Trippin in St Pete

[2tallbill]

I have been chasing Shorty around Smiley Girls apartment
and she has somehow managed avoiding bumping her
head into countless sharp corners. Her little legs move like
  egg beaters weaving in and out of furniture without braining
Herself wbile laughing hysterically.

The trip and all the pain has now been officially worth it.


.

[BC]

Good to hear all's well that ends well 2tall!

Enjoy your stay and family time.

[rwd123]

I couldn't pay Aeroflot no matter how fat my wallet was, because you have
to pay from a Russian bank. Angel Eyes came up with a solution and the tickets
have been purchased.

I'd be interested to know more.

Sorry to hear about your airline calamities. I have heard of countless horror stories this year, particularly with European airliners. I wouldn't fly with them unless it was point-to-point. Not sure if Arab carriers like Qatar/Emirates/Etihad have been experiencing similar level of problems.

[2tallbill]

I'd be interested to know more.

Smileygirl lives in Russia and has a Russian bank and credit card.
We also have friends with rental property in Russia. They have 
Russian banks and Rubles in Russia. We also know people who
travel back and forth frequently who have several thousand Rubles
in an envelope under their mattress.

Having multiple friends and family with rubles in the Russian banking
system who are willing to buy things on for us on our behalf is the magic.

[2tallbill]

Smiley Girl

How did Smiley Girl get her moniker? It's not because she walks around smiling
all the time, Russians don't do that. They think only the mentally handicapped do
that. It's because her smile lights up a room when she chooses to do so.

[Trenchcoat]

How are things looking in Russkyia Bill, is the economy collapsing around them?

[rwd123]

Smileygirl lives in Russia and has a Russian bank and credit card.
We also have friends with rental property in Russia. They have 
Russian banks and Rubles in Russia. We also know people who
travel back and forth frequently who have several thousand Rubles
in an envelope under their mattress.

Oh ok thanks. I need to grab a Mir card but haven't checked if it can be done outside of the country or not. Always travel with plenty of greenbacks.

[2tallbill]

How are things looking in Russkyia Bill, is the economy collapsing around them?

Not enough for you to benefit, prices are as high as the USA for food and such
things.

[Trenchcoat]

Not enough for you to benefit, prices are as high as the USA for food and such
things.

Things must be real bad there then, obviously inflation really high and hitting home. As a westerner you and even me would be able to afford it but on the low wages most Russians get they must be really suffering bad.

[Trenchcoat]

My Granddaughter needs a monker

Plum Bum

[krimster2]

"Super Pooper"

[2tallbill]

It took several hours at the police station today  to register my Visa
There has to be a better way

[Trenchcoat]

It took several hours at the police station today  to register my Visa
There has to be a better way

Yep, you just look for a girl in a visa free FSU country

[ML]

It took several hours at the police station today  to register my Visa
There has to be a better way

Faux Pau has always called those who didn't want to fight the visa battle in Russia as sissies.

[krimster2]

yo Sabaka

this is why I surrounded myself with beautiful female personal assistants, they usually give Ovir a small present to go to the front of the line, I just sign the paperwork, and my assistant takes it to the ovir office

Russian wimmin do pretty much whatever I ask em to, cuz I know how to be VERY persuasive with 'em
but ya gotta have the right woman for the job, so the bigger the pool to choose talent from, the better...

in Moscva, you're known by the number of beautiful wimmin in your entourage, and how much eye-candy you have when you go out...
you'll spend a LOT on jewelry there!!!  cuz wimmin don't like to be "out-blinged" by others... hence the market for shiny stones
but one man's burden can serve as an opportunity to another...
and it's why I moved from Crypto to diamonds and other gemstones
there's a super hot market right now
the markup on jewelry is CRAZY, especially in Russia!!
EZ Money manoga kapusta

[2tallbill]

Faux Pau has always called those who didn't want to fight the visa battle in Russia as sissies.

The fine for not doing it is 5000 rubles
That's my new plan

[BC]

Yeah, 2tall, registering is a bear.

The first time I went to RU, I got the visa, registered after arrival, took half a day, then wifey convinced me to overstay, sweated a week till got an extension visa and then they didn't want to let me board the plane to leave because the second visa wasn't registered.  Go figure..

[2tallbill]

I never got formal classroom training in farming, but did spend summers at my Grandparent's farm in bountiful Iowa.

There are two window companies in Iowa, Pella and Windsor.
I have sold both of them. One thing about both companies is
they know nothing about their competitors and 100% of their
Marketing or design team went to Iowa or Iowa State.

 

[2tallbill]

When advising others on what to share in a forum 
I generally recommend the less the better. I had an
extreme health event happen to me in Russia. (If you are
a believer in prayer. Please pray for me. I will also start a
peanut gallery thread for conversations about me being
a moron (some of which are richly deserved)

I will ask the mods to help keep the moron debates in the
peanut area.

[2tallbill]

It's time for me to return to home. Angel Eyes will stay and get a new
Russian passport, play with her Grandbaby, visit with Smileygirl, girlfriends,
Mamma etc. 

Getting from Voronezh to SVO isn't rocket science but Angel Eyes wants
to take me door to door, riding the train, subway (the brown line) Note:
I am red/green colorblind and if you are then everything is brown. The red
line is undistinguishable from the brown line to me.

