One word, COLD, okay more like freezing cold is the first description upon stepping out of the airport in Moscow. But I’m getting way ahead of myself here, there is a lot more to it before even landing in Russia. About a month out, I started looking around at itineraries for possible birthday trips. This year turned out to be a solo trip which I am perfectly fine with, I ended up having much more freedom to plan out the week. I had previously looked into Russia through a visa free cruise but St Petersburg was only offered when I only had eyes for Moscow and the onion domes.
I got in touch with a company for a tourist “invitation letter” or visa support that is needed for the application. It’s a short process of filling out information like trip duration, hotel address, passport number and cities you are visiting. For fifteen euro I received the paperwork by email from the Russian support visa site. Once that was received I filled out the application then added my original passport, fees, photo and submitted it all to the Invisa logistic services center in NY. It was all a waiting game for now, hoping I didn’t waste money on the fees and flight tickets. I ended up having to wait longer since I submitted my paperwork around a holiday. But the agent kept in touch by email to let me know when I could receive my passport back.
Fast forward to catching my Aeroflot flight from Cairo at two in the morning. That was a situation I approached with apprehension, a black, female, solo traveller in a taxi at one in the morning in Egypt. Thank the Lord I made it there safely. They had me show my passport to even get into the airport, turned I was at the wrong terminal and the guys at the door wanted me to pay to show me the correct terminal. But you can’t con this island girl so easily, I eventually found without handing over a dime. They kept asking me are you sure you are going to Moscow? …I won’t even get into this right now.
About five hours later the plane landed and I made my way to passport control. I was the only one who looks like me in line to get out. The agents came around to direct me to connecting flights but I was like nah bruh I’m getting out. They checked the passport, visa and stamped me in. I Exchanged some money a couple of feet after passport control and followed the signs to the aeroexpress. I ignored the taxi offers and preferred to take the trains, less chance for traffic. Once I got closer I purchased a train ticket from one of the machines, there was an english option and the they also speak english at the counters if you prefer to buy it that way. It’s about 500 ruble or 7 euro for a one way ticket into the city center. I was in SVO airport, so it took about 40 minutes to the last stop in Belorussky. From there you can navigate your way to sites like the red square or get to your hotel using the local train.
I headed straight to red square to avoid possible crowds. Using the app rome2rio, I was able to navigate my way around on the local trains. There are ticket counters and english speakers to get tickets. I was excited to finally walk around and take in Saint Basil cathedral with my own eyes. But boy was it cold, my fingers almost froze trying to take pictures. There were locals dressed as Putin who were being paid by tourist for pictures, those who wanted to take a picture with the black lady (haha). But all in all my time in Moscow was a good experience, worth all the headache for the visa. The red square houses museums, national palace, churches and there are some high-end stores along with security right around the corner.
End of January but the Christmas decoration were still around, and the skating rink was still in place in the middle of the square. The tourists were beginning to get out braving the cold, the locals were skiing along the train track just minding their business. Will I be back? that I don’t know but it’s another interesting solo trip added in the bag.
The pictures look beautiful!