It really IS expensive, isn't it? - Russian Ukrainian Belarus Travel Music Woman Dating News

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It really IS expensive, isn't it?
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Posted by: Dave1

I'm at the "am I out of my mind?" phase again. A Ukrainian woman recently gave me a reality check when she asked if I owned my home. I asked her why, and she pointed out that it is very expensive to do all that is necessary when bringing a woman to another country--language lessons, health insurance, possibly getting her a diploma because her FSU degree might not be accepted here, etc, all while she won't be able to earn any significant income. She is right! Apart from the obvious cost of trips to the FSU (I haven't been yet, but I'm estimating roughly $5000 per trip based on roughly $2500 round trip airfare (per expedia) plus hotel, food, gifts and entertainment). She will definitely need a lot of stuff when she gets here too, not the least of which will be a car(and driving school and insurance to go with the car), and have you seen the price of women's clothes? This is not a poor man's adventure.

Posted by: dagpop

Dave it's either lust or love!

Posted by: AkMike

You're numbers are a bit high IMO. $2500 per trip? To where from where? Mine have been up to 1300 per to Kiev from Anch... You can cut down on expenses alot by renting apts..
Getting the different lessons isn't bad IF she applies herself. She can statrt english lessons there and get some ESL here as well as real life experience.

Be realistic but also be aware that it isn't the cheapest way to find a woman. But it's the cheapest way to get a quality woman IMO.

Posted by: sidney

Mike airline prices have gone up to where you can't find a ticket from NY to ukraine for under $1000. I may not be on the best site for price but most searches are $1500. How much did you pay for tickets if you don't mind my asking.
Sid

Posted by: GoingToRussia

Plan on spending at least $1000 round trip. Check different days for different prices. When I go to Moldova on a Friday, it costs $1000. Any other day is between $2000-$2500. Check all the Internet sites, sometime they have special deals running for 3 days or have 1-3 seats available at a low price. You can get by spending $2000 for a 2 week stay but it does not include any extras.

You will spend BIG bucks also when she arrives for paperwork. K-1 visa and status change is about $3000 now.

Posted by: disculmawsu

It also depends when you travel, length of time you plan to stay and when you book your flight. If you travel in September, October, November or December and stay two weeks you get flights on Northwest/KML for under 1000.00 from LaGuardia to Kyiv. (I am checking on flights for my New Year holiday in Moscow).
The airlines charge a premium during the summer to travel Ukraine and Russia, which is their peak tourist season.
Check Travelocity and Oribitz prices.

Posted by: Dave1

I'm looking at Texas to Ukraine in June, depart midweek, return weekend. I would expect it to be a lot less from Alaska, because you are half way there already! A big piece of my trip is just getting to a U.S. coast.

Posted by: GoingToRussia

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave1

I'm looking at Texas to Ukraine in June, depart midweek, return weekend. I would expect it to be a lot less from Alaska, because you are half way there already! A big piece of my trip is just getting to a U.S. coast.

All flights to Europe from the US head east, not west so AkMike is farther away then you are. June is the tourist season and prices go up. I did a quick look from Dallas to Kiev and everyday had the same price, $1500. I believe prices are cheaper before mid May and after August ... at least it used to be.

Posted by: AkMike

Quote:

Originally Posted by sidney

Mike airline prices have gone up to where you can't find a ticket from NY to ukraine for under $1000. I may not be on the best site for price but most searches are $1500. How much did you pay for tickets if you don't mind my asking.
Sid

Most of the local agents were in the 16-1700 range and my normal online site was 1500 , BUT I found an online consolidator called
http://www.farecrawler.com/index.aspx That got the numbers down alot. This time we paid just a bit over $1200.

I't not too bad for routing and layover either. We do have several hours wait in LA. But I'm hoping to get to meet Khashyar, Lena, Waiting123, Searcher and others fort a mini southern get together.

Posted by: AkMike

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave1

Just about all flights to the FSU head east Dave. Basicly the only Russian flights from here go to eastern Siberia thru Japan. We are on the long end of the eastern outings.. Normally we pay more because of the extra milage.

