[Menace]

Table Of Contents

1. Other Moscow Threads & Resources
2. Executive Summary
3. Trip Rationale
4. Game Plan
5. Logistics
6. Language
7. Girl Stories
8. Russian Soul/Russian Cultural Knowledge
9. Thoughts on Moscow as a City
10. Post-trip Thoughts
11. Videos and Pictures (separate post in this thread due to scaling & text wrapping issues)

1. Other Moscow Threads & Resources

Fortunately, there are a number of existing Moscow threads, so I do not have to do all the heavy lifting.
Akula’s nightlife & Moscow guide
Slubu’s Russia live-report thread
Slubu’s EE comparison thread
(apologies if I missed any)

Hat tip to RVF members Akula, slubu, and ac_slater, all of whom I met on this trip. All stand-up and solid guys. My time with slubu was a good learning experience in terms of winging.

2. Executive Summary

Days stayed: 14
Girls dated: 4
Girls banged: 1

Accommodations: $1540
Bars/restaurants/tourist stuff: ~$1500
Airfare: $1800 (biz class through point buy; you can travel for much less)
Cost per day: ~$340

3. Trip Rationale

Since I was born in the former FSU, I decided that I would visit the motherland to see how I felt about the place (although I was not born in Russia). Of course the attractiveness of the girls was also an important consideration. This was my second trip alone to a new country, and I was more prepared this time around and planned better (at least in some aspects).

4. Game Plan

I did an honest assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of my game. Generally, I do not enjoy going out at night on too many consecutive nights, and my cold approach skills need a lot of work. Since I knew that I would not magically become better in Russia, I decided that pipelining girls was going to be the main source of girls, and anything else would be gravy. Accordingly, I found various girls as outlined below (or they found me). I always tried to establish contact with the girls via Skype and to have a video chat. Although I amassed quite a collection of girls, I ended up only meeting up and going on dates with four of them.

5. Logistics

We all know how crucial this factor is. I rented a one-bedroom apartment using AirBnB. I did not bother going off-line to negotiate a better price. My apartment was located in an older building near Tretyakovskaya metro station (about a 5-10 minute walk). It was very central. For example, the Red Square was a 20-minute walk from my place. Plenty of coffee shops, restaurants, and pizza places where you can take your date then bounce to your house (this is what I did).



The apartment was located within the circled area.
Price paid: $110/night

6. Language

It is highly recommended that you know some Russian, both spoken and written. Russians do not believe in signs. Those signs that exist are almost exclusively in Russian, so you should be able to recognize the Cyrillic alphabet and read basic things. Restaurant menus are generally Russian only as far as I saw, but many have pictures, so you should be ok. I speak fluent Russian (almost no accent), and can read, so my experiences in this area will not be as useful to most of you. Check slubu’s threads for his preparation and experiences. I think there is actually reasonable English proficiency by many in Moscow, but I generally did not try to figure out if they spoke English.

7. Girl Stories

Skype Girl: This is a girl I randomly met on a language exchange site. Our personalities really meshed well. For some reason, I suppose because I enjoyed it, I spoke to her regularly on Skype for some time before getting to Russia. Now, I must be honest in rating her in the context of Russia…and if I am honest, she is at best a 5.5 or so at her current weight. She is 24. Her face is somewhat exotic, and if she lost weight she could easily be a 7 here. She passes the boner test, but I know that I cannot maintain sexual attraction to someone with her thicker body-type for more than 2 weeks. I have to have a really thin girl.

Since we spoke so frequently, she met me directly at my apartment when I got in. Of course I pawed at her, but she rebuffed all my attempts to kiss her, although she was into me. I hung out with her almost every day during the day and did tourist stuff. I paid for all of her meals. Now, some might say that I was wasting opportunities to day game, but the rule of thumb is if you’re not doing it at home, you’re likely not going to be doing it away. This is a skill I am developing, and I didn’t feel a compelling need to do it in Moscow.

The bottom line with this girl is that she really likes me, possibly loves me, and wants to marry me and have babies. Girls here are serious about this shit. She is the proverbial “regular girl.” Not a club goer.

