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Originally Posted by Forkbeard
OzMan, I am so jealous. I was supposed to do Moscow to Nahodka (Vladivostok was still a closed city) in 1998, after I wrapped up four months of Russian study at the Moscow Steel and Alloy Institute. But my travel agent "forgot" to book my tickets after many assurances (I assume he booked them and and then resold them to somebody willing and able to offer a premium). I didn't have the money or skill or vlyat to get it fixed, so I had to fly home. :-(
It's one of my main regrets in life that I couldn't make that trip happen. I expect to still do it one day, but it won't be the adventure it would have been in late Soviet times.
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I am sure your travel agent did just that, anything for a buck/rouble
Back then the official Soviet tourist agency was called Intourist I believe. They were assumed to be 100% KGB (so they could watch all these suspicious foreign spys with backpacks).. I was met at the train station by one and escorted to my Hotel and told to notify the desk whenever I went out.
God I love the Russian accent, very sexy on a woman. I would have loved to have spent more time in Moscow like you did especially learning the language. It seemed foreigners were very popular there. I sat on a park bench there in minus 10 with four very business savvy teenagers trying to negociate the sale of everything I had. I kept my clothes and boots.. it was too cold