And so we meet again. Hello. Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening. Whatever time of the
day it is that you are tuned in right now. Today's episode I think is going to be a little bit longer
and also quite a fun one because this episode is going to be about a place that I traveled to
nine years ago for the very first time on my own. And that is Russia. I don't think it is any sort
of secret to anybody on the planet. Russia is a place now in 2025 that is not so easy to really
travel to. This makes me so tragically heartbroken and sad because as somebody who spent 10 beautiful,
extensive, warm, and wonderful, unforgettable days in Russia in January 2016, I can say that Russia
is a place that every single person needs to go to at one point in their lives. It really is one
of those places that takes you back in time the second you step off the plane. It's one of those
places that leaves you so, so intrigued that just leaves you feeling and seeing the world in a
completely different way than you did when you first arrived. This episode is going to be based
on the sequence of events, the lessons, the takeaways, the people I met, the things I saw,
the very feelings that I still to this day feel about Russia nine years later as I look back
on this story. Russia is also a place that friends and family and other people I have met have often
asked me about since I don't personally know other Americans or even really other Europeans who have
also visited Russia like me. That is what we're going to be diving deeper into with this episode
today. Now that we've had more of a detailed overview of the episode, let's go ahead and
dive really deep into this episode and explore 2016 Russia and the takeaways, lessons, and so
much more that I believe you can incorporate into your future travels to Eastern Europe or even
Russia itself one day when it opens back up to more of us. I had made the decision I believe in
the spring of 2015 to go to Russia and to go on January 1st on New Year's Day 2016. I really
wanted to experience the Christmas and New Year's spirit in Russia. Just in case you are not aware,
New Year's in Russia is a whole other level, a whole other story, a whole other experience.
It is huge. I had a couple of online Russian pen pal friends who I really wanted to meet
and spend time with in person. I had one in St. Petersburg and one in Moscow and those are the
two places that I went to. My dad had actually gone to Russia by himself in winter time and his
entire trip inspired me to go to Russia in January and experience this winter magic. At the time I
was in university so I would work at my restaurant job throughout the entire summer saving up on
money and over time I had enough money to buy my tourist visa. My dad knew the entire time
what I was doing. He knew that I was going to Russia. He even encouraged it. I did not however
tell my mom that I was going to Russia and there are a handful of reasons why which I'll get into
that more in a little bit but spoiler alert she did find out that I went to Russia when I got to
Russia and that was not good. The first of January 2016 comes around and it's the day of my flight.
My dad drove me to the Atlanta airport and I took off by myself on an eight hour flight to Frankfurt,
Germany and I spent about five hours there on a layover. What I do remember and will speak
very specifically about because I think this could help somebody it certainly would have helped
younger Mary Grace is my flight booking experience. Like I said a little earlier this was the very
first international trip that I had actually booked by myself and did everything myself.
With that being said I looked on super cheap third-party websites for flights and flight deals.
I didn't read reviews. I didn't do research. I was just looking for the cheapest flight possible
that would work with my schedule and that I knew I could do. At the time that I booked this ticket
which was about six months before the trip I was freaking the fuck out. I spent eight hundred dollars
round trip from Atlanta to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to St. Petersburg, then Moscow to Frankfurt,
Frankfurt back to Atlanta and it was a really good deal at the time. I was thinking eight hundred
dollars for that long of a distance and not having to really have too many layovers is really good.
I'm gonna book this and I'm gonna be so happy. Well I was very stressed for about six months
because the third party site that I used which was called Fair Geek I really felt that I was
gonna get scammed. I read so many reviews after booking my ticket about two-thirds of the reviews
that I read were all negative and they all said something along the lines of oh don't book with
Fair Geek. I lost all my money. No my flight got cancelled at the very very last minute and I didn't
get refunded. I don't know all sorts of scary reviews that you can imagine. So there I was
20 year old Mary Grace not experienced at all with booking flights. I was so scared shitless
for six months until I actually got on my flight. So ever since 2016 I have always used Google
flights and I've always just booked directly with the airline. No third party shit, no second party
shit. I just can't trust any platform that is not the airlines. Got on this flight from Frankfurt to
St. Petersburg. Touched down in St. Petersburg. I think it was like a 20 hour journey when it was
all said and done. Went through passport control, customs, baggage claim and when I was in baggage
claim there was this random trained dog doing tricks with the security guards and they were
all laughing and I was like oh they're taking their job real seriously. So I saw this dog and I was
just being oblivious and American. I wanted to take a picture with the dog so I did. That was just a
fun little moment upon arriving in Russia. I remember that first night in St. Petersburg
my Russian friend Yulia was waiting outside of the exit area with a sign that said Mary Crawford.