On Saturday we met up at a metro stop and were on our way somewhere, when she realized that she may not have unplugged her laptop and/or taken the battery out of it. Apparently it overheats or randomly turns on by itself. She wanted to go home to make sure it was ok. I said fine, I don’t care, let’s go. Her parents were out. She lives in what I would call “real Moscow”, not central Moscow where I was staying, which is much wealthier and higher end. It was actually really interesting to see how normal people live.

We get up to her apartment and she shows me around. I plop on her bed. I get up and play with her cat. She is amazed at how much her cat likes me. I picked up her cat and cradled it in my arms. She stood next to me and petted it, and I told her the cat was like our baby. She loved that. I put the cat down, and then we were getting ready to go. We were facing each other and I had my umbrella in my hand, and I just used it to poke her in the pussy. She said something like my goodness, and then we were kissing/groping. I probably could have pushed for more, but I just didn’t. I mean I know she wants to sleep with me, so in some sense that is/was sufficient for me to know. Actually, I think I was still suffering from minor jet lag and I probably have low-T as well. Or she is not hot enough. Anyone think she ran some girl game and isolated me at her place to finally kiss me? That’s what occurred to me.

So, I met her on Tuesday and finally kissed her on Saturday. I know this may seem like amateur hour when guys are banging 4 girls a day, but it’s not the same here with (all) girls, and it is not just a lack of game/skill on my part.

Some conversations I had with Skype Girl:







Social Girl: This girl contacted me over a social network (not dating-related). I don’t want to reveal more than that. I actually did not know too much about her when we started talking. She is blonde, Russian, and 29. Again, the issue with her was that she is thicker than I like. However, I wanted to meet her for the networking/social circle benefits. Additionally, she is a charming, sophisticated, and very kind girl. Or at least she appears to be that. Hell, I appear to be that as well, but I’m kind of a douche, right?

So the night slubu had his puking girl incident, I went out with this girl. I was suited up, no tie. She picks me up in a cab (a nice one, not the shit gypsy cabs we normally use) and we go to a really trendy Moscow restaurant called Williams (not super expensive), but still very hip. She paid for the cab. She told me that it’s a place where many people are regulars. She knew several people there. An apparently very famous Moscow fashion designer was seated at a table behind us. It was that kind of place.

So really, I don’t know shit about this girl. The whole thing has the potential to be some kind of Russian scam. She contacts me out of the blue and takes me to some trendy place, so is it all some kind of gold digger thing? I mean it could be, but I figured nothing bad could really happen. At worst I’m out some cash, but it was a novel experience, so I decided to just go with the flow.

Oh, she brought me a present. Can you believe that? I was quite touched by that. Of course I forgot it in the car on the way back home because I was drunk. Pissed about that.

Dinner ensues, we have good conversation, etc. We had previously spoken over the phone, and that went well. We both agreed that it was important to talk over the phone in order to screen people, and she said that was why she called me before. Fine with me. Well, the bill comes and of course I pay. The dinner cost $150 due to the bottle of wine. She thanks me.

We walk over to a hotel rooftop bar called Time Out (video below), which was trendy, and cool. Sense a theme with her? She bought the first drinks. I got the second round, and we also got some smokes. Should have brought a lighter. I also bought the final round of shots, and we were off to another place called whose name I forgot. I paid for the cab ride over there (500 rubs, dude claimed that he had no change. Scam, but I’m not going to make a scene over that).

The last venue was a small place, also trendy. We sat/stood at a table near a wall, and had drinks and danced a bit. Her friends were supposed to come too, but they never showed up. During the night I was slowly ramping up touching her, of course, and now at this final place I am trying to kiss her, but she is being proper (but she wants to). Keeps pushing me back, but holds my hands.

After the last venue, we go home (it is about 2 am now). We are not in the car for more than 30 seconds before major making out occurs. She is a good kisser. Well I was also drunk as fuck, so I guess it’s all good then. I did not try, nor did I have the presence of mind, to weasel into her place.

This was after I got back home from our night out:


Beauty Girl: Beauty girl I pipelined from a site given to me a by a forum member here. I call her this because to me, her face was just really beautiful: dark and somewhat angular. Dark hair. Her ass was maybe a little bit too wide, but she was generally thin. She regularly goes to a pole dancing class. I finally blocked off a day to meet up with her.

We met in a metro station and she looked great, although her clothing was a little bit more casual than I am used to with these girls and what I have come to expect. She had a sweater with an oversized neck hole that kept revealing her shoulder. Nice.