You'll probably go thru Atlanta or JFK for your trip. But,, I saw a fare on SwissAir out of Miami for dirt cheap like under $500 RT!!!! It didn't fit our schedule though..

So keep looking

Posted by: disculmawsu

AKMike,
Thanks so much for the tip about farecrawler!

Posted by: blucatz

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave1

Apart from the obvious cost of trips to the FSU (I haven't been yet, but I'm estimating roughly $5000 per trip based on roughly $2500 round trip airfare (per expedia)

Where are you getting $2500 figure from? I am flying RT to Moscow from Ohio and only costs $1200. I can go RT to Omsk for $1500. Now if you want to fly to Hurgadah Egypt from the US, it will cost you $3000....LOL

Posted by: Dave1

I don' know if it's where I'm coming from (Texas panhandle), where I'm going (Simferopol), or the time of year I'm looking at (middle of June), or the combination of the three, but Expedia's cheapest is now approximately $2700, Orbitz' $2300, and farecrawler doesn't show an airport in Simferopol at all. The Orbitz flight is undoable, as it has multiple ariplane/airline changes, and two of those are less than an hour between flights. That one would be risky at Love Field, let alone someplace I can't read or speak the language; it sounds like lost luggage for sure. I did see that I can save about $500 by waiting until September, but I'm not sure I want to wait that long.

I'm still in the "should I go or not" stages, but I am aware that if I am going this summer I am running out of time to get it planned, and I haven't even looked at accomodations. I am contemplating a 10 day trip, including travel time. It's good to know that if I want to go back :-) I should be able to go a bit cheaper in the fall or winter.

Posted by: AkMike

Dave, If I were you I'd go to Odessa or the main airport at Kiev and have her meet you at the airport to guide you down to Simferpol. You'll take trains or busses to get to that town.It's an overnight trip from Kiev to there and I think the tracks go there from Odessa too., I'll be thru there again in 3 weeks.
She shou;d be able to arrainge the "local" price for hotel/apt for you if she's serious about it.

Disc.. You're welcome. They saved me a bunch.. I spent alot of time looking til I found that one!

Posted by: Chillidog

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave1

I don' know if it's where I'm coming from (Texas panhandle), where I'm going (Simferopol), or the time of year I'm looking at (middle of June), or the combination of the three, but Expedia's cheapest is now approximately $2700, Orbitz' $2300, and farecrawler doesn't show an airport in Simferopol at all. The Orbitz flight is undoable, as it has multiple ariplane/airline changes, and two of those are less than an hour between flights. That one would be risky at Love Field, let alone someplace I can't read or speak the language; it sounds like lost luggage for sure. I did see that I can save about $500 by waiting until September, but I'm not sure I want to wait that long.

I'm still in the "should I go or not" stages, but I am aware that if I am going this summer I am running out of time to get it planned, and I haven't even looked at accomodations. I am contemplating a 10 day trip, including travel time. It's good to know that if I want to go back :-) I should be able to go a bit cheaper in the fall or winter.

Check "cheaptickets.com" I have used this site in the past and got a better price from them than orbitz, travelocity or expedia, it may not be cheaper everytime but it is worth looking. Also change what city you fly out of to reach Ukriane, I live near Chicago, but will also check flights out of New York or Atlanta and see if the rates are cheaper and then just puddle jump to this airport from Chicago. You might find a cheaper price this way even when you figure in the flight to arrive at this other airport

Posted by: Stirlitz

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave1

I did see that I can save about $500 by waiting until September, but I'm not sure I want to wait that long.

Based on costs, I would wait till September. Summer is always too expensive because there are a lot of tourists in the area. To tell you the truth, most of the Crimeans make the bulk of their income in the summer because they wind up prices. Transportation is also a problem.

On the other hand, it is not a good idea to make her wait that long if you are serious.

