Mother Russia
London – Moscow – Yaroslavl – Moscow – St Petersburg – London
. I booked a week of holiday, applied for a visa and bought tickets to Moscow for 13.10.18. I was going to fly with EasyJet, as I remembered there was a direct flight to Moscow from London in the past – cheap and quick, but unfortunately there was no flights for this date at the time.
I found a company called “Pobeda” on SkyScanner . I have never heard about it before, so I decided to check with my Russian friends. I was advised that “Pobeda” is a subsidiary of Aeroflot and is a standard low coster, same as Ryanair, EasyJet, Vueling, etc, however in reality it’s not the same at all! I would call “Pobeda” an extreme low coaster – don’t get me wrong, but it is a classic “Russian Style”. My flight was 5.5h delayed. Flight wasn’t direct, but via St Petersburg and therefore all my plans were just crashed. Julia arranged me a driver, who supposed to meet me at the airport in Moscow to take me to Yaroslavl (Yaroslavl is 4 h drive from Moscow). I knew about at least 3 hour delay as soon as I arrived to service desk at Stansted. I didn’t know where I would end up with, so I kept all my friends in St Petersburg, Moscow and Yaroslavl updated. Luckily I do have friends in all 3 cities, but some other passengers didn’t. 
Hand luggage is another story! Permitted cabin baggage size is 36х30х27 and “Pobeda” is the only airline in Stansted Airport , that demands Duty Free shopping bag to fit into your cabin bag, even though Stansted Airport website states ” All airlines flying from London Stansted Airport allow you to take one bag of airport shopping on board along with your hand luggage.”
Airport staff was also shocked about “Pobeda” rules. For flight delay we received a
£2 voucher, which was just enough to buy 0.5 L water. «Pobeda» was originally offering £1.5, but the Airport had to literally fight for £2. Just for your reference, my friends had a flight delay due to weather conditions at exactly the same time at Bristol Airport and for 3h delay they were given €5 each by RyanAir. In my case this was just a beginning of a nightmare. Our Airbus had eventually arrived. Just before boarding we went through luggage size control again to make sure we did not dare to have any extra on us. And if your bag was slightly bigger and did not fit into a measuring box – pay £40 bitte (German). I successfully passed that bloody luggage measuring control and took my seat on the plane. I was allocated with the middle seat and had 2 passengers by both sides, although our plane was only 50% full. I must admit all people were very nice and lovely even though the situation was awful. A lot of passengers were in a lot worse situation than myself, they did not have friends in St Petersburg or Moscow and due to delay a lot of people missed their other flights from Moscow else where. When all seat belts were securely fastened lady from the cabin crew asked on a microphone if someone lost a black pilot case. “Wtf is a pilot case” – I though, but imagine the following: I see my Check-In bag – my suitcase passing my seat by in the hands of a luggage guy.
I was literally shocked. How did my check in bad even get on board? And what does it mean “who lost it?” In the end luggage guy explained, that my suitcase did not have a check in sticker on it (this must had been ripped off somehow) and he just wanted to make sure my suitcase did actually belong to someone on this plane 
. Bless him! I asked to keep my suitcase in the cabin, but they did not allow me.
When I was getting my £2 voucher we laughed with the Airport staff that most likely I will never fly with “Pobeda” again and then they also added that they were surprised “Pobeda” doesn’t even provide with snacks during the flight. I did not pay attention to snacks bit as I knew low coasters do not provide with free food anyway, but what staff ladies meant was there is literally nothing apart from tap water available. So just to summarise, after a 5.5 h wait we were given a £2 voucher for “food and drink” and were not even able to buy anything on board during the flight. And of course I did not buy any take away food due to cabin bag restrictions. To say I was starving is to say nothing.
During safety demonstration in Russian we listened to a voice over recording by Russian Comedy celebrity Garik Kharlamov and apparently this what “Pobeda” spent all their money for. One passenger was standing and looking for something in his bag and crew did not give a shit about it. I flew a lot in my life and I never saw crew to ignore a person standing during a safety demonstration and take off. As far as I am aware you have to obey safety rules by law, but apparently not on the board of “Pobeda” Airline. Taking free seats was also forbidden, but luckily some passengers had enough of such service and just moved around.