Since this was a day date, and this is Russia, I kept it touchy feely but not night club 3 am aggressive. Fairly quick to touch, occasional hand-holds, kisses on face, neck, and head. Yeah, it’s all kind of 1950’s shit, but they are totally fine with it and I did not feel I could get away with more during the day.

We walked in a park and talked. Then we got hungry and went to a hotel restaurant to eat. Turned out to be Russian food. The food was a little pricy, but really tasty. The borscht was almost as good as my mother makes. She offered to split the bill, which I thought was amazing, but I treated her. Actually, we had earlier discussed the difference between American girls and Russian girls, and she mentioned that in Russia it is just customary for the man to pay. Nevertheless, she offered anyway. After that we walked around the Church of Christ the Redeemer, some nuzzling on the bridge, then I told her I had to head out (I had a date with another girl), and she had to go too. I gave her some lingering kisses on her face (not lips), and sent her on her way. Would like to see her again, she is just really pretty.

Couch Girl: I could give her lots of names, but I sent slubu a picture of her on the couch, so there it is. Couch Girl was very much into me. She was pipelined from the same place as Beauty Girl. We messaged off and on while I was in US and then when things were not progressing with Skype Girl, I called in the reserves so to speak. Couch Girl is significantly hotter than Skype Girl, so go figure.

Couch Girl is an interesting person. Smart, well travelled. She definitely has a sarcastic side and would tease me, but it was done in a very warm way; not the acerbic Western sarcasm. First date was coffee at night and then we sat around a random restaurant because it started to pour rain.

On our second date we went to restaurant for dinner. I hasten to add that she offered to pay each time we went out, and I let her pay several times. She is not a typical Russian girl so don’t expect this behavior from the typical girl. Would not let me kiss her on the lips. There was touching, hand holding, kissing on neck throughout all the dates. Third date (or possibly this was second, I have lost track now actually) we went to get some pizza and then I finally kissed her on the lips. She was a great kisser. These girls are reluctant to kiss in public generally.

Throughout our dates there were constant shit tests, and challenges. I can’t even really list them all, but as one example, she claimed that I was very confident and self-assured and that this was a bad thing. Go figure. I don’t want to sound like I am some expert gamer, but there was definitely some high-level testing going on. During the pizza date she told me that she could trim my hair (she does this on the side), and I said nah, that’s fine. Dumb right? Well the next morning I realized my mistake and told her that yeah, she should actually come over and do that.

So, one evening she finally comes over to give me a haircut. I grab her by the arms, and start making out with her. I want her to stay, but she is kind of nervous, or a little uncomfortable. I told her that it was fine, and that I was not going to make her do anything she didn’t want. Walked her back to the metro. She is definitely into it but is just resisting.

Finally, one the fourth date (?) we had dinner (soup), and over dinner she revealed to me that she has some trust/fear issues with men for reasons I don’t want to get into (stereotypical Russian fucked up situation). I suggested that we go over and watch a movie, and she said she wanted to go for a walk first. We walked around the block and to my place (logistics!). I had the movie ready; we got on the couch and started watching.

Started kissing, fondling. She kept saying we shouldn’t do this, and I kept ignoring. She was of course into it (as she has been from the beginning). Eventually clothes come off (mine first actually), and we bang. Raw first, but then I slipped on a condom because I was on no fap in Russia, and it would have been over in about 30 seconds otherwise. Decent first time bang, which I am certain, will get better with time. Love her body; very slim, compact little ass, nicely shaped B-cups. Shaved pussy. We are still messaging, and she wants more, more, more. She had plans to be in US in Sept/Oct, so we shall see.

Message she sent me pre-bang (note: I am not as handsome as she makes me out to be):



Message post-bang after she left (awesome evening = dick):


8. Russian Soul/Russian Cultural Knowledge; What it Takes for Them to Like You

I expressly asked two of the girls with whom I had the closest relationship about the concept of the “Russian soul.” Both agreed that this is a real thing. They also both appeared to agree as to what it was: essentially this idea embodies an extreme generosity and willingness to give everything for the people you care about. Now, as always, we must take anything that girls say with a grain of salt, but this idea seemed reasonable. One of them told me that the idea of trying to get a deal, i.e. paying as little as possible, was initially very foreign to her. Russians do not think you should worry about such matters; just spend the money without thought.

There have been a number of statements made on the forum with respect to the desirability of having Russian cultural knowledge such as songs, authors, legends, books, etc. To be fair, knowing the language is a huge bonus that might supersede anything else I might know. However, I have never read any great Russian authors, have only basic knowledge of Russian history (only from about WW I period), and I have no idea what artists or songs are popular. I have seen some old FSU movies, and I mentioned that, but that was the extent of my knowledge.

Originally I was going to say that having Russian cultural knowledge was really not necessary, but given the huge role language plays, I am not certain whether I can make this statement with sound support. Nevertheless, I feel that the necessity for this knowledge has perhaps been overstated.

I got along well with each girl I went out with, and they all basically liked me. Arguably, two of them fell in love with me. What I do think is necessary is something that Prosal articulated on the Ukraine thread: I think you need to have some cultural sophistication, confidence, knowledge, be well travelled and just generally be a man of the world. I suspect that if you’re just all-American, or too douchy/bro-y, you will not be well received by most Russian women.

Interestingly, I did not really alter my game with these girls. I teased them and joked with them almost like I would with American girls. The changes I did make included giving them more compliments (well received by them and appreciated), as well as a willingness to foot the bill. They certainly take teasing well, but you do not have to do it quite as harshly or frequently as with American girls.

Russian girls are a pleasure to date. They possess intelligence, class, grace, and I found them very pleasant to be with. They are passionate and fall in love easily. They do not mind succumbing to their feelings and emotions, which makes them in-tune with their feminine natures. I felt that you could be more up-front with them regarding your feelings than you could with girls living in America.

I make no conclusions regarding physical characteristics such as skin color: I was mistaken for a local several times. However, I will post my observations here on race as well, although I do not presume to understand what it would be like for a black/brown guy here. I saw more black people in Moscow than in Beijing. Most of the black people were, unsurprisingly, men. Most were engaged in low-end labor (giving out flyers, leaflets, etc.). I also so some professional-looking black guys as well; likely either students or working there. I saw one black/blonde couple, but I could not tell whether they were romantically involved as there was no PDA. Most of the black guys appeared to be West African.

9. Thoughts on Moscow as a City

Every city has a vibe and gives you a certain feel when you’re in it. I saw a lot of Moscow. I went out during the day to different parts of the city almost every day. I wish I could say that I really liked it, but I didn’t. I am neutral on Moscow at best. Moscow gave me an aloof/cold vibe. This feeling is ironic given that this is ostensibly my birth culture (or at least very close to it). I felt much better in Beijing, for example, than in Moscow, even though I speak no Mandarin at all.

Thus, despite the beautiful women, I don’t think I would want to live in Moscow. I’d actually rather live in DC than in Moscow, which I know is a potentially crazy statement to make on this forum. My reasons for this are as follows: living in Moscow would cause you to adjust to the girls such that their beauty would no longer be so surprising; you would just expect it after a while (hedonic adaptation). Aside from the girls, my quality of life in Moscow could not compare to my QOL in DC. I would never make as much money, could not live in as nice a place, and the vagaries of second world culture (lax laws, bribes, shady dealings, etc.) would wear on you.

I spoke to one forum member who lives in Moscow that slubu pointed me to, and he echoed these observations. I actually wished that I felt differently, since I would have every advantage being in Moscow, but I just don’t. However, each of us must make their own determination, and obviously there are others who really would like to move there, or at least live here long term. Basically for me it was girls yes, city no.

10. Post Trip Thoughts

This will probably be my last solo trip. I have proven to myself I can do it, and now I don’t want to do it alone anymore. My personality type does best with someone who is more driven and more outgoing. I was lucky on this trip to be able to hang out with a girl who was not employed at the time, thus I always had someone to be with during the day.

I have since gone out in DC after being in Moscow, and needless to say it was depressing. How can everyone be so ugly? Well, you know, it is what it is. I'm just going to ignore American girls, which I largely have anyway, and focus on foreign women. They are not of the same calibre as in Moscow, but they are more pleasant and reasonable to deal with. Well, I know better than to go out in DC at night...and yes, I still stand by my statement of preferring to live in DC I made above.

In the future I will either travel with a forum member, or just plan to go somewhere that I know will have RVF guys already present and that want to go out.

