Before this post, on Tips on Travel to Russia - Part One, we told you about the things you should know and what you should do before starting your trip to Russia. However, your tour agency would mostly cover those things if you decide to travel to Russia via one. Still, on this post, we’ll tell you our tips and pieces of advice about the things that you should do during your travel to Russia, which of course, you can use anywhere else that you decide to travel. These tips are not necessarily about travel to Russia, but if you consider them, you’ll have a better trip to Russia.
One of the first things that you should do when you land in Russia is to buy a Russian prepaid sim card. Since you’re only traveling, you don’t need a postpaid sim card. However, it would help if you determined which plans are more suit you on your tour to Russia. First, you should know that the chances of you needing a phone call during your trip to Russia are quite low, especially if you’re on vacation. However, the chances of you needing internet from the start until the end of your journey through Russia are high because most of the services on your phone that you may need during your tour to Russia require internet connection. Judging by these facts, anyone should buy a prepaid sim card with more internet data plan rather than having more call-time. However, we recommend not buying only-data sim because there are chances that you need to communicate with your tour leader during your Russia tour.
If you haven’t already, install the Google Translate app or one of the similar apps on your phone. We recommend Google Translate because of its features, one of which is live-translate. Google Translate’s live-translate will provide online translating texts by using your camera, which is quite useful in a trip to another country, especially on travel to Russia, where some of the signs don’t have an English translate beside them. You can also save some trouble by translating the texts instead of asking people about them, especially since there aren’t many English speakers in Russia.
The next thing that may help you find your way in Russia is Online maps. Although Google Maps/Apple Maps is good enough for anyone in any country, you can install Yandex Maps on your phone, which is the best way to navigate Russia. Map applications will be useful to you in Russia, especially if you want to visit some places outside your tour to Russia plan.
Your documents, including passport, visa, travel insurance, etc. are the most important things that you should keep safe during your trip to Russia. We at the Star Travel Group recommend taking a picture of each of these documents on your phone and keeping the original safe at your hotel. However, some places in Russia require identification, such as some of the tourist attractions. It’s better to ask your tour leader about the requirement of your passport during sightseeing on your tour to Russia beforehand. Also, it would be best if you took a picture of your travel visa because sometime you may need to confirm that you have one during your Russia Tour.
We recommend that you have a full battery charge on your phone before you begin your sightseeing tour during your travel to Russia, especially if you’re going to see St. Petersburg suburban area, which has several major attractions, such as Peterhof and Pushkin. We recommend you bring a portable power bank if you have one, especially on St. Petersburg tour, since there are many tourist attractions in the city where you may stay out and wander around the city all day long.
No matter how much money you bring with yourself to Russia, you don’t need to keep all of your money all the time. You can change it to Russian Rouble, keep most of it in the hotel’s safe box, and bring a small amount if you don’t want to go shopping. Also, we recommend that you change part of your money to lower notes. Although several places would accept foreign currency (Us dollar and Euro), we suggest turning your cash into Russian Rubles.
If you have plans to go shopping during your Russia tour, you should know that some of the top shopping centers of Russia will accept visa/master cards. However, we still recommend you change your money, mainly because not all of the stores and places will accept visa cards, but if you want to, you can always ask if they take visa/master card or not.
Since eating at restaurants may be too expensive for some people, they always go for street foods or fast foods; there are lots of international chain-fast food restaurants in Russia, the same as other tourist destination cities, but don’t get food from street food shops if it’s possible or at least confirmed their names with your tour leaders first. The last thing anyone wants during the tour to Russia is food poisoning. There are several deluxe restaurants in St. Petersburg that may steal your attention; you can learn about them on our weblog as well if you’re interested in dining in one.
Always stay with your group during sightseeing, especially in the suburban area. If you want to go solo during your tour to Russia, always tell your tour leader in advance. Although with the current technology and other stuff, the chances of you being lost are minimum, it may cost you lots of money to get back to your group or hotel if you get lost.
If you were in a situation that you need to call for a taxi, especially when you’re leaving a restaurant or shopping center, always check your destination with the taxi driver; there are lots of misunderstanding in that matter, which may cost you money, time, and energy, so always tell the taxi driver where you want to go, even if the restaurant or shopping center called one for you. We recommend you carry your hotel’s card wherever you go, in case you need to tell someone who doesn’t speak English, your destination.
One of the most important rules that you should always follow when you travel to Russia is that never overstay in Russia. You must leave Russia before your visa gets expired. If you stay more time than you supposed to stay, you will charge lots of money and probably get a ban from returning to Russia.
We hope these tips will help you on your trip to Russia. You can read about Tips on Travel to Russia - Part One, too, in which we have told you about the things you should do before starting your journey. You can also learn about other stuff about traveling to Russia on our weblog.
