New Russian Domestic Airline -- Sky Express
Certainly at St Petersburg airport at the passport check on departure (unlike western airports this is as substantial as the passport check on arrival) you are fined (in US $) if your registration is not in order.
There are a number of travel agents in the city who wll arrange for a hotel stamp if you are not using a proper hotel. Costs about US$30 for the service. The exit checkers are not concerned about where you actually stayed at all, they just want to see paperwork complied with. Russian bureaucracy is ever so.
It would appear that the requirements have recently changed again (they seem to do so every year) so registration can now be done at a post office rather than at the Ministry office (where a 4 hour wait would be good going).
There are a number of travel agents in the city who wll arrange for a hotel stamp if you are not using a proper hotel. Costs about US$30 for the service. The exit checkers are not concerned about where you actually stayed at all, they just want to see paperwork complied with. Russian bureaucracy is ever so.
It would appear that the requirements have recently changed again (they seem to do so every year) so registration can now be done at a post office rather than at the Ministry office (where a 4 hour wait would be good going).
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Well, I've booked room at the Hotel German Club, which is about 10km south of the city center, not far from LED. Was recommended to me by my friend in S-P. Those not familiar with it should check it out. Prices are quite reasonable, and the place is very nice. An Austrian partnership. Owner speaks English, very helpful, and will fill me in on the best way to handle the registration in Moscow. U.S. Embassy confirms post office registration now available. And Sky Express airfare to Moscow only 1700 ruble return!
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Picked up our visas today from the Russian Consulate. Everything going fairly smoothly now. Booked flights on SkyExpress via their web site. A bit clunky, and at least one glitch -- regardless of what I selected when ordering the tix, they show us as both having Russian Federation passports. Will need to get on the phone with them to clear this up, I think. Thank goodness for Skype. Trip itself is still a couple months off, so plenty of time.
Will report back after we return end of May. Thanks for your good wishes. This should be an adventure.
Will report back after we return end of May. Thanks for your good wishes. This should be an adventure.
I normally wouldn't recommend a hotel outside the city centre in St Pete to visitors as it then can be difficult for a non-native to get around, but this one appears close to the Moscovskaya Metro station which will take you in to the city in about 15-20 mnutes, at many times of day much faster than you can drive. Get a 10-journey ticket for the Metro, it'sthe best way to go. That Metro station is also a vast hub for the independent Marshrutka minibuses from all the area to the south of St Pete, including one out to Pushkin for the palace there. You just need to know the number (hotel will tell you). The buses to the airport go separately to the domestic (known as Pulkovo 1) and international (known as Pulkovo 2) and there is no way between them (other than coming all the way back to Moscovskaya and starting again).
The Metro, as in Moscow, is a delight of efficiency, just practice reading the Cyrillic for the station names and keep up with where you are. The maps now appear with translations underneath but the station signs do not. As ever in Russia, walk around briskly and confidently as if you know the place and all will be fine.
The Metro, as in Moscow, is a delight of efficiency, just practice reading the Cyrillic for the station names and keep up with where you are. The maps now appear with translations underneath but the station signs do not. As ever in Russia, walk around briskly and confidently as if you know the place and all will be fine.
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Thanks for the tips, WHBM! I grew up in New York City, and so "walking around briskly and confidently as if you know the place" comes naturally 
I've also spent a lot of time in Budapest -- lived there half time for five years -- and used the metro frequently. It's also of Russian design -- VERY deep underground with long, fast escalators. I thought getting used to reading Hungarian was hard, but the Cyrillic will really be a challenge. All part of the adventure.
I've also spent a lot of time in Budapest -- lived there half time for five years -- and used the metro frequently. It's also of Russian design -- VERY deep underground with long, fast escalators. I thought getting used to reading Hungarian was hard, but the Cyrillic will really be a challenge. All part of the adventure.
If you know the Budapest Metro then the cars used in St Petersburg will also look very familiar to you - because they are the same standardised Soviet designs, even the same blue colour. You find the same in Moscow and indeed in all the othe Soviet cities that got a Metro, all were built in the Vagonmash factory in St Petersburg.
The stations in St Petersburg are even deeper, some are the deepest in the world. I have timed them at up to 4 minutes to get you to the bottom, they probably came from the same escalator factory as Budapest's as well. I've also had to walk up when the escalator has been stopped
. It is a St Petersburg tradition to read books as you are being carried down, quite literary ones of course this being St Pete compared to what the infidels from Moscow might have ! Standing on the escalator reading poetry by Pushkin would really make you fit in.
All the citizens were spun a line when it was built (mainly 1950s-80s) that it needed to be so deep because of a groundwater condition in the city. I presume in Moscow and Budapest similar excuses were used. I amuse myself however when there spotting the nuclear blast doors fitted round the station entrances, you can still see them nowadays if you look carefully.
