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Our Accommodation In Russia

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Whilst we are in Russia we want to try different types of accommodation.  We are not too much interested in hotels due to the cost factor plus we want to meet real life Russians not just hotel receptionists.  We want to live with Russians. 

Having said that, our first night has been booked in a hotel as we need to get our paperwork in order as soon as we get to Russia.  We have to register our visas within 72 hours of arriving in the country.  The 72 hours excludes weekends and holidays.  It is extremely important to register and a hotel will easily do it for us.  Thereafter if we are in any town/city for more than three days we have to notify the Russian authorities again.  Apart from Moscow and St Petersburg we don't expect to be in any one place for more than three days so we think, technically, we don't have to notify the authorities each time we move but we have decided that we will do the right thing every few days and keep our paperwork updated.

We are going to try Home Stays, Hostels and Couch Surfing.  This is what we have planned so far:

		Night 1 - Hotel Vizit Vladivostok in Vladivostok (of course).  This is an interesting hotel in that it is tucked away inside another hotel.  It occupies the 4th floor within the similarly named Hotel Vladivostok.  We have made our booking through the Hotel Advisor web site.   We will be paying a 10% deposit and the balance will be paid upon arrival. The total cost will be 2,700 roubles ($95 AUD) for the two of us.  We have asked for a room overlooking Amursky Bay so it will be nice if we get it. Our main reason for staying here is to do the official registering of our Visas which is most important when starting off your holiday  in Russia.
Hotel Vizit Vladivostok

Night 2 - Home Stay in Vladivostok.  After our one night in the hotel we are shifting out.  Whilst checking out the various travel forums we discovered a highly rated B & B run by a lady called Lyudmila.  For the grand sum of 1600 roubles ($56 AUD) we will get our accommodation and a hearty breakfast plus it also includes visa registration if, for some reason, it doesn't get done at the hotel the day before.

		Nights 3 - 5 We will be sleeping on the Rossiya train.  This is a firmenny fast train and we are really looking forward to travelling on it.  We have seen so many photographs of the Rossiya.  We can't wait to see if it is as fancy in real life. Nights 6 - 7 Home Stay in Ulan Ude.  We are staying with Olga at her B & B.  The cost per night is 2100 roubles ($73.50 AUD) and again we will be served a yummy breakfast.  Olga's friend Natalia is going to collect us from the railway station which is very kind of her. Olga's bathroom looks lovely and clean.
Bathroom at Olga's Home Stay in Ulan Ude

Nights 8 - 9 were going to be at a Home Stay in Irkutsk but we can't find Janna's B & B which is where we want to stay.  It was recommended highly on one of the forums but Janna's is proving difficult to locate in Irkutsk.  We even have an address for her but we are told there is no Janna's at that address.  So, we are now booked into the Admiral Hostel instead.  That's fine by us.  The cost per night is 1500 roubles ($52.50 AUD) and for that sum we have a private double room which we think has an extra bed in it.  No breakfast included here though.

Nights 10 - 12 will be spent in the town of Listvyanka which is on the shore of Lake Baikal.  We understand there are heaps of B & B's there and we believe we can organise our accommodation once we have arrived.

Nights 13 - 14  will be sleeping on the train again en route to the city of Perm.

Nights 15 - 16 We have approached a Couch Surfing member in Perm and asked for accommodation there.  She seems like a lovely person.  Her name is Anna.  She lives in the city centre with her Mum.  We have to wait for her reply to our request now.

Night 17 Possibly in the town of Kungur where we want to visit the Ice Caves. Accommodation is not worked out yet.

Night 18 onwards We are not making fixed plans past this day as we feel too much can change over the course of a fortnight and we don't want to make and then cancel bookings.  Three or four days will be spent in Moscow, hopefully with a Couch Surfer called Mubin who seems very hospitable.   He is an historian and seems very willing to show people around his city.  We move on to St Petersburg from there and hope to spend several nights with a lady by the name of Lena.  She lives with her 4 year old son and her grandmother.  We have only just sent these couch surfers our requests so we hope we have positive outcomes with all three.

Written later........... all three Couch Surfing hosts have said we are welcome to stay with them. Fabulous news to us.

Next page - Getting Our Invitations to Russia

Our trip in the order it all happened: