Welcome and thank you for visiting our links page. This factual, correct information can greatly assist you in your efforts to find and marry the Russian woman that's right for you!
SOME ESSENTIAL LINKS
Applying for your United States Passport
The U.S. Department of State's Passport & Information site has all the information anyone would need to apply for their passport. Your application can in most cases be processed at your local County Municipal Building.
Booking your airline tickets to Togliatti
we suggest ...
We have found the online reservation search engine on Expedia.com simplest and fastest, and the ticket prices to Moscow as well to be some of the best. Most of our visitors to Togliatti depart the USA from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York City on a non-stop, 9 hour flight to Moscow. The reservation code Sheremetyevo2 Airport in Moscow is "SVO". We also feel that the prices from JFK to Moscow on Aeroflot Russian Internation Airlines are best found on this site.
It is best to book your airline tickets before you apply for required your travel visa to Russia. Delta Airlines also runs the same non-stop JFK to SVO route daily, though Delta is known to cancel flights without warning. Some of our clients choose to fly Lufthansa Airlines (connecting in Frankfurt, Germany). The route you choose may depend on where you live. Sometimes you can fly direct to Europe from your own city rather than traveling to the East coast. The factors of cost, time in the air,and the number of planes you will take will all play a part in your ultimate flight decisions.
The use of travel agents these days can be quite costly. Remember; travel agents must make a commission as well. We suggest checking online fares before committing to using a travel agent. Additionally, we caution about booking multiple flight legs at one time. While one would imagine that this is the most practical way to book your plane tickets, this method can costs hundreds of dollars more than taking the time to effectively utilize a good online reservation system and making separate reservations for each flight you will take.
If you decide flying through Moscow is best for you, you will need to catch a connecting 90-minute jet flight to Samara Airport (reservation code KUF). Such flights usually depart Moscow at 10:00PM and land at KUF at 12:30AM. Togliatti is 9 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time (EST) and 1 hour ahead of Moscow time. A Volga Girl's staff is quite used to picking up visitors during these "wee hours" of the morning.
There is an excellent shuttle bus to transport you seven miles from SVO2 (Moscow's international terminal) to SVO1 (the domestic terminal where you will catch your connecting flight to Samara Airport). We strongly urge you to avoid contact with the agressive taxi drivers at SVO Airport. They charge ridiculously high prices and cannot be trusted.
Your travel visa to Russia
Russia is a country of contradictions, and stated (Russian) government policy about how to obtain your travel visa is no exception. The party line is that one must present a prepaid hotel voucher along with your visa application in order for a Russian Consulate to issue your visa. The reality is that Togliatti is predominantly a "cash economy," whereby one cannot secure a prepaid hotel voucher unless you are in Togliatti and paying for your hotel room in person. A third party cannot pay for your hotel room in advance. You must be on-site and in-person with your passport to prove your identity.
Another difficult option is to have someone in Russia (presumably one of the women you are going to visit) sponsor you with what is referred to as a "home stay invitation." The variant is problematic in that it takes between one and two months to be processed in Russia, and requires someone to spend many hours standing in line at more than one government agency. Without knowing how things will turn out with the lady(s) that you are traveling to visit, this option is both imposing and risky.
Therefore, we suggest using the company Eastern Tours Consolidated. While a travel visa issued directly to you from a Russian Consulate costs $50.00 (and having already established that the direct route is all but an impossibility without a prepaid hotel voucher), the fee through Eastern Tours is $145.00 and the issuance of your visa is guaranteed.
Two completed forms (downloadable from their web site), 3 passport-style photos, your passport and the $145.00 fee. The company asks that you include an additional $15.00 so they can courier your passport and visa back to you, as we suggest sending these materials to Eastern Tours via FEDEX or another reliable courier service (one should never send your passport through the regular mail). Eastern Tours will also include a prepaid hotel voucher when they send you your visa). While the voucher is fictitious, you should this voucher and the receipt they will send (it's in Russian) with you on your trip. In the event that you would lose your travel visa while in Russia, the receipt can be brought to an agency that will re-issue another.
The travel visa/prepaid voucher dilemma is universal, and experienced by everyone traveling to Russia. A Volga Girl has had clients from as far away as New Zeland and Australia choose Eastern Tours Consolidated as their last-minute resort (after their local travel agent informed them ... very shortly before their trip ... that they thought they could get them a visa, but in reality could not)
Togliatti Time
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QUESTIONS? Call us anytime toll-free within the USA 877-330-2605
