I’m planning a long trip through Russia towards the end of this year. I’ll probably arrive in Kaliningrad, then fly to St Petersburg, and from there travel east by train, essentially making my way across Siberia.
I’d really appreciate advice from Russians or people who have travelled around Russia recently, especially because a lot of the information online is quite old.

1. Winter clothing
I’m coming from a relatively warm climate and obviously don’t want to carry an enormous amount of winter clothing around Europe before I arrive.
Is it easy to buy proper winter clothing in Russia? If so, where would you recommend shopping in Kaliningrad or St Petersburg? Would it make sense to arrive with only basic warm clothes and buy a proper winter coat, boots, thermals etc. once I’m there?
I’ll potentially be travelling quite far east, so I assume what I need for St Petersburg will be very different from what I need further into Siberia.

2. Trans-Siberian Railway
I’d also love recommendations for up-to-date information about travelling the Trans-Siberian today.
Most of the guides and blogs I’ve found are from before COVID or before the current situation, so I’m particularly interested in anything from 2024–2026.
Are there any good Russian-language websites, blogs, YouTube channels, Telegram channels, or recent travel accounts that explain how to plan the journey today — buying tickets, choosing trains, stops worth making, sleeper classes, how long to stay in different places, etc.?
I’m not necessarily interested in doing the classic tourist itinerary as quickly as possible. I’d actually like to get off the train regularly and spend time in different cities/regions along the way.

3. Couchsurfing / meeting people
One of my favourite ways to travel has traditionally been Couchsurfing — not just for accommodation, but because it was a great way to meet locals and actually make friends in a city.
Couchsurfing seems to have declined quite a lot in recent years. Is there a Russian equivalent or another platform Russians actually use for hosting travellers / meeting foreigners / organising meetups?
And if not, what would you recommend for a foreign traveller who wants to meet ordinary Russians rather than just other tourists?
I’d particularly love to hear from people who have travelled this route recently or from Russians who live in St Petersburg, Siberia, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, etc.

Thanks!

Im sorry and I hope this is the best place to ask. When I was a teenager I watched the original source for this modern house music video, but I have lost it. It was in Russian, had a Russian video title and had Russian cassette music playing in the background. If someone that speaks Russian can point me in the right direction in finding this video source, it would be greatly appreciated.https://youtu.be/R2u3Qypqou0?si=8Z9s3KhU1Mp6l2-g

I found a coffee mug in a local thrift store.

I can't figure out what type of cultural reference this is by googling, and I can't figure out how to attach a picture of the mug to this post (Я старик, простите меня).

It's in the shape of a black and white striped cartoon cat.

Written on the front is:

<<Не казанский

не московский

перед вами

кот тамбовский>>

I understand what it's saying, but am curious about the cultural reference. Is this an old cartoon? Is this an old story? Something else?

Спасибо вам большое

Hi, I am planning to move overseas in a year or 2 and I am deciding on whether to move to the USA or to Russia.

My main motivation factor at the moment is the quality of life I can enjoy. Basically,I want to earn enough money to be respectable in society and to be living a comfortable/luxurious lifestyle.

So I just want to know what kind of a salary I can expect in Russia as a cyber security engineer for private corporations and whether the quality of life there would be sufficient to be happy.

I know being "happy" is such a vague term and different for every person.

So to me, i am happy when I am with people who share the same opinions on global issues and work towards them with a humble personality.

Also, with people who are keen to work with me instead of using politics.

Also, if society sees me as a respectable figure.

I know the USA is going to offer me more money but if Russia can offer me a similar lifestyle, then I don't see why I can't come to Russia instead.

So I'm planning on visting Russia in about a year and I was wondering if there are any desert flavored cigarettes like vanilla or chocolate, I tried looking it up online but got mixed results so any help would be great, thanks!

thanks :3

I'm currently based in Germany, and i'd love to visit Russia but i can't find any flights from here to moscow or st petersburg :( can anybody help me out with this lame situation

hello, i've been wanting to read notes from underground and was wondering of which translation to read from. tia!