It was actually really cute. I arrived at about seven in the evening and it took forever to get
money in case you are not aware for future reference. Russia is an extremely heavy cash
country. Be sure that you have rubles when you go or at least you have a card or bank that you can
extract it from an ATM easily. I for some reason had so much trouble. My friend and I probably
spent about two hours simply at the airport trying to exchange dollars to rubles, euros to rubles,
like whatever we could do to get rubles. It was so much trouble and the weird thing about the
ATMs that I remember was there was a withdrawal limit at the St. Petersburg airport. You couldn't
withdraw more than 100 US dollars at a time in cash, which made no sense to me. I don't know why.
So that first evening in St. Petersburg I had almost no money. I had about 600 rubles, which
at the time this was maybe about five dollars. It was very sad. I don't know why I just walked
around with only five dollars, but I did. Julia and I didn't have much time to really enjoy St.
Petersburg since I got there so late and the airport exchange situation took forever. So we
literally just walked outside. It was snowing. I was so happy it was snowing and we walked down the
main street of St. Petersburg, which is also one of the most known streets in all of Russia,
and it's called Nevsky Prospekt. This street has all sorts of shops, all sorts of cafes, restaurants,
malls, you name it. It has everything and it is bustling. It is going. We literally went to Burger
King that night and we got food because I literally had no cash because the ATM at the airport
wouldn't give me more cash. So we had our first Russian dinner at Burger King, walked along the
river in St. Petersburg, and then we headed to the hotel that I had booked for both of us to stay in.
And I remember I got my Russian winter wish straight up. Even to this day, out of all the
places I have been to in the world, Russia takes home the gold for being the coldest place that I
have ever, ever been to and experienced. I remember walking to the hotel in St. Petersburg. It was
negative 20 degrees Celsius outside. If you're American, this is negative five Fahrenheit.
On top of this, there was wind. So it literally felt like a knife was stabbing into my cheek,
a knife that I couldn't get out. And it was just painful. It just felt frigid cold. It felt like a
knife was stabbing my cheek the entire way to the hotel. It was, wow. It was an adventure to say the
least. Got settled at this hotel. The hotel for two nights for two people was the equivalent of
about 180 US dollars, which wow, in a very main part of St. Petersburg for two people in a very
nice hotel, that was really cheap. We gave each other gifts. We made hot drinks. We sat in bed
together and we just talked about, I don't know, like girl stuff and turned on Russian cartoons
on TV because there was nothing else to watch. Went to sleep that night. It was probably about
2 33 in the morning. I woke up randomly thinking I want a journal about my first evening in Russia.
And it was in the middle of me writing that my mom called. My mom somehow found out that I had gone
all the way to Russia and had not said a damn thing to her. My dad, like I said, knew the whole
time, but my mom, no, the reason I didn't tell my mom that I was going to Russia is because my mom
is not a very travel savvy, open minded person when it comes to traveling to other countries.
She's very skeptical. She doesn't give other places a chance. Yes, in the Western perspective,
it is Russia. It is normal to be a little bit skeptical, but it was perfectly safe. I didn't
want her to freak out. I didn't want her to scream at me. And at the time, frankly, I didn't want her
to prevent me from going. So I didn't say anything, but she found out somehow she called me. I think
it was on WhatsApp and she immediately started screaming at me. I remember her saying, why the
hell are you in Russia? What are you doing there? You need to get out. If you don't get out right
now, I'm going to cut off your phone. Why the fuck are you there? I mean, it was not good. And as she
was saying this, my Russian friend who was in the bed sleeping right next to me woke up and was like,
what's happening? Are you okay? And I had to tell her, my mom is screaming at me. I actually did
not tell her that I was coming here. She is very skeptical of a lot of places and things that I do.
