Travel Russia Today

All of us here at Exeter International, including myself, have been lucky enough to see and experience some of the most extraordinary things in the world. I have met with a KGB colonel (in the former KGB building), had dinner at Catherine Palace on New Years and toured Stalin's personal bunker. I am turning 30 years old and compared to most of my friends, I have lived life to the fullest!

With everything I have seen and done, I have to say our most "extraordinary experiences" are:

1. Private Tour of the KGB Museum with a retired KGB colonel (and don't let him fool you, he knows English)
2. Private Tour of Stalin's Bunker
3. Entrance to the Grand Kremlin Palace and Terem (located on the Kremlin grounds and STRICTLY closed to the public)
4. Backstage tour of the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg (if you are lucky like me, you can even try on one of the costumes)
5. Hermitage Storage Rooms
6. The Amber Rooms Workshops of Catherine Palace
   
7. VIP entrance to the Strahov Monastery in Prague
8. Private Wine Tasting at the Matusko Family vineyard
   
9. Truffle Hunting in Livade
10. Private tour of the Maltese Chapel of Vorontsov Palace and the Suvorov Military Academy

If you are looking for something different, something beyond the ordinary than you are looking for us. We are the famous for making our travelers say "That was the best trip of my life!"

You never know what the future holds. We all believe that "it will never happen to me" but guess what, it does! Through the years, I have seen cancellations due to health complications, divorce, loss of job, natural disaster and worst of all death. Chances are you will probably be fine and the trip will go off without a hitch but what if it doesn't?

As a tour operator, we follow a strict cancellation policy for we have to protect the hotels, guides, car services, and most of all the time the staff has taken to put together this fabulous trip. Even though you did not take the trip, the guides that we booked still have to paid!

Typically, travel insurance equates to about 10% of your total trip costs. For those of you that have not purchased travel insurance, this probably looks like a ton of money (I know you are computing the numbers and yes it is about $1,000 for a $10,000 trip). However, lets look at it a different way- what it you do have to cancel that trip? Our cancellation policy states ZERO refunds on any trip canceled less than 14 days out. This means you have lost $10,000 and you were not even at a table in Vegas having a great time.

In the end, BUY THE INSURANCE. It is the safest and smartest purchase and much more important than that upgrade to a 2-bedroom suite.

A while ago I wrote a blog about what to do with children when you go to Prague. Now, despite the fact that I do not have any children myself and am generally immune to their supposed cuteness, I want to give you some profoundly insightful advice about what to do before you actually get there. Make them read about Prague!

If your children read stories about Prague and its history before they travel, they will be looking forward to the trip, they will feel smart and engaged when the guide tells them something they already read about, and they will be able to see things from a totally different perspective. Although the American publishers, to my chagrin, generally ignore contemporary Czech writers (except for Kundera), there is a good number of original or translated books for children available in English.

One of my favorite authors is the critically acclaimed writer and illustrator Peter Sís. His Three Golden Keys (ages 4-8) will undoubtedly excite your children’s imagination and expose them to legends about the magical city of Prague, including the one about Golem or the brave prince Bruncvik and his friend, the two-tailed lion that became the symbol of the Czech State. Another wonderful book is The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain (ages 8 and up) inspired by Mr. Sís’s own transformation from an innocent and clueless child into a rebellious teen and an aspiring artist whose hopes are crushed by the Soviet invasion in 1968. Once your children read these books, they will understand more of what they are seeing in Prague and what formed the people they encounter there and you will be spared their yawns and eye-rolls in the museums, synagogues and churches.

A Russian winter is truly spectacular (see my last posting) and this Winter Wonderland extends far from the main cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg and the countryside surrounding them. To really experience this incredible season and truly be able to say you have experienced a Russian winter you need to venture into the vast wilderness that is Siberia and beyond.

As you venture east from Moscow, there continue to be pockets of civilization – Kazan the capital of Tartarstan with its own Kremlin (not as strong and powerful as Moscow’s but every bit as historical and a UNESCO World Heritage site). Here the snow glistens on the minarets of a mosque sitting side by side with an onion domed church, elegant icicles dangling from the roof lines of both without distinction.

A little further east is the European / Asia divide, the spot where two great continents meet. Locals dressed in somewhat hokey costumes and sporting megaphones to be sure you can hear them, recreate the Russian tradition of welcoming you with bread and salt. Of course a steaming cup of hot chocolate or vegetable soup would seem to be more appropriate in the rapidly tumbling temperatures and crisp white snow covering the ground but bread and salt it is and bread and salt it will always be.

The town closest to this geographical celebration is Yekaterinburg, the third largest city in Russia and best known for being the location where the last Tsar was executed by the Bolsheviks in 1918. (A rather Disneyesque church marks the spot).

A sense of modernity continues in Novosibirsk but winter is obviously harsher here. Perhaps it is the fact that Novosibirsk is a relatively modern city and lacks the romanticism of what has gone before. In front of the largest opera house in the world, ice hangs from the statue of Lenin. Can it possibly get any colder!

Yes it can…..heading east from Novosibirsk is the great emptiness of fame – Siberia! Miles and miles (hundreds and thousands of miles) of emptiness are stunningly beautiful and appallingly cold. From time to time you come across a lone wooden house or small community, snow drifts reaching towards the roof, smoke from a raw fire snaking from chimneys and a horse standing in snow up to its hocks. Hallmark can only dream of such scenes gracing the front of their winter season cards.

You might think that this bitter cold would cause people to curl up and hibernate for five months but exactly the opposite. Yes, the days are short but instead of the dreary wet slushy winters so many urbanites face year after year, in this part of the world winter comes with lots of sunshine between snow showers, the snow remains crisp and clean, trees are permanently clad in white and the locals love to get their cross country skis out or strap a troika to the back of their horses and get out and enjoy this magnificent beauty.

Lake Baikal, one of the world’s natural phenomena (and the deepest lake in the world) actually freezes over in the depth of winter. It takes a little getting used to, being able to safely walk far out from the shore but if it can handle the weight of a train (before the rail track that circumvents the lake was built temporary tracks were laid across the lake in winter for a short cut), it can certainly handle the weight of an average human being!

The questions of course is how to do all of this in reasonable comfort. Mastering the roads on a self-drive expedition is not advisable and therefore out of the question. You can independently travel by rail from point to point, stopping off for a day or two to meet the locals, braving bitingly cold wind swept rail platforms and pouring over timetables waiting for the next local train service to points onward sharing toilets on board and improving your Russian as food carts pass by or you try to navigate the Russian only menu in the restaurant car (cash only, please). Or you can use the same rail tracks and journey on board the private Golden Eagle Trans Siberian Express with heated en-suite bathrooms in every cabin, lounge and bar car to relax and view that stunning countryside and three good meals a day prepared on board and served in the well appointed dining cars, accompanied by wines - all included.

The choice of course is yours and each has their own budget but which ever way you do this trip, just be sure to do it – the magnificence of a true Russian winter will stay with you for ever.