At any even, June or September is better than July or August

Posted by: azamuner

When I was thinking of booking a trip to the Ukraine I went to expedia to try to get an idea of the price. I can't remember the exact number but it was high. I went to my local travel agent and the price she quoted me was over a $1000 less. I personally wouldn't use Expedia as you might be able to get a much better deal just by going to your local travel company.

Posted by: Testman

I believe I used cheapflights.com and my ticket was $1200 from Dallas, TX to Kharkov, Ukraine.

When I was in Kharkov, my apartment was $350 for one week and I found food to be very affordable, as well as cab fare. Even the Interpreters were not near as expensive as I thought. I did the whole trip for under $2,000.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chillidog

Also change what city you fly out of to reach Ukriane, I live near Chicago, but will also check flights out of New York or Atlanta and see if the rates are cheaper and then just puddle jump to this airport from Chicago.

I live a three hour drive from Dallas, but if I take a plain from the local airport to get to Dallas, it is $350. So instead, I just drove to Dallas. And even though gas prices are high, it was still far cheaper this route.

Posted by: Chillidog

just for fun I looked up flights from Chicago to Kiev during the month of June, the prices (lowest) were $1100 in the beginning of June, and by the end of June the prices (lowest) had jumped to $1400, so yes it does matter when you travel. usually June is when the prices start going up and September/October is when you find they start coming down again.

Posted by: GoingToRussia

I have found it pays to check all sights. I've used a travel agent, travelocity, and expedia because at the time they had the lowest price. So check all possibilties before buying, especially the day you buy the tickets because they change almost daily.

Posted by: AkMike

GTR,
Could we do a sticky thread in travel with links to all the ticket sites? It'd make life easier to compare them if they were all consolidated in 1 spot. Just so we could add to it as fresh ones were found, like the farecrawler one I came across.
Just an idea that might help all of us.

Posted by: Spakoyna

I was never able to beat the airfairs from Gotorussia.com. They are a travel agent in Atlanta that specializes in travel to the FSU. Everything is done on the phone and by email and tickets,visas are shipped by fedex. They came through for me far cheaper and had access to all available flights. It has been almost 4 years so I don't know how they are now but I would definately givem a call!

Posted by: clark

Quote:

Originally Posted by AkMike

GTR,
Could we do a sticky thread in travel with links to all the ticket sites? It'd make life easier to compare them if they were all consolidated in 1 spot. Just so we could add to it as fresh ones were found, like the farecrawler one I came across.
Just an idea that might help all of us.

Mike, if you do a sticky put this link on there:
http://www.vayama.com/?gclid=CMfSiO...g&network=commj

I have found them to be head and shoulders above the rest for international travel in both price and service. When booking my flight they were at least $200 bucks cheaper than any of the others and as much as $5-6 hundred bucks of some others. They are easily beat on inter-continental. I had to call them as well and instantly got a voice on the phone and helped.

Posted by: BluesTraveler

DFW to KBP Dallas to Kiev in the month of June with 9 or 10 days is about $1450 - $1500

DFW to SIP Dallas to Simferopol, Ukraine Is about $1700. Using Aerosvit. stop in JFK and KBP -- 21 hours to get there, 24 hours to get home.

Use http://matrix.itasoftware.com
They have a great month long search feature when you have some flexibility in the exact day you want to leave.

Posted by: AkMike

Clark,
My thoughts are to have it so everyone could add their current or newest favs so it might help out someone else save a few sheckles. BUT I don't know if a moderator can do this or one of the Admins..
This is a mod question.

Posted by: blucatz

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spakoyna

I was never able to beat the airfairs from Gotorussia.com. They are a travel agent in Atlanta that specializes in travel to the FSU. Everything is done on the phone and by email and tickets,visas are shipped by fedex. They came through for me far cheaper and had access to all available flights. It has been almost 4 years so I don't know how they are now but I would definately givem a call!

Glad you reminded me of this site, I just checked them out for my flight to Moscow, only came back with 1 result and it was about the same price as Orbitz, but Orbitz gave me over 300 flights to choose from.

Posted by: GoingToRussia

Quote:

Originally Posted by clark

About $250 more then any website I've checked but like I said, check them all!