And I didn't tell her, so she's pissed at me. So that bit me in the ass, but it's fine because it
was so worth it. Honestly, I think she probably stayed mad at me for a day or two. There was
nothing she could do. I was already in fucking Russia. Like, what are you going to do? You're not
going to cut off my phone. You're not going to do that. I only spent three full days in St. Petersburg
and seven in Moscow. But I will say that the three days that I spent in St. Petersburg were so
extremely heartwarming and really to this day still truly touched me. What I got out of those
two or three days in St. Petersburg was something that I truly was not expecting. It was the most
surprising realization, the biggest lesson that I learned about traveling that I also really applied
to future trips in years to come was not having to do with the sites at all. Let's just say that it
was a lesson that a Russian book, movie, media, whatever in America would never have been able to
teach me had I not experienced this for myself. But I'll get into that. Julia and I wake up the
next day and we spent about 10 hours from about 10 AM until 10 PM out on the street, out and about
exploring, spending time together, cafe hopping, whatever it is. We really, really used up all the
time that we could. We started off at this breakfast place in St. Petersburg, which apparently does not
exist in other cities in Russia and is a place that I would personally recommend if you ever go
to Russia. It is a breakfast slash cafe place called Dunaugh. So it's French Dunaugh. This place was
really fancy and antique on the inside, but it was super cheap, especially if you are coming from the
West. At the time for two people, we had two boiled eggs, a salmon and cream cheese sandwich,
a pastry and orange juice, a cappuccino, and maybe one or two other little treats. And we paid the
equivalent of seven US dollars for all of this really good stuff in a very fancy kind of ambiance,
relaxing kind of cafe environment. It was so incredible. It was at this place, Dunaugh,
that Julia taught me the first lesson about Russia that I didn't know before I actually went there.
And it has to do with tipping. I don't know if this is the same case for all of Russia,
but at least in the big cities, Russia's tipping etiquette is a mixture of the European standard
with an American twist. And what I mean by that is in Russia, tipping like in Europe is not required.
It's not obligatory. The waiters don't rely on your tip to survive. However, the waiters do expect
a tip. So that's where the American twist comes in. Russian waiters don't need a tip, but it's
rude if you don't tip them. It can literally be the equivalent of one or two US dollars.
That's enough. So my friend and I gave about $2 worth in a tip. At the time that I went to Russia
in January 2016, one US dollar was equivalent to about 73 Russian rubles. In January 2025 money,
one US dollar is now 110 rubles. Just like every other country, there's been some inflation.
The point that I'm trying to make is even nine years ago, it was really cheap and it's even
cheaper now. Also, another really big tip to keep in mind before ever coming to Russia, you really
need to learn at least a little bit of Russian to communicate or at least be able to read some
Cyrillic before you go there. All of the signs, even in big cities, for the most part are all in
Cyrillic. There is some English on some major streets, but at the time that I went, there were
some places where there was zero English and I was really lost. I luckily had my friend with me
to translate and help, but I still made an effort to learn at least just a few phrases to be polite
and to understand at least just a little bit. So those two or three days in St. Petersburg,
we saw the main sites, all of which included, if you are curious, the Nevsky center, which is a
very big shopping mall with a lot of different shops and cafes and delicious places to grab a
snack, especially when it's freezing outside. We then went to another mall. Russia has a lot
of malls. We went to this other mall called gallery or gallery, and this is where we found
a photo booth to take a whole strip of pictures. That's another thing in Russian malls. Photo booths
are very common to find. We then went to see the Kazan cathedral, which kind of looks like some
German influenced architecture. And my personal most favorite, you really cannot miss this in
St. Petersburg at any time of the year is a beautiful structure called the church of the
savior on blood. It's kind of an interesting name, but when you see this thing, it is so magical,
so beautiful, so colorful. It's gorgeous. There was also this famous Russian dish that I would
personally really recommend that you try. And it's a dish called Sereniki. This is basically a split
between cottage cheese and cheesecake, and you can have it with some different sauces. So maybe
some jam or some cream cheese, very local, very fresh, very cheap, highly recommend. And then at
some point I went to this famous bookstore along Nevsky prospect. So the main street of St. Petersburg.