There is a very user unfriendly Russian language website to make train
reservations, it took her hours to secure and purchase 2 tickets to Moscow.

There was speculation among the babushka news/gossip network that
security was at an all time high because of fears that as high volume hub
of materiel in the Ukrainian war effort Voronezh could be subject to
attacks/reprisals by Ukrainian infiltrators/saboteurs/spies and nasty stuff
could happen.

During the entirety of the cold war Voronezh was a closed city. They built
all the space/ICBM rockets, and all the nuclear powerplants components for
the entire FSU. If it was high tech, secret and cutting edge they did it there.
Think Lasers/fighter jets

There was also a channel on the Babushka speculation/news and gossip
network that believed that travel would once again become restricted for
Russians and naturally all foreigners. Speculations among even well educated
and well informed Babushka's did manage to raise Angel Eyes normally serene/calm stress levels tick up quite a bit.

[2tallbill]

When we try to board the train the conductors announce that we had two tickets
but both were in my name and that only I was allowed to board. There existed
no argument that would allow Angels Eyes to come with me. I told Angel Eyes
to offer a $500.00 bribe, which she did but to no avail.

I told Angel eyes to give me some kopecks because I had maybe 100 rubles
on me and zero dollars. While running along the track chasing the departing
train Angel Eyes tossed her wallet to me between the two female conductors
who were physically using their forearms to prevent my wife from boarding
the train.

I caught her wallet in the air (could have gone worse). Ask yourself how many
times you can say
"f#ck me" in a 2 minute timed competition. I might be the world record
holder of the event.

i get escorted to my cabin which I am sharing with a quietly sleeping Russian
family of 3 who don't in my mind need to be awakened hearing me try to break
my "f - me world record again"

I kick off my shoes towards the Russian family pile, sit down and assess what I
have and what I lack.  Only then could I put together a plan of actions to forward
my goals.

I have a fully charged smart phone with a Russian translation app. I have Whatsapp
where i can contact Angel eyes, Smileygirl or others. I open up my wife's wallet
and find two black Russian credit cards with a couple thousand dollars of available
spending on them. There was a very small number of loose Rubles and there was a
document with Angel eyes beautiful face on it. She threw her wallet to me, with her
GREENCARD in it.  They do not let Russian girls fly on planes to the USA without her GREENCARD!! Now i know that my plan must involve getting this back to her. 

[krimster2]

jump off the train in the middle of the night
find a farm and offer to work on the farm for room and board
start a new life there
then move on
learn to play the guitar and become a traveling minstral singer (but DON'T put on blackface!!)
every problem is just an opportunity in disguise, amiright?

no innocence abroad
livin in an FSU city for cheapskates!
Trench, Pay Attention!


if you dress like a high end foreigner, dress shirt, tie and jacket
check online to see which 4/5 star hotels have a complimentary continental breakfast
go in early, just walk in like you own the damned place
and get your free breakfast!!!
a free breakfast in Russia to start your day!!

2 bars of chocolate and a can of authentic Virginia Honey Baked Ham
will get you laid in most of Russia next year
enjoy!!!

[2tallbill]

The family that I was traveling with said that they would help me.
The wife/mom Olya was chatting with my Angel eyes.

I blew up the transformers, touched the middle rail, shorted out the CPU and crossed the streams.



I had a medical brain meltdown/seizure my eyes and neck twisted up and to
the left. I thought my spine would snap. I couldn't breathe and I was going
down hot. There was a nice steel ladder so my face broke my fall.

I couldn't breathe it was 15-20 minutes before I could talk. The wife/mom Olya
took some video and sent it to my Angel eyes. Immediately gear boxes started
meshing, levers were being pulled and actions were in motion. I had a very
capable Russian women willing to move mountains to save her man.

A doctor who spoke English stepped on the train at the next stop. I was still
on the ground and I was told to Stay one of the women conductors decided
that meant that she should sit on my chest to enforce the order.
I only tried to push her off a dozen times. I currently had the collective strength of
a sickly 3 year old girl, the conductor was in zero danger of getting tossed off my
chest.

After a cursory inspection the doctor asked me what I wanted to do. Do I want
to go to a Russian hospital or attempt to resume my trip. My medical speaking 
fluency in Russian could be best described as weak in my assessment. I
was already on train and if  the  conductor would get off me I could take my seat
and try to pretend that I wasn't a sickly 3 year old girl.

More to follow.

Peanut gallery link here.
http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/index.php?topic=25683.0

[Boethius]

That sounds like a stroke.

I hope you are on the mend.

[2tallbill]

jump off the train in the middle of the night
find a farm and offer to work on the farm for room and board
start a new life there
then move on
learn to play the guitar and become a traveling minstral singer (but DON'T put on blackface!!)
every problem is just an opportunity in disguise, amiright?

no innocence abroad
livin in an FSU city for cheapskates!
Trench, Pay Attention!


if you dress like a high end foreigner, dress shirt, tie and jacket
check online to see which 4/5 star hotels have a complimentary continental breakfast
go in early, just walk in like you own the damned place
and get your free breakfast!!!
a free breakfast in Russia to start your day!!

2 bars of chocolate and a can of authentic Virginia Honey Baked Ham
will get you laid in most of Russia next year
enjoy!!!

Trench is missing out on these gems! But the lurker/newbies can still use them!