Additionally, I pretty much confirmed that my preferred physical type is really petite Asian, not tall blonde. No explanation for this, but it is what it is.

Finally, I likely made the mistake of spending too much time with a girl who would not bang me. I should have cut her off and spent more time with the other girls; I'm convinced I could have banged Beauty Girl if I had spent more time with her. On the other hand, I truly enjoyed spending time with Skype Girl, and she had a lot of free time for me. I guess it was a trade-off.

[Menace]

11. Videos and Pictures

I made an effort to capture on the street and in-venue footage for the benefit of RVF. With respect to the pictures of girls on the street, I can't really say these pictures are representative. Certainly not every girl on the street is an 8 or 9, but they come by fairly frequently. Wherever possible I tried to get faces.

The following are pictures of girls mostly out and about on the street, all in central Moscow:


(near Kremlin)


(girl handing out flyers at Tretyakovskaya)


(at Tretakovskaya)


(at Tretyakovskaya)


(at Tretyakovskaya)


(outside of a metro station in central Moscow, I forget the name)


(same station as above)


(same station as above)


(same station as above)


(hot Asian on metro)

[Menace]

(more in Gorky park)


(Gorky park)


(girl waiting the rain out; central Moscow)


(girls waiting rain out; same time/place as above)


(near my apartment)


(waiting at bank)


(near place where you can rent bicycles)


(waiting in line to use pay bathroom in mall; 20 rubles)


(club Barbados; Thurs night out with slubu)


(club Barbados as above)

Videos
The following are videos I captured.

The following two videos were taken on a Wednesday morning in August of the street traffic at Tretyakovskaya metro station

The following two videos are from little tourist trips I took. The first is from MAKS 2013 (Moscow air show, about 42 km outside of Moscow). The second was at VDNH, which is a former Soviet World Fair site (I think). It's full of the carnival-type rides and games that used to be in Gorky park. The place is absolutely enormous and has a real Soviet feel to it. You can hear me and my girl in this video; she is telling me that if you throw a coin into the fountain then you will come back to Russia.

This is a shot of people traffic in Gorky park; this is during the weekday.

Cute Asian girl milling around waiting to cross street.

TimeOut bar; Friday night around 10 pm.

The following two videos are from Barbados, the night I went out with slubu (Thursday night):

[Hencredible Casanova]

Glad you got the bang in mother Russia. Seems like there's some decent day game prospects there. Tall and thin women.

[DirectDanger]

Great report. Like having all the pics and videos to go along with it. Makes it much easier to get a feel for things.

I have a question for you about this...

Quote:

Additionally, I pretty much confirmed that my preferred physical type is really petite Asian, not tall blonde. No explanation for this, but it is what it is.

So you you have a physical preference for petite asians, what about when it comes to personalities? Did you get along/prefer/enjoy the personalities of the Russian girls more?

Maybe you could do a bit of comparison on your thoughts between Asian and Russian girls.

[jimukr104]

"I make no conclusions regarding physical characteristics such as skin color: I was mistaken for a local several times. However, I will post my observations here on race as well, although I do not presume to understand what it would be like for a black/brown guy here. I saw more black people in Moscow than in Beijing. Most of the black people were, unsurprisingly, men. Most were engaged in low-end labor (giving out flyers, leaflets, etc.). I also so some professional-looking black guys as well; likely either students or working there. I saw one black/blonde couple, but I could not tell whether they were romantically involved as there was no PDA. Most of the black guys appeared to be West African."

Bekleive it or NOT .... there are thousands of BLACKS who are descendants from communist era blacks including African Americans who defected to the Soviet Union.Most live in Moscow.

[Menace]

(09-07-2013 10:20 AM)DirectDanger Wrote:  

Great report. Like having all the pics and videos to go along with it. Makes it much easier to get a feel for things.

I have a question for you about this...

Quote:

Additionally, I pretty much confirmed that my preferred physical type is really petite Asian, not tall blonde. No explanation for this, but it is what it is.

So you you have a physical preference for petite asians, what about when it comes to personalities? Did you get along/prefer/enjoy the personalities of the Russian girls more?

Maybe you could do a bit of comparison on your thoughts between Asian and Russian girls.

Given a choice, I think I prefer the Russian personalities more. They appear to be, on average, deeper, more cultured, and more sophisticated. Of course this is all irrelevant for ONS-type things, but for long term enjoyment, Russian all the way.