So the typical sightseeing, going down the streets, enjoying the snow, going to different cafes to
stay warm. All of that was really magical. But the most magical part of St. Petersburg for me personally
was the evening of my third day when I went into a Russian home in a suburb of St. Petersburg called
Pushkin. This was a visit that changed my life. This was really an amazing insight into Russian
culture and hospitality in a way that I never had seen coming. This home was my friend's mom's
friend's home. I hope that makes sense. We were invited. The host name was Maria. Maria had never
met an American before. Maria also had a son. He was also there and he spoke English very well.
So Julia and I get to this Russian home. We take off our shoes and that is when I learn another
thing about Russian culture that is essential to know if you have never been in Eastern Europe
or just to be aware of in general. Walking into a Russian home with shoes is a no-go.
Do not walk in with your shoes. Take your shoes off and put on some slippers. Slippers are really,
really commonplace in Russian homes and I think just about every single home has them for their
guests. I put on the slippers and I just feel so at home. I just think, oh, this is so cute.
And I'm immediately offered wine along with pigs in a blanket, which I didn't know were really huge
in Russia. Pigs in a blanket, wine, great company. I talked a lot with Maria's son, Goryn, and he was
really so knowledgeable and so welcoming and so nice. And then we also enjoyed a very hot bowl of
Russian borsh, which is a Russian specialty. There's a chance you may know already. I took some
pictures with Maria and my friend's mom and with my friend and with Goryn. It was all just such an
eye-opening experience because as much as many people don't want to say or admit, politics,
especially in the U.S., can really get in the way of seeing the people and not the politicians,
not the policies, not seeing the bad things. In a place like post-Soviet Union, it's very easy to
make assumptions because of the news that we watch. It is so important to understand that a
country's government is not the same as its people. And this experience that I had of meeting Maria,
who had never met an American before, was as welcoming, as nice, as hospitable, as loving
as you could imagine any other host in any other home around the world would be. Maria hugged me,
I don't know how many times. She constantly made sure we were fed. She was so understanding that
my Russian was shit, but that I really made an effort. It was all just very eye-opening to truly
see the beauty of the people and to truly realize that a place anywhere you go is about the people.
To this day, when I think of St. Petersburg, I think of the people. Whether they had less,
whether they had more, it didn't really matter. What mattered and what I saw was that they are
just like anybody else. They cherish happiness. They cherish love. They cherish hospitality.
They cherish good luck. They cherish good food. They don't want violence and they just want peace.
If only the world that we lived in was that simple. You then realize truly when you're in
situations like this, how truly small the world is. That was the perfect way to close off my time
in St. Petersburg and subsequently Pushkin, this southern suburb of St. Petersburg. These three days
in St. Petersburg really set the bar high for the seven days ahead in Moscow that I was about to
experience. But little did I know that Moscow, at least in my view, blew St. Petersburg out of the
water, but in ways that most people wouldn't expect either. My friend Julia dropped me off or took me
to the train station and we parted ways. We said goodbye. It was sad, but I was very excited at the
same time for this new adventure in this other part of Russia in Moscow. I took a four-hour
sub-sun train, which is basically the high-speed railway train in Russia from St. Petersburg to
Moscow. I still remember this train going through all sorts of very tiny villages in Russia. And of
course, this is January. It's snowing like crazy. And I just remember seeing these countryside towns,
not even towns, not even villages. I just remember seeing these pockets of civilization just in the
middle of nowhere, just constantly for four hours. There would be like a little shop or two and then
maybe a house or two or three. And I don't even know if they had electricity from the look of it,
but it was really interesting to see how people were living, how simple their lives seemed,
how even in the dead of winter, they seemed to be doing pretty well and pretty okay. After several
hours, I got to Moscow where I would be spending the remaining seven days of my trip in Russia with
my dear friend, Stacey, who I'm still in touch with today and who is now based in the Netherlands.
But at the time of this story, she was still living and studying in Moscow and living with her
parents. My friend Stacey and her boyfriend at the time waited for me at the main train station. And
I remember when I saw her for the first time, it was incredible. I couldn't believe that she was
standing right in front of me because we had only talked online and we had sent each other Christmas
packages. It was just a whole other feeling and experience to meet in person for the first time.
We hugged each other. We got in the Moscow Metro, which was very old. Like it felt like it was built
in 1920, very not modern, really yellow everywhere. That's kind of random. Very, very beat up seats
in some of the cars and a lot of old people who did not look very happy, but it's cold outside.
