Tips for having an easier day in SPB

Tips for having an easier day in SPB
18 September 2017

Exploring new countries and places can be a huge adventure, especially when it comes to somewhere like Russia. If you want to start your journey well, I recommend you to read through the following tips, they’ll help make your day that much easier.

It all starts with the language

As I already mentioned in my last blog, Understand the Russian Alphabet, learning the Russian alphabet isn’t very difficult. I’d suggest buying a dictionary and learning some stock phrases too – the ‘Langenscheidt Pocket Dictionary’, is a good one. People will always try and be politer if you talk in their native language, even if your Russian isn’t that good it doesn’t matter, as long as you try. Also take some time on your flight to St Petersburg to read up on the city – just some basic things like how to get a taxi or how to order food.

Save time!

Of course, the best way to explore St Petersburg is by foot, but if you are in a hurry the metro is really fast and convenient. You can easily buy a metro pass at more or less any station. You have to pay a small deposit for the card and can then load it with up to fifty rides. It’s a real time saver because you don’t need to keep buying new tickets. By the way you mustn’t take pictures of the metro, or risk paying a 100 rouble fine! This is because the metro belongs to the civil defence.

The world in your pocket

Nowadays, you can’t do anything without a smartphone or tablet. It’s simply because apps are just so convenient to use. I recommend the following three apps, all of which will make your stay here that much easier: Use Yandex Taxi or Get.Taxi to call a cab when out and about. I’d also suggest downloading Yandex Metro because it provides you with an easy-to-use map of the whole metro network. If those three aren’t enough…Google Translate is also very useful; its new feature, a real-time image translator, is a bit of a life saver.

Take breaks

For every busy moment, there is also a calm one. Use this downtime to improve your Russian skills or plan your day. If you’re on the bus in St Petersburg, it’s likely that they’ll be some traffic and even if you’re on the metro, you’ll have plenty of time to read a book, or organise an upcoming trip.

Keep an eye on recommendation

If you want to visit or explore new places in Saint Peterburg like a restaurant or a bar, there is no better way than reading online recommendation. It saves your time and your money as well. One of the leading websites in terms of evaluation is TripAdvisior or just use the app! You are able to find there hunderds of opinions and impressions from people who are from various countries all over the world.

At the end I advise you to watch the short video created by my former college Ryan Gourley: What to do on your first day in Russia. Trust me, if you try a few of these tricks, you won’t be able to imagine life without them.

Do you have any tips for improving your day? Write your comments below.

Posted by Philip Forstinger

Hello! I'm Philip, the new Austrian intern of Liden & Denz. The next few weeks I'll provide you some cool facts about Saint Petersburg and Russia itself. I hope you'll enjoy my blogs.

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