Ok. I've read enough now to warrent posting a reply to this thread...
I've been to Kerch 3 times now. The first and second visits were for 3 weeks and my last was for 6 months. You could say that I know this place very well!
As for Galina and her staff...
My first visit was to meet a lady through her agency. This lady lasted three days with me, before I decided to "go it alone". We were just not compatible, so it was best to end it. Anyway... I was met at the train station by Galina and "D" (the lady I was meeting) and taken to my apartment, which was very nice. The following morning, Galina called to make sure I was ok and to take me for a walk around Kerch. I thiught this was a very nice gesture, due to "D" being at work. Galina moved me to another nice apartment after my electricity went off. In my mind, she did not need to do this. The power goes off all the time in Ukraine, but Galina wanted me to enjoy my stay, so went out of her way to help! When the relationship between "D" and I failed, Galina tried her best to find out all the information, help and also asked if I would like to meet another lady. At the time, I thought she did this to get another fee, but I was very wrong! She introduced me to another lady and did not charge a penny! The night I met this lady, we could not get a translator, so Galina left her family, came from her home and helped me. Again, she did not charge a penny!
Now, when I go to Kerch, I always call to Galina's office to say hello to her and her staff. I regard them all as my friends and I find it hard to believe this thread. I understand that not everyone has a good trip to Ukraine, but to blame the agency for everything is just petty and sad. After all... My first visit to Kerch was pretty bad, when you consider I had been writing to this lady for 5 months before I went there, but I made the most of a bad situation. I went out, met people, saw the sights and went home. The fact that I returned twice since this first time says it all! I liked Kerch and the people there. I am looking forward to my next visit!
I think it says it all really when the thread starter bad mouths an/the agency and buggers off never to be heard of again, gives absolutely no credibility to himself or his complaint, both of which might best be forgotten.
If anyone is interested in this agency, they can read my TR. It tells my story in detail here;
http://ruadventures.com/index.php?topic=1581.0
Here's a few pics of the first apartment Galina supplied for me. When I find my pics of the second, I'll post them too.
http://www.b11tme.co.uk/kerch/apt01.jpg
http://www.b11tme.co.uk/ker ch/apt01b.jpg
I had written a whole lot more, but I don't see the point in wasting time.
This says it all!
"Anyway, to cut a long story short, I ended-up travelling to Kerch and once the apartment was paid for (and the agency fee) I never saw the woman again. In fact, I only spend several hours with her on the first day (obviusly before the fee was paid) and she just left me abandoned in a grubby little apartment, all on my own, with no company and no-one to talk to for nealy two weeks"!
I'm sorry and I mean no offence, but he sounds like a boy who lost his mommy!
Scotsguy...Your post is ridiculous. In a matter of hours I would have found a nice lady who would have taken a trip to Kiev. I would not have wasted the time sitting in a dump in Kersck. By the way there is a big oil spill there now.
In response to Scotsguy and KerchCrimea: I too used the agency that is run by KerchCrimea. Unlike Scotsguy I had a better time than he did.
In actual fact the apartment was very nice, but the outside was shabby by western standards. More importantly was the woman I met there through the agency stayed with me the whole time.
The reason I am writing this is to describe the meeting as I see it in an attempt for me to find out what did actually happen.
I contact L through Cherry Blossoms…also mentioned in this post. L replied to my emails using the agency email and translators. I paid nothing for this and believed at the time that L bore the burden of cost for letter translation. It later transpired…as far as I am aware.. that none of the letters I received from L were written by her. During our time together I threw in some little items of information that she had told in her letters to which she seemed oblivious to.
To cut a long story….my doubts about the sincerity of L began to be realized.
Here are the facts:
L wrote to me every week day… claiming at her own expense…lets see…20 emails a month…say 50 pence a letter (ballpark figure) that’s a tenner a month…$20….5th of her monthly wage maybe?