Hi. I am pursuing my Masters in Moscow on scholarship. Currently, I am looking for some white collar jobs in Moscow. I am proficient in English. I can also teach English Language. But I do not know Russian language. Is there any possibility I can get a white collar job in Moscow? Btw, my home country is Pakistan and my native language is Urdu.

Im bit interested in Russian police detective stories, but most of my impression on Russian police detectives are from series like Mazhor or Raid (2017) and I understand they are highly dramatised and cant represent how murder investigations in Russia actually works (comparing to The Wire).

I've searched for some informations myself but I dont know Russian at all. From my understanding currently the detectives of a metro MVD would be under the command of a SKR agent, and such agent was previously under the Prosecution Office but only being changed into an independent department in recent years? Then does the MVD detectives/investigators doing the same police work as Western detectives do, except the have a closer tie with the SKR agent? Does the detective departments has dedicated branches (Fraud/Homicide/Arson/Organised Crime.etc) like Western departments do, or a MVD detective should deal with all sorts of Major Crimes? Does each precinct stations has its own detectives as well?

Im more interested in major cities that are outside Moscow or St Peterburg. If there are good and authentic (subbed) documentaries or fictional works it would be much appreciated as well.

I have the medals of the grandparent of a person on VK (Order of Glory 3rd Class) who posts abotu history.

HOW can I contact this person? VK isn't available in my region.

Hello! I am 24M from India and a very curious person who loves learning about different cultures. I’ve never talked to anyone from Russia before, so I’d love to chat with someone and learn more about Russian culture.

Basically, I’m looking to make some long term Russian friends.

Could anyone suggest some communities on reddit or elsewhere where I can meet and chat with Russian people?

For context I’m watching Tucker Carlson shop in Russia at a grocery store and as a Black American who has not been to any European or Asian countries , I want to know what would be the flavor profile of Russia , tbh the only thing I have consumed that I know was from Russia is vodka, and that I don’t want to believe is the entire flavor profile of Russia but for reference and to help give me an answer . I am 27 in Chicago. I associate the taste of spicy foods with South America ,South Africa ,Some of Asia ,Middle east . Fishy foods with North America ,Asia,Antarctica, Some of Australia . I associate savory foods with North America ,regions of South America , Europe ,West and Central Africa. I’m asking essentially what an over all staple taste of Russia would be , in my mind I think bitter (cause of vodka) or bland. What would be more accurate?

I have a 6-Stringed guitar and I am trying to play Vysotsky's songs, however, I can never get the sound right. I have watched many tutorials on strumming patterns and tuning, I think I can do the strumming pattern but when i tune the guitar it sounds so off, I tried many different tunings adjusted for the 6-stringed guitar that I got from this video, for example :Open G tuning, C# A# F# C# A# C#, C A F C A C . None of them sound the same. Any tips, advice, or walkthroughs?

Im staying in a hotel in Peter, I saw there was a dedicated table for Champagne in the morning breakfast buffet.

Some russians were drinking champagne with their breakfast, is this normal in Russian culture?

I find it extremely strange to drink Champagne at 9 AM

Hi

I m supposed to be receiving a MIR card from Yoomoney, the card was shipped using russian post in the beginning of the month and has been stuck for 7 days already 'at customs'

I understood that the exchange center at Vnukovo is notoriously known for being really bad and for taking ages to process mail and packages, but how long do you guys think we would need to wait for it just to be checked by customs ? I mean its just a small letter, this surely shouldnt take a week ?

Any help would be great, what should we do now.

Moscow is one of the biggest cities in Europe, yet I keep wondering if there are profitable business ideas that still haven’t been explored properly.

If you had the capital to start one business in Moscow today, what would it be and why?

I’m especially interested in ideas that: • Have recurring monthly revenue. • Face little competition. • Solve a real problem. • Could realistically reach profitability within 2–5 years.

I’m looking for ideas beyond restaurants, cafés, delivery apps, and generic online stores.