I will ask about a "sticky" Mike

Posted by: Spakoyna

Blu...You really need to give them a call. That online booking system they have is a joke. I always got a better rate and dates than online. If you are a little flexible it helps a whole bunch too!

Quote:

Originally Posted by blucatz

Posted by: sidney

True about flexibility. I always look at different days coming and going which can make a several hundred dollar difference.
Sid

Posted by: Chillidog

yes, I usually block out a whole month (for example check from June 1st to June 30th) and various length of stays during the month, you would be amazed at some of the differences in price that even 1 day different can make, so like Sidney said flexibility is a big plus.

Posted by: clark

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoingToRussia

About $250 more then any website I've checked but like I said, check them all!

I will ask about a "sticky" Mike

I was going to mention like some others who beat me to it, try different days of the week. Many times can make quite a significant difference.

Posted by: blucatz

Flexability is really not an option any more. I have to be in Moscow by the morning of the 13th to make my flight to Hurgadah that is already paid for. So my options are rather limited at this point.

Posted by: JohnnyLaRue

Wow you guys are paying way too much! I could have got a flight to the Ukraine back last month for $855 RT. I chose to go to Jamaica instead for $359 RT.

Also there are many last minute deal pages where you can get the ticket for very cheap. Providing you can travel the next day or so.

Posted by: Dave1

Well spill it Johnny, WHERE could you have gotten the tickets at that price?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Posted by: Raspberry

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoingToRussia

That is true. But the prices start going up at the end of April nowadays(I found that out when looking for tickets for Mike.)

Posted by: JohnnyLaRue

Dave: I'd rather not give out the place on the public forum since its one of those best kept secret sites. Supply and Demand ya know :P

I will give out the site via PM since I am sure the fine members on the forum won't leak the info to everyone.

The site is hit or miss and it may go for months without a flight to the Ukraine or Russia. But when they have the flights available it's a great deal. Sometimes they have flights from California to Colorado for 88 cents. Yes I said 88 cents!

Posted by: Aaron2

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoingToRussia

Yes, that's about right. I'm leaving on June 16, and it cost me just under $1,500 (Phoenix, AZ to Kiev) using hotwire.com. I booked the flight in early May. I really like my route. I make only one stop (NYC) and it's "only" about 16 hours to get there (18 hours coming back).

Aaron

Posted by: dagpop

Johnny, are the flights on your site with regular airlines? If you was getting that kind of deals, I would like to try them.Could you PM me the site.

Posted by: EasyTarget

Dagpop. Hotwire works through opaque channels. What that means is that if an airline has seats to sell they tell hotwire, when and what is the minimum they will take. When you book you have no idea which airline will fulfill your request. You might get United, American, etc... Although with international routes you can sort of guess as to the airline by the routing. Only after you pay for the tickets will you know which airline you will be flying. For most people this is no problem, unless your really into the frequent flyer mileage game.

Posted by: Raspberry

And, for all practical purposes, Hotwire(and Priceline) are "use it or lose it". In most cases, no changes. And of course, no refunds and no mileage credits.

Posted by: Texas Proud

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raspberry

And, for all practical purposes, Hotwire(and Priceline) are "use it or lose it". In most cases, no changes. And of course, no refunds and no mileage credits.

And you also get stuck with the crap airline most of the time.... I (well, it was my friend who bought the ticket) flew to Canada and got stuck on US Airlines just before they went into bankruptcy a few years back... they bumped our connecting flight and we sat in the airport for 8 or more hours.. we got a voucher because it was their fault, but people did not want to take them because they knew it was crap...

THEN they lost our luggage for 4 days and would not pay us anything for our troubles... nothing, not a cent...

So to me, I am willing to pay to be on the airline I know.... YMMV...

Posted by: dagpop

Thanks ET for the info.