L claimed not to have her own phone so I called her using agency phone. The first thing I saw in L’s hand was her cellphone. She also had a digital camera….but she had no more photos to send the last time I asked.
The real thing that struck me was that the woman I wrote to wrote of love and marriage. The woman I met seemed to have a disdain for marriage typical amongst those who have…like me…come out of a marriage in tatters.
As for the agency costs to me; the fact that I was corresponding with L through the agency facilities seemed enough for the agency to hit me with an “introduction fee” of 200 euros during my stay.
45 euros per night at the apartment. 100 euros for the car from the airport….another 100 back again.
And yes I was also hit with the tip request upon being deposited at the airport….$20.
I know that this money is exorbitant by the standards of Kerch because we ate in the best restaurants in town for less than the cost of one nights stay.
The money is not the issue……my issue is with the agency and the control it has over the women on its books and the control over me.
I felt like a sex tourist. I traveled 1000’s of miles to meet someone who I thought I had been corresponding with to find that the person I was meeting was someone in the pay of the agency.
I realize I was naive….at the time….not so now.
I called her the Monday morning I returned…. I heard a male voice in the background.
Now I’m wondering if I slept with someone else’s wife or girlfriend
Like Scotsguy; I also made the Simpferopol to Kerch rollercoaster ride and back again. But in my naivety I thought that this was the way cars are driven in Ukraine.
This was minus the woman who I had been with. I assumed she could not be bothered to accompany me back to the airport since she had got from me what she wanted.
Perhaps KerchCrimea can answer my question. I had promised to come to Kiev to meet L again. We made plans to meet in July/Aug this year. A few days after I had booked flights and accommodation L told me she could not come and had to go to Russia to find work.
I know for a fact that she did not leave Kerch. So I can only assume that she was meeting another man.
L would not gain anything from me other than a free holiday. Meeting another man in Kerch would mean hard cash in her pocket.
My question to KerchCrimea is this: Do you consider your agency as being a means for men to meet women for love and marriage or is your agency just a way for poor Ukrainian girls to make some money?
Kirkland,
a man has to wonder who is the piece of meat.
this is my problem with these agencies, how ever we look at it most,, actually no, all of us are taken for a ride on this in some angle.
its a dollar gained by them and this crap has become an excepted thing by everyone including us but its just what we have to put up with isn't it.
we are dealing with a unscrupulous part of the world that also likes the idea of putting, no forcing women into a trade that holds the lowest form of humanity.
its difficult to believe they can do this to their own let alone letting it happen.
yes it happens all around the world but not to the extreme of the fsu.
your question Kirkland, i know the answer you will receive and so do you.
thanks for your storey
I did have to laugh, although it is not funny, that she had no telephone to call her on but turned up with a mobile in her hand :)
Yes, it is the way cars are driven in Ukraine, a lot of the time, but not 100% of the time as described by 2 individuals here.
I recall during my dating days and meeting the time-waster(s), as has been said it is not the money, my major frustration was that I had only 4 weeks holiday per year to do this and if one, two, or three weeks was taken by time-wasters then that was another year of my life gone.
It’s a business pure and simple. A niche market if you like….lonely men seeking thrills and cheap wine catered for. As long as folk know this, everything will be fine.
Upon my return home I realized I had got off lightly. If I had been in the position of Scotsguy I’m not sure what I would have done. For anyone new to this sort of thing Ukraine can me a cold and menacing place.
I was going to question the 200 euro introduction fee, of which I was unaware before I went, but thought better of it. That is just how I felt at the time. Now I am back home I’m at liberty to say what I want.
So I will:- I had a great time. The apartment was nice, the town was nice, food, drink, places to see everything….it was great!
The woman I met?…..wow!... I have been in relationships before and no woman I know can hold a candle to L.
So to Galina Umanets…if L is anything to go by; the women in your agency are of the highest quality.
I am eternally grateful to L for being there….despite the fact that I felt like I had paid for her.