The stations in St Petersburg are even deeper, some are the deepest in the world. I have timed them at up to 4 minutes to get you to the bottom, they probably came from the same escalator factory as Budapest's as well. I've also had to walk up when the escalator has been stopped
. It is a St Petersburg tradition to read books as you are being carried down, quite literary ones of course this being St Pete compared to what the infidels from Moscow might have ! Standing on the escalator reading poetry by Pushkin would really make you fit in.All the citizens were spun a line when it was built (mainly 1950s-80s) that it needed to be so deep because of a groundwater condition in the city. I presume in Moscow and Budapest similar excuses were used. I amuse myself however when there spotting the nuclear blast doors fitted round the station entrances, you can still see them nowadays if you look carefully.
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Do the local authorities get agitated if you start snapping photos in places like the Metro or at the airport? Anything definitely off limits I should know about besides obvious things like military stuff?
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Looks like this might have been the flight I'll be taking between Frankfurt and St. Petersburg. Something to look forward to:
Drunk passenger causes emergency landing in Poland
A Lufthansa passenger jet made an emergency landing in the southern Polish city of Katowice on Monday after a drunk, unruly passenger began shouting that he was a terrorist, border guards said.
The middle-aged, Russian-speaking passenger offered no resistance when an anti-terrorist squad boarded the plane to remove him, border guard spokesman Cezary Zaborski said. The passenger was due to be questioned later when he sobered up.
The Lufthansa Airbus A320 with 118 people on board continued its journey after a one-hour delay.
Drunk passenger causes emergency landing in Poland
A Lufthansa passenger jet made an emergency landing in the southern Polish city of Katowice on Monday after a drunk, unruly passenger began shouting that he was a terrorist, border guards said.
The middle-aged, Russian-speaking passenger offered no resistance when an anti-terrorist squad boarded the plane to remove him, border guard spokesman Cezary Zaborski said. The passenger was due to be questioned later when he sobered up.
The Lufthansa Airbus A320 with 118 people on board continued its journey after a one-hour delay.
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Success with SkyExpress
Just returned from my trip to St. Petersburg/Moscow using SkyExpress between these two cities. It all went very well, although I have to say that checking in at an airport in Russia is a bit confusing (nothing to do with SkyExpress).
The SkyExpress service felt pretty much like any Western airline. The planes seemed to be in pretty good shape, the cabin crew proficient and food terrible (instant coffee! for a fee!). Vnukovo was easy to reach by metro to/from the apartment I was staying at in Moscow. The AeroExpress service from the airport costs 120 ruble and takes 35 minutes to get to Kievsky Station. Trains don't run too often though -- hourly mornings and afternoons, less often (1 1/2 hours) midday. Then just one stop on the circle line to Park Kultury and connect to the red line one stop to Frunzenskya. Pretty simple, actually.
Took a cab to Pulkovo from my hotel in S-P for 350 ruble. On the return, the cabbies at the airport were asking 1000 ruble, which is nuts, so we took a city bus that just happened by for 16 ruble and it let us off at the metro station closest to the hotel.
Total cost after fuel surcharges was 2800 ruble, return, or about $120. Not bad.
We happened to be in Moscow at the same time as the Final Cup soccer match between Manchester and Chelsea, and the whole city was packed with Brits (estimates were 50,000) and cops. The stadium was just just two metro stops further down the line from my apartment, so every restaurant in the neighborhood was packed with beer guzzling fans.
The SkyExpress service felt pretty much like any Western airline. The planes seemed to be in pretty good shape, the cabin crew proficient and food terrible (instant coffee! for a fee!). Vnukovo was easy to reach by metro to/from the apartment I was staying at in Moscow. The AeroExpress service from the airport costs 120 ruble and takes 35 minutes to get to Kievsky Station. Trains don't run too often though -- hourly mornings and afternoons, less often (1 1/2 hours) midday. Then just one stop on the circle line to Park Kultury and connect to the red line one stop to Frunzenskya. Pretty simple, actually.
Took a cab to Pulkovo from my hotel in S-P for 350 ruble. On the return, the cabbies at the airport were asking 1000 ruble, which is nuts, so we took a city bus that just happened by for 16 ruble and it let us off at the metro station closest to the hotel.
Total cost after fuel surcharges was 2800 ruble, return, or about $120. Not bad.
We happened to be in Moscow at the same time as the Final Cup soccer match between Manchester and Chelsea, and the whole city was packed with Brits (estimates were 50,000) and cops. The stadium was just just two metro stops further down the line from my apartment, so every restaurant in the neighborhood was packed with beer guzzling fans.