I get it. The first thing that Stacey and I and her boyfriend at the time did, her boyfriend's
name was Maxime. The first thing that Stacey and I and Maxime did when they picked me up from the
train station and when we got into the Metro is we went to a famous site in Moscow and this site
was called the Bolshoi Theater. For some reason, I don't remember why, but there were even in
frigid temperatures like negative 17 degrees Celsius or one degree Fahrenheit, there were these
special birds that were flying around and Stacey and I managed to get a couple of them on our arms
and we got some pictures. We were later told by some people in charge of the theater that we should
delete those pictures, but I guess we just got away with it. We never did. The first impressions
I got of Moscow when we had this evening out at the Bolshoi Theater and saw the different light
displays was this is such a festive city. I love it here. There were Christmas trees or New Year's
trees as they are called in Russia on every block. There were New Year's decorations with 2016 on
so many buildings. There were literally lit up ornament balls as displays on every other street
like New Year's like I said in the beginning is so massive in Russia. Moscow was so beautifully
decorated everywhere. There was quite a bit of snow. Everybody had like five layers on them,
including me. We went to McDonald's that evening because it was just convenient and it was cheap.
Actually, there were a lot of occasions in Moscow when we all just went to fast food places and that
was when I realized too that all of the Western fast food places, McDonald's, Burger King,
Krispy Kreme, Starbucks, Pizza Hut, literally all of these places were everywhere in Moscow.
And I think we went to all of those at least once. It was really fascinating to me to think
and realize at the time. Wow, Russians really love fast food like we do. I also remember feeling
so warped when I saw all of these fast food places written in Cyrillic on every single sign.
We went to McDonald's, walked around Moscow a little bit, and then we got to Stacey's home where
I would be staying with her, which was about three miles away from Red Square where the Kremlin is,
which is a really famous site that you probably have seen of Russia on postcards and on other
media all around the world. And I remember we walked into the door. The first thing that I
learned about Russian culture when it came to being in Moscow at least was another little etiquette
thing about Russian homes. Every Russian home has a broom or mop specifically for cleaning up snow
from shoes after being outside. So we walked in and Stacey told me this. There was literally this mop
and when we walked inside and took off our shoes, the slushiness of the snow kind of got everywhere.
I then understood why this is so customary. Stacey prepared a cozy, beautiful little room with a tree
and super warm blankets for me to sleep in. She even prepared a plate of Christmas cookies and
gave me some other little presents that I really, really loved and appreciated. I had also given her
some little gifts from the U S I can't even begin to say and share every little detail that we
experienced together in the seven days that I was in Moscow or else this episode would be way longer
than it already is. But what I can say is that it was jam packed with all sorts of cafe hopping,
Krispy Kreme donut runs, pizza hut runs, hot drinks at home, lots of sightseeing, traveling back in
time with seeing the architecture, going a lot to the mall or to the gum, which is the main mall
right next to red square. And again, just seeing all of the trees on every block, seeing the lights,
seeing 2016 written everywhere, even compared to St. Petersburg, I really felt that there was no
other place that did New Year's better than Moscow. I was so incredibly impressed with Moscow.
Another interesting thing that I remember seeing in Moscow that you don't often see on the streets
of Russia, even now, were these Soviet soda machines that specifically sold old USSR sodas
and drinks. You can still find them in some places of Russia today, but for the most part,
you can really only find them in museums or specifically designated Soviet artifact regions
or stores. But this specific soda machine happened to be at a mall, some favorite places in Moscow
that I would personally recommend for you to see or to add to your future bucket list include,
of course, Red Square, the Kremlin, the Gum Department Store, the big mall close by to Red
Square, the Ismailov Kremlin. That place was just wow. The Bolshoi Theater, even if you don't go
inside, just seeing it from the outside is majestic enough. If you happen to go in winter like I did,
definitely go and see an ice sculpture festival, walk around various ice skating rinks, even go
skating yourself if you're able to skate, go coffee shop hopping because there are so many coffee shops
in Moscow and in Russia in general, you could never run out of coffee shops. And if you have
any other specific recommendations or requests on other things to see and do in Moscow, please feel
free to send me a message and I will definitely be more than happy to get into more details with you.