I am also grateful to Galina Umanets, because I know she would have been true to her word when she told me that I would be under the protection of the agency during my stay.
As for the taxi driver….Galina knows who he is. That is her problem. I really don’t have any issue with the $20. It’s peanuts. And I had it all ready in my back pocket to give him anyway. The guy has to make some money on the side. My advice to Galina
You can say you’ve shafted if you feel like you’ve been shafted. I never felt exploited. (except for the 200…and if that is in the contract…and I missed it…fair enough).
For the apartment I paid tourist prices, the same as I would in Italy or Spain.
I feel the women are exploited....but by their country. There is little industry in Kerch other than tourism.
The agency in question and others like it are a means to earn some cash…not to meet a foreign husband.
Once the woman is signed to the agency then they lose control of their lives. Some may argue that this is their choice. I would say not so. Even by Ukraine standards L was dirt poor. She wore the same jeans every day and I know how women feel about how they dress. I’m pretty sure her first visit to the restaurant with me would have been her first square meal in days.
As for the cellphone: L never new my email address and would never have had the opportunity to give me her number since the agency were writing her letters.
To me this is control. You could easily draw a parallel with days of old in the former USSR where any information going out of the country was heavily censored.
It could be argued that this is for the protection of the woman. My take on this is that the agency wants everything to go through them so that they can get their money.
I don’t have a problem with that. I accept it as a business arrangement.
Everyone has to make a living. Western men are opportunities for these girls to make that living. A few tales of love and marriage emerge from these arrangements but I reckon they are few and far between.
Ukraine as a whole is being exploited. Only a few months before I went there, Russia had cut off fuel supplies to Ukraine, bickering over prices. To say this country is being raped by родина is an understatement. As has been mentioned, the Kerch Strait has been devastated by contamination. This area needs its natural beauty to survive.
These women bring foreign cash into a country struggling for survival.
I would put my hand in my pocket and go back there tomorrow. I would use the facilities of KerchCrimea’s agency if I could. Fully accepting that it is a business arrangement and that I was there to pay to have a good time.
I meant to say...My advice to Galina about the taxi driver would be to tell your clients that it's courtesy to tip the driver after the trip back to the airport. $20 is not a lot of money for a westerner and then tell the driver to stop asking.
Why do guys continue to let agency or girl control situation. Always book your travel
plans yourself..flights, apt, taxi. when you get to your destination all you need is a phone number for agency to set up meeting..a one time fee. I usually use agency translator for first meeting and sometimes for second, after that hope girl will like you enough to be on your own.
Kirkland...what were you thinking with? From your descriptions you should have know what was going on..when 2+2=5,then blame only yourself. What I thought was funny is you made plans to see L girl again. Are you so lonely that you will take anything you can get your hands on?? All you had was a 'call' girl, anyone with some money can have her. I would never had paid 200 euros for an introduction. Where ever I go I try to line up several girls to meet, you just don't know what will happen. The girls I meet are real, most are sincere, I don't pay them to be with me. Any signs of being used and they are off on their way. I am there to find my partner not to help the economy, as you say.
Why do guys continue to let agency or girl control situation. Always book your travel
plans yourself..flights, apt, taxi. when you get to your destination all you need is a phone number for agency to set up meeting..a one time fee. I usually use agency translator for first meeting and sometimes for second, after that hope girl will like you enough to be on your own.
Kirkland...what were you thinking with? From your descriptions you should have know what was going on..when 2+2=5,then blame only yourself. What I thought was funny is you made plans to see L girl again. Are you so lonely that you will take anything you can get your hands on?? All you had was a 'call' girl, anyone with some money can have her. I would never had paid 200 euros for an introduction. Where ever I go I try to line up several girls to meet, you just don't know what will happen. The girls I meet are real, most are sincere, I don't pay them to be with me. Any signs of being used and they are off on their way. I am there to find my partner not to help the economy, as you say.