Asian girls tend to be more silly and childish, which I admit has its own appeal to me. I feel the Russian personality is closer to what would bring me long term joy. Uneducated Asian girls are fine for banging, but that's about it. Even educated Chinese girls can be extremely childish, although this depends on the girl. I'm just talking about averages here.

@jim: I had no idea re the communist era blacks. These guys appeared to be recent transplants however, because I detected an African accent in them.

[Hoen]

Great report,i enjoyed it, but dude,what was this:

We were facing each other and I had my umbrella in my hand, and I just used it to poke her in the pussy. She said something like my goodness, and then we were kissing/groping.

[trock]

Great report.

@menace. would youmind changing the size of the photos? they're way too big my friend. could you downsize them abit? anyways.

How do you feel about targeting russian girls when they're on vacation as opposed to targeting them in their city?

easier? harder? i guy named K-Man talked about this. he claims to have great success with this strategy.

http://www.rooshvforum.network/thread-12842.html

would you ever try to game them in turkey, thailand, dominican republic and other places? because i have a long range plan to do this in the future.

i have to pat you on the back. You did good piplining before you went.

i also am doing the same thing with a moscow girl right now. and i can confirm that their attitude towards sex is a good one.

i was talking to a girl named anna. and i asked her if she exercises. and she told me "sex is my exercise." And she is really good looking. not a russian dime piece. not a russian 9-10. She's a russian 6 without makeup. She's a 7.5 borderline 8 with make up on. but has a great body.

but just that openess and willingness and hunger for good sex with a decent looking man on their part is definetly in them.

i guess all the criticism. by women here in the USA that we men have a higher sex drive is downright false. it truly is a nature vs nuture issue with sex.

@jimukr104 valid points about race. i'm friends with a black guy who teaches english in moscow.

this is his view on blacks in russia. check it out. he has good contacts and the company who sponsors him has security for him if he ever has trouble with skin heads. but it's no easy cake walk. he is lucky because alot of University type chicks who want to learn & improve their english want him.

but otther than that. great report about moscow. good job! You paid a heft price. International Pimpin' costs some dough but on your end. it looks like it was worth it.

[rudebwoy]

Awesome report and love your honesty! Damn these trip reports are getting serious these days and the bar has been set.

I think you are being hard on yourself, it seems like you could have got another bang or two if you were more aggressive. The 29 year blonde with money sounds right down my alley.

Let me address the colour issue, I am a black man and will someday visit Moscow. Hopefully, I can grasp the language but I will give it a try no doubt. Yes I am sure there are dangers, but with great reward comes great risks. I know of dudes that have travelled there and lived there, yes you have to be careful but they simply raved about it.

Met a guy in the strip club last night, he travels a fair bit. Told me a story about an Argentinian dude he knows who travels to Russia every month from Argentina, he states they are simply the best women on the planet.

[slubu]

Menace, fantastic report man. This forum now has a lot of info on Moscow coming from many different angles - Akula (resident), me (night owl), you (mix of everything). I'd give you another rep point if I can, but already gave you one! The beauty of these reports, all coming at once too, is that you see how different cities are for different people. I'm ready to move to Moscow, but Menace has an entirely different feeling.

Only one question - who was the puking girl I had an incident with?

Also, you have to be the most surreptitious cameraman ever because I had no idea you were even taking pics/videos that Thursday night.

[trock]

(09-07-2013 12:31 PM)slubu Wrote:  

Menace, fantastic report man. This forum now has a lot of info on Moscow coming from many different angles - Akula (resident), me (night owl), you (mix of everything). I'd give you another rep point if I can, but already gave you one! The beauty of these reports, all coming at once too, is that you see how different cities are for different people. I'm ready to move to Moscow, but Menace has an entirely different feeling.

Only one question - who was the puking girl I had an incident with?

Also, you have to be the most surreptitious cameraman ever because I had no idea you were even taking pics/videos that Thursday night.

wow. slubu. good job on that article "russian women are whores"

now that i have had the chance to talk to and compare russian girls to ukraine girls. I have to agree with the comparisons in character are correct. but a few men have told me that ukraine women are prettier and have more quantitiy of prettier women. which is true?

what's your view on gaming girls when they're on vacation in places like (Turkey, Thailand, Maldives, Dominican Republic) vs. gaming them in a city like moscow? have you ever done it?.

