickets out of that - i have a bit more than 2k so - fingers crossed i should get by just fine.
Thinking about returning from the east via Ukraine...must read up a bit on it!

Originally Posted by Rimbaud

Thanks for the answers!
Actually, i`ll have more like 2300 euro - which i guess is a bit more than 2k$, seeing that the dollar is`nt the strongest against the euro.

I guess i`ll be better taking Euros then?

I`m going to be taking travellers checks - that should be fun trying to cash them i reakon!
Cash
And a Cirrus atm bank card.

drw881 - i`ll be doing some volunteer work with Lake Baikal Watch.
We`re all meeting in Ulan Ude(well out group anyway):
http://www.earthisland.org/project/view ... ubSiteID=1

So we`ll be based around Barguzin Village and the surrounding area - should be fun!
http://www.earthisland.org/ecotours/vol ... pdate.html

Although when it comes to camping etc...i`m a pure novice - i think i stayed in a ten one drunken night about 7 years ag

Ok cool, youll be in the zabaikal park which is where i stayed. Its really nice. Its not too descriptive so who knows where youll be there, but the holy nose is a really cool area. (peninsula that sticks out on the eastern shore of baikal). They have mountains there that are like 5-6000 feet with hiking trails, hot springs, and the water is not nearly as cold in some of the bays where it is shallower so you can actually swim, although we did in the cold parts as well.
Oh well.

Ok cool, youll be in the zabaikal park which is where i stayed. Its really nice. Its not too descriptive so who knows where youll be there, but the holy nose is a really cool area. (peninsula that sticks out on the eastern shore of baikal). They have mountains there that are like 5-6000 feet with hiking trails, hot springs, and the water is not nearly as cold in some of the bays where it is shallower so you can actually swim, although we did in the cold parts as well.

If you have some time in ulan ude, see the lenin head, the evolginsk monastery (like 20 min away), ethnographic museum. Other than that there isnt much. Its not that great of a town. Not much entertainment wise

Originally Posted by Rimbaud

Originally Posted by CTPEKO3A

Do you plan to pay for train tickets out of this money also?
It might be not enough, then..
.

Yes, i`ll be buying train tickets out of that - i have a bit more than 2k so - fingers crossed i should get by just fine.
Thinking about returning from the east via Ukraine...must read up a bit on it!

Train timetable and prices (the web-site works sluggishly).

http://www.eng.rzd.ru/index.html (in English)

It seems the information that you need is only in Russian version of the web-site:

http://www.rzd.ru/e3/index.php?new_query=1
or
http://traintickets.ru/price.htm

===================================
One more. Here free is only train timetable (in Russian)
http://www.tutu.ru/poezda/

Originally Posted by Rimbaud

Originally Posted by CTPEKO3A

Do you plan to pay for train tickets out of this money also?
It might be not enough, then..
.

Yes, i`ll be buying train tickets out of that - i have a bit more than 2k so - fingers crossed i should get by just fine.
Thinking about returning from the east via Ukraine...must read up a bit on it!

if he rides platzkart he'll be fine, 300-400 max on trian tickets. If those places organize your trips for you theyll more than likely have you on kupe whcih will drive your prices up a ton. Platzkart is an open berth with 20 people or so in it. No doors. You still get sheets, and a bed and there are 4 to a compartment. It just doesnt have a door on it. I think its a lot more fun, you meet more people, and gerally nicer people it seems. Not as many scummy mafia types. a train ticket from moscow to ulan ude is 50 bucks or so (at least it was a year ago). So if you are stopping off along the way in like 3 or 4 places it will probably cost you 70-80 bucks. Irkutsk to ulan ude is like 180-250 platzkart i think if you plan on stopping off there.