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Location: Lots of sun and palm trees with occasional hurricane :)
8,293 posts, read 16,162,101 times
Reputation: 7018
Quote:
Originally Posted by azoria
You can bring back to the US duty free, 2 litres of liquor. Most vodka bottles in Russia will be a 1/2 litre, so that equals 4 bottles. If you exceed the duty free limit you still only have to pay the federal tax (not state tax) on anything in excess of the two litres. Federal tax is cheap.
Buy this: Russki Standart 'platinum'. Best vodka evah.
Sets of anything in Russia is usually a set of 6. Eight would be unusual.
I would advise you to avoid shipping ANYTHING home from Russia. If you bought something large-ish like a tea set of Lomonosov, Buy an extra little suitcase there to bring it home on the plane with you, or box it there and bring it home with you on the plane, paying the extra bag charge--whatever it is. This will be much much cheaper than shipping it, and it will be guaranteed to arrive in the US. Individuals shipping anything from Russia to anywhere else is a gamble as to whether or not you will ever see it again. Take_everything_home_with_you.
In both Moscow and St. Petersburg at the airport leaving for the US your luggage will be gone through with a fine tooth comb by the airline (if it is a direct Russia-to-US flight.) Anything packed will be unpacked. Everything will be examined. Not for customs tax purposes but just for 'security' and general harassment. So if you do have a box of china or something, be sure to bring along to the airport extra box tape, as you will have to unpack and repack everything at the departure gate.
Wow. These are such good tips! Very good to know these things ahead of time. Those vodka bottles are beautiful. I would buy them just for decoration.
My flight back is from Moscow and stops in Rome for a couple of hours but I guess I will still pack according to it all being scrutinized.
Location: Lots of sun and palm trees with occasional hurricane :)
8,293 posts, read 16,162,101 times
Reputation: 7018
Hey guys....just wanted to let you know....I'm back from Russia. WOW!
Have a gazillion pictures. Now I don't even know why I took some of them. Can't remember what THAT was. I have to backtrack somehow.
I thought everything was very, very expensive. A small bottle of Coke $7.00? A small bottle of water $4.00? C'mon. The restaurants and hotels give you a bottle but there's no ice in most places. No A/C, no fans.
I was on a tour and we had basically no time for shopping. It was either bathroom or kiosks outside the palaces and cathedrals. We put the energizer bunny to shame! Lots of walking, lots of stairs, lots of sweating. It was very hot in both St. Pete and Moscow and had I packed for "cool" weather.
White nights in St. Pete were awesome. The canals were really nice. Moscow was a little shocking (even though I was raised in NYC).
I did get to buy the Vodka someone here recommended in a 24 hr supermarket that was about 3 blocks from the hotel we stayed at. I got a bunch of key chains and little Faberge eggs and magnets and matryoshkas. I did buy a small Faberge pendant for myself. Couldn't afford the little lacquer boxes but they ARE beautiful.
Traffic is crazy. Drivers are even worse. And it's true, Russians, 98% of them, don't smile. I had forgotten someone here told me not to smile. I quickly remembered after my first encounter. Why are they so stiff?
It's really amazing how much has changed in 25 years over there. Yet there is are so many reminders of days gone by too. It was certainly an experience I will always remember.
Thanks for all the tips and suggestions you all offered. They sure came in handy.
Too late to be helpful to you, but for other readers, one interesting curiosity that you might not think of is a deck of Russian playing cards. They will have letters of the Russian alphabet, instead of J Q K on them.
Keep an eye out for street vendors selling useful hand-made handicrafts---anything from potholders to shoe-horns. Small, cheap, easy to carry, and life-long mementoes.
Location: Lots of sun and palm trees with occasional hurricane :)
8,293 posts, read 16,162,101 times
Reputation: 7018
Quote:
Originally Posted by jtur88
Too late to be helpful to you, but for other readers, one interesting curiosity that you might not think of is a deck of Russian playing cards. They will have letters of the Russian alphabet, instead of J Q K on them.
Keep an eye out for street vendors selling useful hand-made handicrafts---anything from potholders to shoe-horns. Small, cheap, easy to carry, and life-long mementoes.
I did see those playing cards but just in passing. Didn't have time to actually think about it. I never saw any of those potholders. I did see some aprons. Ridiculously expensive. The street vendors are not cheap. You would think they are but there is nothing under $5.00, even a key chain. I got one place where I bought magnets & key chains at 2 for $5.00. I thought it was a steal. Walked out of there $50 poorer.
Everyone had told me it was very expensive there but it was REALLY expensive. I had to get about 50 souvenirs so I did end up spending quite a lot more than I expected.
Actually, if you are interested you could check boxes from birch bark. I'm shipping them from Siberia and they are quite popular among foreigners. Here is the link on Ebay: ebay. com /itm/252830393456 But you could find it your way of course
Hey guys....just wanted to let you know....I'm back from Russia. WOW!
Have a gazillion pictures. Now I don't even know why I took some of them. Can't remember what THAT was. I have to backtrack somehow.
I thought everything was very, very expensive. A small bottle of Coke $7.00? A small bottle of water $4.00? C'mon. The restaurants and hotels give you a bottle but there's no ice in most places. No A/C, no fans.
I was on a tour and we had basically no time for shopping. It was either bathroom or kiosks outside the palaces and cathedrals. We put the energizer bunny to shame! Lots of walking, lots of stairs, lots of sweating. It was very hot in both St. Pete and Moscow and had I packed for "cool" weather.
White nights in St. Pete were awesome. The canals were really nice. Moscow was a little shocking (even though I was raised in NYC).
I did get to buy the Vodka someone here recommended in a 24 hr supermarket that was about 3 blocks from the hotel we stayed at. I got a bunch of key chains and little Faberge eggs and magnets and matryoshkas. I did buy a small Faberge pendant for myself. Couldn't afford the little lacquer boxes but they ARE beautiful.
Traffic is crazy. Drivers are even worse. And it's true, Russians, 98% of them, don't smile. I had forgotten someone here told me not to smile. I quickly remembered after my first encounter. Why are they so stiff?
It's really amazing how much has changed in 25 years over there. Yet there is are so many reminders of days gone by too. It was certainly an experience I will always remember.
Thanks for all the tips and suggestions you all offered. They sure came in handy.
Hot weather part is where they are really struggling.
The old buildings are designed for permanent cold weather; however, the weather has drastically changed in the last 25 odd years.
These buildings are not equipped with ceiling fans, and cool A/C.
They thought it's always gonna be a cold weather in St. Petersburg but sadly not.
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