{"id":10791,"date":"2018-06-11T08:09:54","date_gmt":"2018-06-11T08:09:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/?p=10791"},"modified":"2018-06-08T19:17:18","modified_gmt":"2018-06-08T19:17:18","slug":"advice-for-first-time-travelers-to-russia-by-arie-helderman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/advice-for-first-time-travelers-to-russia-by-arie-helderman\/","title":{"rendered":"Advice for First-Time Travelers to Russia by Arie Helderman"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post is the second in a series of first-hand accounts and tips from people who have traveled to Russia. Check out previous posts in this series here<\/a>!\u00a0Our second guest author is Arie Helderman, a freelance copywriter from the Netherlands. He runs his own site about learning Russian at learntherussianlanguage.com<\/a>. The rest of this post is by Arie, with some of the Russian spellings and translations of Russian words added in by me.<\/p>\n

\"guest

Arie in St. Peterbsurg
Image provided by Arie\u00a0Helderman<\/p><\/div>\n

Some background information on me<\/h1>\n

My first trip to a Russian speaking country was when I was 16. My father asked me if I wanted to join him on a business trip to Ukraine. I didn\u2019t know the language back then and would\u2019ve never guessed that less than 10 years later I\u2019d be speaking Russian.<\/p>\n

6 years after that a Russian speaking colleague taught me some Russian words over a couple of beers in a bar. I got interested and soon found myself learning some phrases and sentences on my own.<\/p>\n

A year later I met a Russian girl while studying in Madrid and before I knew it I was invited to meet her parents in Russia.<\/p>\n

In 2016 I flew for the first time to Moscow. I stayed there for 1 week and went for 2 days to St. Petersburg and a couple of days to Crimea (\u041a\u0440\u044b\u043c<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

Over the last 2 years I have been to Russia 5 more times. Mostly just in Moscow, but I also went on a road trip on the Golden Ring<\/a> (\u0417\u043e\u043b\u043e\u0442\u043e<\/u>\u0435<\/strong> \u041a\u043e\u043b\u044c\u0446\u043e<\/u><\/strong>).<\/p>\n

My latest Russian adventure was fishing (\u0440\u044b\u0431\u0430<\/u>\u043b\u043a\u0430<\/strong>) in Norway with my father in law and some of his friends. (it was an intense 5-day course in Russian ?)<\/p>\n

\"Russian

Image via Pixabay<\/p><\/div>\n

Is it dangerous for foreigners to travel to Russia? Will people be hostile to me because of where I\u2019m from?<\/h2>\n

Everywhere I\u2019ve been it has always felt safe to me. Maybe a bit less than in Holland (\u0413\u043e\u043b\u043b\u0430<\/u>\u043d\u0434\u0438\u044f<\/strong>), but nothing to be worried about. My girlfriend told me there are several neighborhoods in Moscow that are better not to go to at night\u2014but every large city has those.<\/p>\n

Even in Crimea I never felt threatened. Even though the European governments are warning that it is practically a war-zone. Yes, you might see some tanks and soldiers on the road (because there are several military bases located there). But as long as you\u2019re not causing trouble and have a native Russian with you (if you don\u2019t speak the language fluently), you should be fine.<\/p>\n

The only occasion when things got a little heated was when we were waiting in line for a Moscow nightclub (\u043d\u043e\u0447\u043d\u043e<\/u>\u0439<\/strong> \u043a\u043b\u0443<\/u>\u0431<\/strong>). Some Russian guys started talking to my girlfriend and my Russian wasn\u2019t good enough to calm them down.<\/p>\n

However, after they found out that I was from the Netherlands they told me their dream was to travel to Amsterdam one day\u2014and everything turned out fine.<\/p>\n

So I\u2019d say that Russia isn\u2019t all that dangerous as the media makes you believe. It might\u2019ve been different 20 years ago\u2014but today if you\u2019re not actively looking for trouble, you won\u2019t have to worry.<\/p>\n

With that said, I can imagine that the experience would be different for people with a different ethnic background or a different sexual orientation.<\/p>\n

How can I stay safe and keep my money?<\/h2>\n

Same thing as for other large places, don\u2019t keep your money (\u0434\u0435<\/u>\u043d<\/strong>\u044c<\/strong>\u0433\u0438<\/strong>) or wallet (\u043a\u043e\u0448\u0435\u043b<\/strong>\u00eb<\/u><\/strong>\u043a<\/strong>) out in the open. Keep a good eye on your surroundings\u2014especially when somebody talks to you on the street or bumps into you.<\/p>\n

On a different note, if you\u2019re in smaller villages or poorer areas, I think it\u2019s a good idea to not look like you\u2019ve got money. So keep the brand clothes at home and maybe take your watch off. To be on the safe side it\u2019s also better, if possible, to have a native Russian speaker with you in those places and\/or at night.<\/p>\n

How much Russian do I need to know?<\/h2>\n

In all honesty, you don\u2019t really need to know much Russian to have a good time. Especially if you\u2019re staying in Moscow or Saint Petersburg with a Russian native speaker who also knows English. Although you should make sure that you know at least the Cyrillic alphabet (it\u2019s easy to learn in a couple of hours).<\/p>\n

However, with every extra couple of words or phrases in Russian that you know, your trip will become even more fun. So try to get the basics down and then work your way from there:<\/p>\n