hello, having just browsed thru much of the useful information on this forum I have realized that, where my online girlfriend is from, Nikolayev is one of the more successful cities to find a girl from and I have found my girl from an agency there, she is beautiful and so genuine in everything she says in our video conferences I cannot believe what a lucky guy I am.
just a question or few please, her agency have been suggesting their transport meet me at kyiv or odessa airports, that they arrange transport, $500 from kyiv, $200 from odessa and they arrange apartment accommodation at $150 a night and interpreter at $20 a hour, im sure im getting a reasonable deal but im willing to learn from the more knowledgeable folk in these parts.
Harry,
You can fly any roundtrip out of Kiev to another city for about 140 dollars,150 a night is pretty expensive for any city for apt. I am in Kyiv right now for fully equipped studio for 50 dollars a night.They will cart you to the best restaurants and then there is the taxi fares.They never pay for that. I had an interpretor once for the whole afternoon for only 20 bucks years ago. You deal with an agency with their lady and they are going to clobber the shit out of you. They all do.That is life dealing with an agency.If you are okay with it then thats all that matters.
Harry! When I read your topic, my blood pressure shot up, I swear.
1. I haven't been to Nikolaev (in Ukrainian, Mykolaiv) -- but by reputation, it is possibly the worst city in the entire former Soviet Union, for exploitation of foreign guys looking for romance. It is a hub of the dating-industrial complex. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
2. Other people with better knowledge will fill this in, but the agency's transport fees would be massive for a round trip -- and I wouldn't be surprised if they want this money each direction. I don't recommend a guy new to FSU travel to take the bus, but either connection is all highway: a bus ride between Odessa and Mykolaiv probably takes not more than 3 hours or so, and I would expect the fare to be around $10. $200 is batshit crazy.
3. In a small town like Mykolaiv, especially if you plan to visit soon (in winter), I would estimate that a really first-class (luxe) apartment would run not more than $60 or $70 per night.
4. I don't know much about interpreter rates, I refuse to use an interpreter -- but I expect one could be found for less than that!
The business model of such agencies is to squeeze as many dollars out of you as possible. I guarantee you, they will pay (for example) a maximum of $50 for the apartment, and pocket the difference. Everything else works the same way.
The worst of it is, your meeting with this dream girl is very likely to be a disappointment. Please read sunvolt's post dated 15.01.2013 15:23:11, in thread
(edit out any spaces when pasting into your browser's address control)
The odds are probably worse than 20:1 against her being a genuine prospect.
It can't be much fun for you to read these words. The coldness, calculation, deceit and cruelty of the dating-industrial complex of the former Soviet Union -- especially in Ukraine -- is hard to put too strongly. To them, we are NOT human beings, just ATMs to be drained as quickly and thoroughly as possible.
Harry, I am from Nikolaev and I know that for$150 a day you can rent an entire house for 3 filirs with a heliped. You say that the girl you are visiting os geniun and real. I can offer an experiment, tell her that you've found an interpreter for $10 per hour, transportarion for $150 and accommodayion for $70 a day and you want to meet her but not her agency's services. If she says that's ok you still have chances that she is real if not so she just earns a living of guys like you. If you are have any other questions about Nikolaev just ask.
Another point is that Nilolaev is a very nice city for living and dating and it's not as bad as someone here told. You can be either scammed or successful in any city that's the matter of luck and awareness.
I agree with Armin. Nikolaev is a decent city with many things to do and see. It is also busting at the seams with pretty girls, some genuine, some not.
You can take train in first class car for $63 from Kyiv to Nikolaev. A genuine taxi from odessa to nikolaev is $50 bucks for foreigner. As Armin says, you
can rent a whole house for that price. In fact, I know of a 200sqM house on Ingulskaya Street near city center. It has indoor pool, Jacuzzi, sauna, 3 bedrooms and a wall around for only 125/night. Interpreters run $8-10/hr and you can go anywhere in the city by taxi for maximum 10 bucks.
Do as he says, tell her you found apartment for 50/day and arranged transportation already and have interpreter too and see what happens. At many agencies, a man visiting and using all their services is like hitting the lottery for them. both the girl and the agency are going to make a few hundred bucks off you.
Of course EVERYONE in the chain of events is also going to profit from you from the taxi driver she knows personally(and splits the cab fare with) to the restaurant you take them to (the girls AND interpreter)who will order things they otherwise would never order. when the meal is done, you will get the bill and pay it with an additional 10% going to them too.
Understand that EVERYONE is in on the ruse. I dont say this to scare or discourage you but to make sure you come here with your eyes open and without unrealistic expectations.
and Armin, we will try to get down to Nikolaev this time.
ragingbull, maybe it's three-story house with house serving people? Couple years ago nice hotel room downtown cost $50 there...
very cheap nice city i was there twice. It's 2 hours bus trip from Odessa. Maybe 1,5 hours.
It is difficult to look for that space. Not everyone knows that you should take it out. If anyone post an article, please shorten the URL. There are many sites that do this; just do a search for "shorten URL".
Thanks rb, that's a good idea -- I'll do that in the future. As far as I can tell, the crazy web software used for this forum won't add spaces to such short URLs.
Durak,, that was a great news story! It shows just how much criminals are willing to do, to scam money out of men, and how far the women are willing to go.
Do you remember the story of the high priced escorts from FSU in NY and D.C, about 5 years ago??
Rb,,, thanks! That shortened version of durak’s link worked!