July 1, 2025 • 492 words

Planning to Travel to Russia

What I Did

  • Visa: Chinese need evisa (result within 4 days, 377 RMB). I applied on 6.28 and I got the visa PDF on 7.2. The visa allows up to 16 days of stay, from 7.2 to 8.31.

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  • Plane Ticket: Shanghai to SPB via Moscow 2784 RMB

I am transferring in Sheremetyevo International Airport from terminal C to B for only 1:40 hours. Does the wifi work inside the airport or do I need a Russian number? If it doesn't, then fine, I have things downloaded and I can just ask. I read that there are even drone threat delaying the flights in 7.5. I don't have checked baggage. What happens if I didn't manage to catch the next plane? Exit the airport, head towards the Moscow train station (interestingly it's called Leningradsky Vokzal), book and take an overnight train, arrive in SPB in the morning and find a hotel to drop off my bags.

  • Hotel Booking: Booked just one night in SPB for now (see Yandex Travel), Сова Хостел(769 ruble or 10 USD, 7.6-7.7)

Yandex Travel or Tutu or Ostrovok. Mastercard worked on Yandex,

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  • Money and Bank Card: I exchanged 10000 ruble(924 RMB) in ChinaBank. I also have in cash 5000 RMB.

Visa/Mastercard don't work in Russia.

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I opened the Yoomoney account because I wanted to use Selectel cloud, and I ended up not able to put money in it.

  • Apps: Yandex Map, Yandex Travel, Yandex Afisha, YooMoney, Yandex Go, Sberbank, MTS, VkVideo. I am going to bring my 2 phones. (Redmi Note 13 and Pixel 8 Pro) I changed the phone language to Russian and the default search engine to Yandex.

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  • Convertor: I got the universal convertor from HongKong.

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Things to Bring with me

  1. Passport & Visa(printed and downloaded on phone)
  2. Digitals: Phone(2 phones), Laptop, Charger and Converter
  3. Money: Cash(both RMB and target country currency), Chinese bank card (UnionPay)
  4. Clothes, Toothbrush, Cotton swab, Nail clipper, Umbrella

Things to do Before Sleeping

  1. Wash clothes
  2. Write and summarize the day
  3. Charge the phone/computer(do not sleep with them)

Things to do After Landing

  1. Buy a SIM card, main carriers: MTS, Beeline, MegaFon, Tele2
  2. Go to the metro via bus (get a card and top up some 500 ruble I think) from the airport, see Yandex map. I bring one small suitcase and one backpack so it's walkable.
  3. Exchange RMB to ~30000 ruble somewhere, also there, top up at least ~15000 ruble directly to Yoomoney

Preferably not exchange in airport, it's more favorable in ВТБ banks or Sber

I read the map of central Moscow so many times that I can navigate around it easily, but not Piter, so I still need Yandex Map.

Some Websites

Tickets

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Полгода плохая погода.
Полгода - совсем никуда.

Никуда, никуда нельзя укрыться нам.
Но откладывать жизнь никак нельзя.
Никуда, никуда, но знай, что где-то там
Кто-то ищет тебя среди дождя.

(Мэри Поппинс)




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