[Menace]

(09-07-2013 12:31 PM)slubu Wrote:  

Only one question - who was the puking girl I had an incident with?

Also, you have to be the most surreptitious cameraman ever because I had no idea you were even taking pics/videos that Thursday night.

I think it was the night where you and your buddy got two girls but one of them puked in the car and kind of ruined the whole thing.

Yeah, I have some ninja photo skills.

[paninaro]

Good report with good details.

One question: Do you think your success rate would have increased if you merely had more dates with each of the girls? Seems like each of them was moving along, albeit slowly... maybe another date or two would have helped?

How long were you there total? I think that part can always be complicated for people who visit for a few days. It's such a tough decision whether the girl you are with is worth investing more time in, or best to move on to the next one.

[Jordan]

Great Report! Sincere and Honest

[Akula]

Great writeup Menace, very well done. Enjoyed reading that and glad you finally ended up getting what you came for and had a lot of fun and interesting experiences along the way.

RE this statement....

Quote:

Thus, despite the beautiful women, I don’t think I would want to live in Moscow. I’d actually rather live in DC than in Moscow, which I know is a potentially crazy statement to make on this forum. My reasons for this are as follows: living in Moscow would cause you to adjust to the girls such that their beauty would no longer be so surprising; you would just expect it after a while (hedonic adaptation). Aside from the girls, my quality of life in Moscow could not compare to my QOL in DC. I would never make as much money, could not live in as nice a place, and the vagaries of second world culture (lax laws, bribes, shady dealings, etc.) would wear on you.

I spoke to one forum member who lives in Moscow that slubu pointed me to, and he echoed these observations. I actually wished that I felt differently, since I would have every advantage being in Moscow, but I just don’t. However, each of us must make their own determination, and obviously there are others who really would like to move there, or at least live here long term. Basically for me it was girls yes, city no.

...well I can totally see where you are coming from, and I myself have had to struggle with a lot of these things from time to time.

As I've lived here for 4+ years now, I know the quality of life issues make living here tricky, and its a constant source of tension for many expats. No doubt that Moscow is a haven for women, and with the 13% tax rate you can live pretty well if you're making a nice salary. And it's a fun place too, the weekends can be crazy, there are lots of great restaurants here and there's a lot of energy in the city day in and day out. There's also a lot more culture with the theater scene and museums than most people would think. But except for the very center the city is pretty ugly, dirty, mostly run down and a very stressful place to live. The cold and dark winters take their toll as well. Traffic is horrible. And there's seemingly no real 'rule of law' and you can't count on the police or authorities to help you most of the time.

For single guys like me the women are a massive plus, but pretty much every expat woman I've know here either hated the place or quickly grew tired of it. It's not convenient at all for families either from what everyone says. And it's little things and conveniences that you don't have here that p*ss me off all the time too. Even simple stuff like Costco, or the huge number of TV channels and on demand programming in the US, or In-n-Out Burger, Whole Foods, cheap overnight shipping, etc. - I could go on and on and on. So the US and Europe generally just have a better overall quality of life I think (outside the women).

All that said, I still like it a lot, in many different ways, and it would be hard to go back to American women. But it's not just that, there's so much opportunity here work-wise too really. I deal with people at much higher levels than I did back home, and have much more responsibility. The country has so much room to grow that it should provide opportunties for decades going forward. And I think working here would put you in a position to pretty much work anywhere in EM, so it could also be used as a 'stepping-stone'. The people can seem cold, but most Russians are basically just working day to day trying to get by and can be suprisingly decent, if not a bit reserved, once you get to know them and gain their trust. They will suprise you with their 'old fashioned' views, and if often feels sometimes like you're living in the late 1950s or 60s here with everyone smoking, men being men and women being women. Which is something I like a lot. I guess there's just something kinda cool and novel about seeing a big sign that says "Welcome To Marlboro Country" in Russian in the mall or on the road, or every woman wearing high heels and expecting you to hold the door for 'a lady'.

Anyway, just some additional thoughts from me, glad you enjoyed the trip, had some good success gaming, and it helped you figure out you like your situation the way it is currently.

[DVY]

13% tax +bribes. Count it as 25% unless you have "friends"