Martin_FFC... I'm a little disapointed with your comment "The lady probably gets a EUR20 cut and as many meals, drinks & gifts as she can con out of the guy". If you guys think this is all about conning, then just stay at home and watch tv! If you know Kerch, Galina's agency and how it all works, then feel free to comment. Until then, reserve your judgements for things you know about.
Kirkland (and other interested parties)... You wrote; "L wrote to me every week day… claiming at her own expense…lets see…20 emails a month…say 50 pence a letter (ballpark figure) that’s a tenner a month…$20….5th of her monthly wage maybe"? I wrote to "D" every working day for 5 months. They do not pay by the letter for these emails. So the figures you quote are not relevent. The agency charges the ladies a small amount each month, to cover expenses. I asked "D" about this because I was worried it was costing her too much. Her reply was "Chris. Please do not worry about the money. It is not much".
Of course the agency is there to make money! What agency acts as a charity? It's business! When I was arranging my trip to Kerch, I decided to travel there myself to save the fees for collection and "babysitting". The agency does these things if you need them and charges for the service. Where's the problem? All it cost me was the introduction fee and the apartment. I knew about these charges before I left Ireland, so there was no excuse to moan about it when I got there (or even worse, when I got home and online). Why did none of you guys do the same? Galina had no problem with me making my own arrangements and in fact, on one occasion, she helped me. On one of my visits, I arranged my own transport and apartment. I just walked into the office to look at the ladies they had. If there was someone interesting, I would pay an introduction fee to meet her. I saw no problem with that at all and neither did Galina!
Why do you guys feel the need to take ladies to expensive places to eat? You get a lot more thanks for just being yourself, being normal, cooking in the apartment, treating her with respect and taking good care of her! Your money is better spent buying little surprise gifts and handing them to her when she least expects it. When I say gifts, I mean very small, well thought out gifts. Maybe a special night out is good, but there is no need to go "over the top"! They are looking for a GOOD man. Not a RICH man! I can safely say I'm living proof of that!
My lady has just got her visa to visit me in England. We have not seen each other for nearly a year now! This lady is from Kerch and was one of Galina's ladies for a long time. Any of you guys could have me her and had the wonderful time I did! She has stuck by me through one of the worst financial times of my life! When things went wrong for me last year, she looked after me, fed me and borrowed money for me! Now that I'm in England running my own business and things are much better, I can afford to bring her here for Christmas. If she was trying to con me for meals, drinks and gifts, I think she'd have given up by now!
Another small point... "D" sent her mobile phone number to me after a few weeks of writing to each other. Galina's staff translate what the lady writes and if she chooses to tell you she has no phone, it's nothing to do with them!
Bottom line is... Stop blaming the agency for everything that happens! You know they are a business and there to make money, but you moan and complain AFTER you have paid them! If you want to find a good lady in any FSU country, plan it carefully, do it properly and stop moaning!
Wongs,
You summary of how the agency works has flaw(s) in it:
As you say the agency is not a charity, as you say they charge a EUR200 introduction fee if you want to meet with the lady, and you also say that via letter the lady is allowed to, if she chooses to, provide her phone number.
So ..... once she has given the guy her phone number what is there to prevent them from arranging their meeting away from the agency's eyes thus eliminating the need to pay the agency EUR200 for that very same meeting?
Wongs, I first contacted L through a dating site…not KerchCrimea’s agency. If L wrote to me using an internet café, would I then have to pay the café owner the 200 euro when I arrived in Kerch?
L did not even have a profile on the agency website. As far as I was concerned L was using the agency facilities to email me…that’s all.
As for L sending me her phone number…as I have said before…L did not write the letters to me…the agency did.
More than once in these letters L wrote of love. She wrote of the photographs on the walls of the agency of previous clients’ marriages and how she hoped to see “our” marriage photo on there. This was actually a red flag to me and almost stopped me from going. But by then I had booked flights and apartment…so thought…what the hell you only live once. (I’m not one for sitting watching tv).