Those seven days with Stacey in Moscow were absolutely incredible. Those seven days went by
in a snap. I remember on the 10th day when I had to say goodbye to Stacey, we were both so sad.
It wasn't like we were going to see each other the next month or the next several months,
maybe even the next year. We didn't know when we would see each other again. So we stood at
the airport together. We said goodbye probably five or 10 times. I left with so much Russian love,
so much hospitality under my belt, wonderful lessons about the culture, wonderful insights
about the people that I hadn't and wouldn't have seen had I not gone and was just downright touching.
Even in the coldest of winter, I couldn't have felt warmer. I couldn't have felt more welcomed.
I couldn't have left with more bittersweet, unforgettable memories in Russia like I did.
If you have traveled very far away from where you live and you've seen a different culture for
yourself and you've seen in the news that this specific place or these specific people are
portrayed as evil and are really bad, but yet when you go and you interact with the people and you
speak to them and you get to know them, you truly do realize that the media and the news only go so
far, but not quite far enough to touch who they are and the things that they stand for. I really
look back at my time in Russia, how I met some really wonderful people, ate delicious food,
saw incredible traveling back in time sites, but what I still remember most to this day is how
impactful of an experience it was to just go. I hope that this Russia trip encourages you if you
have never traveled solo before to really break free from your shell sometime this year in 2025
and take a wild adventure. This was my first true solo adventure in a completely different place
with people who I hadn't previously met and to this day, it still is one of the most heartwarming
experiences that I have ever had. This first solo international trip that I ever took to another
country outside of North America truly set the standards high for future travels and future trips,
future lessons and future adventures. It was this very trip that really invigorated a deeper
spirit and motivation to really travel so much more and make it a priority in my 20s.
So just to reiterate the key takeaways of my personal Russian trip to you to apply to your
future Russia trip or Eastern European travels, tipping in Russia is not mandatory, but you may
look rude if you don't tip. Learning some sort of Russian, even if it's just greetings and
enough Cyrillic to be able to understand signs will go a long way. My personal specific
recommendation of a breakfast and cafe restaurant in St. Petersburg is Duna. Very general foods
that you need to try include sereniki, which is a split between cottage cheese and cheesecake,
borscht, the classic Russian hot soup. There is also a raspberry pastry sold in many cafes
and bakeries that is special specifically to St. Petersburg and of course, Bellinis,
which are basically Russian crepes. Russia is a very cash heavy place even today. So be ready and
be sure you can access cash so that you can actually buy things in Russia. If you go to a
Russian home, wear slippers and take off your shoes. Every Russian home has a broom or a mop
specifically for cleaning snow off of shoes. So be mindful and be sure to look for that broom or
ask for it if you go in winter or when there's snow. If you find these red Soviet soda machines
by any chance, consider yourself lucky because they are not everywhere. Russians, especially young
people are just as much into the Western fast food chains as Americans and Westerners are. Again,
we're talking McDonald's, Burger King, Krispy Kreme, KFC, Starbucks, all of it. You can find
that in Russia. And last but most importantly, interact with the people as much as you can,
or you can even try to befriend somebody before you go because that will make all the difference
in the world with how you see the country, culture, and people. Don't let the news dictate
the views of the people. They are so different than what you see on the news. It's with these
takeaways and wrap up that I'm now going to start closing in on the end of the episode for today.
I hope that you took something interesting, something insightful, inspirational, or maybe
all of those things away from this story. Russia, again, is not a place where touristic travel is
really possible right at this second as I record this in January, 2025, but I still highly encourage
and recommend Russia as a place to visit in the future when we are able, whether it is during the
summer for white nights in St. Petersburg, which is basically when the sun never goes down, it stays
white all night long, or whether you go in the dead of winter like I did to see snow and experience
new years and really get into a holiday spirit. Whatever time of the year you go, I encourage you
just to go. If you have ever been to Russia and you have some different experience or you learned
other things that I did not mention here, or if you simply want to express your interest in one
day going to Russia, mentioning some places that you'd really like to see, please do let me know
on Instagram at once upon a trip dot PC or on my host account at Mary Grace Crawford. I would really
love to hear all of it. I really thank you so much if you're still here and you're still listening.
I really do appreciate you and I look forward to being back here next Tuesday with another
fun adventurous trip of an episode. I will see you next week.