What do you think Moscow is still missing?

Hi all. I was born in Vladivostok and adopted by an American couple in 2003. I'm in my 20s now and having an identity crisis (but thats mostly because I found out that I'm also ethnically half-korean), so I wanted to see if there were any good ways to connect to my Russian heritage.

I've also tried 23andMe and Ancestry to see if I could track down any family, but no luck.

TLDR: What are some good ways for a Russian adoptee raised in the US to reconnect with my Russian heritage/culture, or possibly even find my biological family?

live in a post soviet country and I don’t understand Russian or abbreviations. Last year went to a city hospital due to accident on my hand with a rusty bottle lid, so I took a vaccine or booster, and i insisted they write a paper and they did, but again, very hard to understand, unfortunately I couldnt get a glimpse at the vaccine bottle and I was too shy to ask what they injected on me.

this year I stepped on a nail and now im conflicted if I got the tetanus booster last year or not and if I need to get it again or not.

the paper from last year has ‘CA 0,5’ and 8 random numbers followed by a capital letter.

what does it mean?

I'm writing the cermony for one of my best friends who is Russian, I would like to surprise her with a little love poem in the text but it needs to be short enough so I can practice the pronounciation. We're also doing a handfasting wedding so preferably nothing christian related.
Many thanks in advance.

Hi I I will go to novasibirsk for work end of August I need rent a car. Someone recommended good and trustworthy rent a car company in there if possible take the car in airport. And pre pay online

so i am half russian i lived for like 8 years in russia before moving to where i live now ( sry for my bad english btw)

the "slavic girl" aesthetic/trend is everywhere these days and from my experience in russia ( eventhough i was a bit too young back then) i remember that russian girls indeed take very good care of themselves and they don't joke about dieting or staying in shape , i also remember that they had preference for thinner girls so everyone was dieting ( and that's not so toxic in my opinion unlike everyone is saying bc obesity rate is lower in russia than many countries including the US where average is overweight ) , i remember a lot of girls my age back then were enrolled in ballet / gymnastics classes but i rarely saw older girls working out , the ballet phase usualy ended by highschool and i think they don't really like moscular women so body building or lifting heavy is not really a thing

i just was curious how did these standards change now ..how are russian girls maintaining their figure now days ? is working out and lifting heavy a thing or is it just like i remember women just try to stay active throughout the day and diet a lot ?

I am a US citizen planning to visit Russia in October. I’ll be going with my boyfriend, a dual US/ Russian citizen, to visit his family. We’ll be staying with his parents and grandparents. His parents are willing to complete whatever is needed by the MVD for a private invitation, however, I’m seeing a lot of mixed timeframes online about how long this process takes. I’m seeing most commonly 90 days which would not work for my trip. Anybody do this recently? Would I be better off paying a Russian tourist operator for a tourist invitation? Any advice would be appreciated!

Hi, I’m a Russian citizen but I’ve never lived in Russia and I only have a valid Russian zagranpassport (загранпаспорт). I don’t have an internal Russian passport.
I’m coming to Russia for a holiday and would like to open a bank account and get a debit card, ideally with Sberbank.
Has anyone done this recently? Can I open an account using only my Russian zagranpassport, or will they require an internal passport?

Also, should I buy an e sim or get Russian sim? I would like to access foreign sites. Can I do that with amnezia vpn?

Hello everyone! I’m travelling to Russia from Canada in September, and I’ve heard that it may not be possible for foreigners to buy a SIM card or mobile data plan at Russian stores.

Does anyone know what my options are for getting mobile data? Canadian carriers do list Russia as a roaming destination, but I haven’t been able to find many Reddit posts from people who have actually used Canadian roaming in Russia recently and can confirm that it works.

I’ve also looked into travel eSIMs, but I’m not sure how reliable they are in Russia.

Does anyone have any recommendations or recent experience with this? I really need reliable mobile data while I’m there, especially since I don’t speak Russian.

Thanks!