Travelling to Belarus security concerns.advice sought . many thanks

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Russian brides > Main Forum > Travelling to Belarus security concerns.advice sought . many thanks

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sdgill58

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	Send: 7/4/2012 10:33:16 AM

I am planning a trip to Belarus in the near future to meet a lady i have contacted via the internet ( Elena's Models) .Can anybody advise me about safe travelling in this country etc. If i where to travel further out from Minsk to a small town in the countryside to met with her family would this be safe and advisable? The town in question is Smorgon as far as i can tell from hearing it prounced .Any further help or advice would be very much appreicated .

beemer18

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	Send: 7/6/2012 3:48:52 AM

your better off on the 'other' forum.....soon this thread will end up like the others....

durak

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	Send: 7/8/2012 11:23:59 AM

sdgill, I don't have any real experience of Belarus, and none of this town. I found a little information online about the town -- the way you spelled it in Latin letters is usual, but it is also written Smarhon. Though it's a small town, it is certainly not like a rural village. The population is around thirty five thousand, and it has some blocks of the Soviet-style concrete multi-story apartment buildings. It's northwest of Minsk, less than 70 miles (110 km) distant. According to tutu.ru, there are several trains a day from Minsk to Smorgon, but they are all either before 8 AM, or after 8 PM. The trip by train is rather less than 2 hours. If this part of Belarus is anything like other former Soviet regions I know about, there are probably buses running at more convenient hours throughout the day, though the bus trip may take rather longer. ___________________ My advice, for what it's worth: if you can speak at least a few hundred words of Russian, and have used trains or buses before in the FSU -- or you're the kind of daring traveler who takes African buses with steel plates over the wheels and people riding on the roof, and who fearlessly bribes border guards -- then doing this on your own should be no problem. Otherwise, the process can be quite confusing and intimidating; among other things, you probably won't be able to read most (or perhaps any) of the signs. And of course, it will very likely be necessary to hire a taxi to get from the airport to the train or bus station. An alternative: I haven't used such services myself, but I know from this forum that in Ukraine there are drivers (nominally "taxis" but probably not official) who will drive you anywhere in the country. Of course, this is not so cheap, but still not frightfully expensive if you make the right deal. If you want to do this on your trip, I strongly recommend arranging this before you arrive to Belarus, so you know you will have a car waiting at the airport, and what the price will be. Another alternative (what I would do, if I didn't have the combination of some Russian language and regional experience), would be to ask the lady you are meeting to come and meet you at the airport, or to send a friend or relative to do this for you. There's a good chance she knows somebody who lives in Minsk, who perhaps could do this without very big inconvenience. If your "greeter" isn't actually from Smorgon, and won't be making the trip with you, at least they could help you up to the point where you have your ticket and find your seat. (If you do have "helper," be sure to offer some gift to show appreciation.) I know that it seems more gallant for a man who comes a-courting to make his way on his own -- and the Former Soviet Union is not quite a fearsome as people sometimes imagine it to be -- but there are several kinds of problems and inconvenience, including a slight risk of rather violent robbery of a man who's obviously a helpless foreigner, that you could encounter. The lady you are visiting will certainly understand about this! Don't be shy, in asking her advice: obviously, she knows 100 times more about the situation than I do!

kiwinorth

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	Send: 7/10/2012 6:53:25 AM

if you are uncomfortable about where you are, this will show, fish out of water type of thing and predators will possibly have a go or think about it. have know idea about Belarus, it would be very interesting,, must be traveling accounts somewhere of such. when i first went into ukraine, i new knowing about the place actually, didnt even know of this forum.. i carried a big bolt in my denim jacket pocket,, one strike and you are happily out type of thing. didnt take me long to see i could be the predator there, or i was so under-dressed..

bowhunter

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	Send: 7/17/2012 6:39:06 AM

Elena's models uses agency's to furnish the profiles so there is a chance you have only talked to there interpreter, who will try to make sure they get as many dollars from you as they can. If the lady you are going to meet is not available for some reason they will offer to let you meet another girl for the same 50 dollars again. I still for the life of me don't understand how they can expect you to pay money to meet a lady you have already contacted. I can understand if it was a guy just walking into an agency and asking about meeting a girl.

bowhunter

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	Send: 7/17/2012 6:45:24 AM

I have to edit my post from above. Elena's models is one of the few sites where you actually contact real people and not an agency.

Russian brides > Main Forum > Travelling to Belarus security concerns.advice sought . many thanks