It took me only a few hours in the company of L to realize that she would never have written those letters.
As for booking my own transport and apartment…I did a search for these myself and came up with nothing. L suggested the agency apartment and car as the only reliable source for these. As I have said before….I make no complaint about the agency facilities.
I was not going to question the 200 euro while I was in Kerch and I’m only mentioning it in the context of this post because it was mentioned as an issue by the first poster.
The reason I did not question the 200 is because I was thousands of miles from home, it was my first time in a country where I had limited knowledge of language and custom. Plus I had the feeling that I had been duped into coming to Kerch. The evidence of this after the fact is overwhelming.
It’s all very well for seasoned travelers to say they would have done this or they would have done that. I did not have the luxury of hindsight when I was there.
As for Beemer_18’s question…what was I thinking with?…I was thinking with my little head and not my big one.
The same as you….You don’t honestly think that any of these girls you line up like livestock have any wish to be with you, do you?
The business of getting lonely old men to meet with young attractive Ukrainian women is just a more sophisticated and profitable method to that used by Ivan or Yuri or whatever he’s called.
Hey wongs glad to hear your lady L got a visa to visit. Hope one of you hard heads soften up a bit so you can find a common country to live in :-).
I do not know enough about Kerch-Crimea to comment. I will say this though. High prices do not necessarily mean dishonesty. Does anybody call starbucks dishonest because their coffee costs 2 or 3 times more than other coffee houses? Do you feel like a scammer because your boss has to pay you more than what your neighbors boss pays him? Starbuck's customers know coffee is expensive there and your boss knows what your cost is. Personally I would have to be desperate for coffee to go to starbucks unless it was to drink with friends and I do not think I could bring myself to pay 200 Euros for a date. I would not go to meet a lady if I did not already have her contact info. But it is not dishonest and some guys want the bragging rights. So then you are down to talking about what is legitimate and what is not. As Beemer said you need to do your homework.
Martin_FFC... Sorry if the agency has flaws. :-)) "D" was able to send me her number. That's a fact. I had no reason to arrange anything else. I was happy with our comunication and my travel arrangements. I was also happy to pay the introduction fee because I knew it was all "part of the package". I don't think it was 200 Euro's though. I think it was 150 dollars that I paid, but can't remember now. It seems sooooo long ago! :-))
Kirkland... Sorry if I sounded harsh. This was also my first time in any FSU country and my first time trying anything like this. I had Pavel (a fantastic guide and interpreter) buy train tickets and meet me in Kiev. I spent the day there, then he took me to the train. I stepped off the train and was met buy Galina and "D". I think the tickets for the train were 80 UK pounds return (for a full cabin) and I was in Kerch. It takes 23 hours though! I took the whole cabin because I spoke no Russian at the time. Now... I only get one bunk in a cabin because I can speak a little and am happy to meet more people. Anyhow... It is possible to get there cheap and do it on your own, without the need for the agency. It's just easier to use them. :-))
Land of oz... Thanks. :-)) Nothing hard about my head. :-)) I think the agency fee must have changed recently. As I said above... I think I only paid 150 dollars. I'll email Galina and ask her. 200 Euro does sound too much and I would remember if I'd paid that much! You guys also need to bear in mind that when my meeting with "D" went pear-shaped, Galina gave me another introduction free of charge. She didn't need to do that at all!
The bottom line is that the agency is ok, the people in it are good people and this thread is a waste of time because Galina and her staff did nothing wrong.
Hello Wongs:
I did not use the word hardheads literally but used it as a short figurative pun to represent the difficulties created by her desire not to immigrate from Ukraine and your need to establish income in Ireland coupled with the strict visitation visa requirements of your country. I appreciate your difficulties and definitely did not mean to offend
Off topic... At least now she will see how I live and then we can discuss the future. The recent phonecalls are looking (or should I say sounding) very good. I think she is the happiest woman in Ukraine now! :-))