Posted by: matt235

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave1

Dave, I know this is late and you might have already left for your trip, but consider it for your next trip. It seems that you are travelling for just a few days. That is the number one killer on price, especially if you do not stay over a Saturday night. Try to ensure that your flight is at least 7 days and includes a full weekend. Next, get out of the panhandle some other way (I would recommend moving to a more desirable part of Texas--Houston for instance!!!). Anyway, that crop duster you probably fly out of Lubbock (or Abilene or ...) on is a significant part of the cost as well. Consider driving to Dallas if at all possible. It would probably save you $400. Going in June, well, that is totally your call and you aren't going to escape the cost on that one.

As for me, I always look at comparing about 5 different travel sites/agencies. My favorite is Orbitz, but I am also using Vayama, Kayak and Cheaptickets. I am looking at making a trip to Ukraine in November. I have found the following prices for a 13 day trip from Houston. Kiev--$803, Odessa--$962, Kharkov--$1061, Donetsk--$1085. Also Moscow and St. Pete come in at about $900 each from Houston.

Good luck my friend and I hope this will help in the future.

Posted by: blucatz

Quote:

Originally Posted by matt235

As for me, I always look at comparing about 5 different travel sites/agencies. My favorite is Orbitz, but I am also using Vayama, Kayak and Cheaptickets. I am looking at making a trip to Ukraine in November. I have found the following prices for a 13 day trip from Houston. Kiev--$803, Odessa--$962, Kharkov--$1061, Donetsk--$1085. Also Moscow and St. Pete come in at about $900 each from Houston.

Good luck my friend and I hope this will help in the future.

If you found a ticket from Houston to Kiev for only $803, you had better buy it now. Thats a very good price and probably won't stay like that for very long with the way fuel prices keep going up.

Posted by: matt235

I agree. The problem is I'm not sure if I really want to go to Kiev just yet. Odessa is another $150, but it "looks" to be cheaper for the overall cost of living there (apartments, entertainment, etc). I could be wrong, but that is part of the reason I am doing so much research right now, including all of these crazy forum discussions!! LOL! Actually, I have a book that I keep with me at work that I write down what I need to research still. Some of these things end up here at RMP.

Posted by: blucatz

Quote:

Originally Posted by matt235

Odessa is another $150, but it "looks" to be cheaper for the overall cost of living there (apartments, entertainment, etc).

Do you plan on living there? Either way, better book the flights soon as the fuel will just keep going up along with the fares.

Posted by: matt235

I wish I could live there, but no, I am just referring to the cost of Hotels/Apartments that I have checked on. From what I have found (so far) it seems that Kiev apartments are running about $100-$150/day whereas Odessa was coming in at $80 to $125/day. Figure $20/day saving over 10 days will pay for the additional airfare. I don't know about food and stuff but that was what I was talking about.

Posted by: Raspberry

Kiev is a bit of a "Catch-22".....airfares are cheaper, compared to other cities in Ukraine...but staying there is more expensive....plus a long train or bus ride if you are going elsewhere....flying into other cities is no problem going over...
but requires a stopover in Europe coming back(which can be just as expensive, and sometimes more)......the early morning flight out of Borispol connects to the US flights no problem....but cabbies charge premium rates to get you to the airport at that time of the morning....

Posted by: matt235

Cabbies are always a problem no matter where you are. Try Beijing or Tokyo. Hell, try Chicago or New York. Anyway, I am looking to get away from Kiev as of this writing. Looking a little further south, like Odessa, the Crimea, Mariupol, etc.

I hadn't thought about the cabbies though and it is just another thing to deal with.

Thanks,

Posted by: Dave1

Quote:

Originally Posted by matt235

I have found the following prices for a 13 day trip from Houston. Kiev--$803.

Where did you find this price? I am trying to get to Kiev in September and am not finding anything near this.

Posted by: GoingToRussia

Quote:

Originally Posted by matt235

From what I have found (so far) it seems that Kiev apartments are running about $100-$150/day

Hmmm, I stayed in a Kiev hotel for $120 and had a great breakfast every morning which was part of the cost. This could have been because I was on the other side of the river but only a 15 taxi ride away from the city. I am glad I stayed on the other side because it was quite and the air wasn't so polluted from all the cars.