What follows is the first of a two-part blog about what you might expect upon visiting Moscow – especially if its your first time.

Let’s say you travel to Russia with a friend. Neither of you are Russian, you don’t speak the language and you love to have a good time. What types of activities might cost you more than you expect? Which activities may be challenging? I could base this entire blog on my own experiences but will defer partially to the experiences of people I know that traveled to Russia – some were Russian and some were not.

Let’s say you’ve got your visa, you’ve booked your hotel, your passport is in order, and you’ve got the proper clothing just in case the weather changes. Imagine your plane just landed and you disembarked. You are at Sheremetyevo Airport with a few bags, a great friend, lots of money, your liver craves vodka, and you cannot wait until you check in at Intercontinental Hotel on Tverskaya (its reasonably priced for Moscow) and then it’s off to explore Moscow – one of two or three cities in Russia that you’ve heard of. You are so excited to be here;  you cannot even believe that you are in this wondrous city that is so full of mystery – if your grandparents could see you now! You look to your right and then to your left. “Is that guy KGB?” you wonder. They no longer exist. Now they are the FSB or Федеральная служба безопасности Российской Федерации (ФСБ) for short:-) Any male that makes eye contact with you or looks suspicious could be a member – or so you think.

You decide to first go to your hotel so you need to catch a cab or take the train and then catch a cab. The Aeroexpress trains run from Sheremetyevo to the Belorussky Rail Terminal in Moscow but then you would need to catch a cab to get to your hotel. You decide to take a cab since you will have to take one anyway – it just seems easier and takes just over thirty minutes in normal traffic – there is no such thing in Moscow but you don’t know this.

Fortunately for you, you don’t really even have to flag a cab driver down because a very kind gentlemen approaches you and asks if you need a cab to Moscow – of course he knows where Intercontinental Hotel on Tverskaya is because you ask him in plain English if he does – you’ve never been here before and you naively think that if you speak slowly enough and loudly enough, anyone can naturally understand English; this is a potentially costly mistake. At that moment, you don’t know that you just made his night because you may have just helped him to pay half of his bills for the month. You drive through Moscow, your jaw hits the seat a time or two as you gaze at the lights, the buildings, the general layout of the city –  you are very excited, especially when you drive past the Kremlin – even though you don’t need to in order to get to your destination. The cab driver knows that most tourists want to see the Kremlin and that your mood and excitement will escalate upon seeing it. Of course, you likely don’t know this because this is your first time here. Once you arrive at your destination, you are expecting an inexpensive rate because you have U.S. dollars or even Euros. “$200 please,” the cabbie says. What can you really do? You are in a very powerful country, you don’t know the laws, and the cab driver seemed like a nice fellow – not the kind that would take you for a fool :-).

“Whoa,” you say as you fork over the money he requires to in order to release you and your bags from his temporary custody. Your enthusiasm and excitement are not even close to wearing off and you know you have “piles” of money so you don’t take too much notice. You chalk it up to “Russian cabs are expensive” and you think that they’ll be cheaper once you take shorter routes. “After all,” you think, “the airports are usually a good ways outside of town and cab drivers have families to feed.”

Come back for part two on Wednesday :-).