Girl that had a window seat next to me moved at some point and I had lots of space and comfort. I cannot say anything bad about visible quality of the airbus, it was quite standard, but nice and I actually liked the uniform of the crew. Captain kept us updated, but he was providing with slightly different information in Russian and English. For example in Russian he said, that it was -55 degrees outside and our speed was 700 km/h and in English he said it was -55 degrees and speed was 800 km/h. Eventually we landed. Thanks God!
Our plane stopped in the middle of nowhere surrounded by other planes. Sign to keep seat belts fastened was on, but people didn’t care. They were all up getting ready and again crew was simply ignoring it. Then plain started moving again towards the station, people were still standing – i was looking at them and was horrified. On the way out we were welcomed by “Pobeda” staff and taken to passport Control cabins designated only for us. There were 2 queues and everything went unexpectedly quick and easy, but i guess we well deserved it. We got our luggage, ran to the next registration desk and boarded another plane that was waiting for us to fly to Moscow (1.5 h). During the take off one little boy was moving around the plane, looking at windows and just having fun. Neither his mom nor cabin crew were worried that he was not securely seated. Classic! Well, my level of shock and emotions was already down. I was extremely tired, hungry, didn’t have any energy, but I was happy as I did arrive to Moscow after all!As soon as i arrived to Vnukovo Airport i texted Julia to let her know, that my only option was to stay at my friend’s in Moscow and take a train to Yaroslavl next day. I wasn’t feeling well during landing, i was exhausted and hungry. In the end there was no driver to take me to Yaroslavl either. I found a nice cafe at the airport, offered Helen (friend that we met during our Amrica trip) to come to the airport by taxi for a pint and to pick me up 
, so that we could both get to hers. Airport wifi died in half an hour and i did’t have any money left on my phone, so i was extremely happy Helen accepted my offer to come over. I couldn’t imagine how would i had booked a taxi by my own. While my internet was still working i sent Helen a picture of the cafe and this is how she basically found me. We stayed at the cafe for one pint and took a taxi home. Moscow was beautiful in the night with no traffic. It was my first time using Yandex taxi which is so well advertised on Russian tv. I didn’t have enough leg room behind the driver and did not feel myself comfortable, but at the same time, I was so tired, so I just fall a sleep. On arrival I had a hot relieving shower, which then boosted my energy to a level where I was still alive at 6:05 AM to buy a train ticket to Yaroslavl.
14.10.18
Alarm was set for 11 AM. Even though we did not have enough sleep we woke up reletively fresh and started getting ready. Decision was taken to go by taxi as Google Maps were showing taxi route to be 2 times faster than the tube, but in reality it was not that quick. Moscow traffic at Taganka! Eventually we arrived 10 minutes before train departure. My plan to have a nice cup of coffee and a snack before train failed. Here I am, lying on my lower berth, looking at the guy that is sitting opposite me eating a super sexy instant noodle soup, drooling and writing this story. Bought a Greenfield tea bag for 45 rubles (£0.53) and found another green tea bag in my backpack – survival!
Generally i quite liked the train – such a nostalgy, i was full of memories from childhood. People on such trains are different. Just opposite me there was a couple of coders (my impression based on their talks) 
,on another lower berth next to me was a very lovely lady and on upper berth just above her was a man that really looked like a former prisoner. This impression was based on his body language and tattoos. He was also very quiet. I saw few other men on our train that looked very much like him.
Restrooms, i must admit, were not bad at all and very spacious – different to what i remember from my childhood. My train’s final destination was Chita. Name of the city sounded familiar, but I had no idea what and where it was.Hunger kept on growing. As soon as i started seriously thinking about getting some food, train staff lady approached selling some cards for charity. I bought one for 100 rubles (£1.17) and also asked her about any food options. She advised me that they do actually sell food like instant noodles and snacks. On top of that they also have an option to order a proper restaurant style breakfast and dinner she said. Here you go, my saviour – Rollton (70 rubles (£0.82) + FREE hot water + what a lovely combination).
It was much easier to travel after I filled my stomach.
My first impression was just wow. All guys were very friendly and welcoming even though they were all so busy. They finished their day an hour earlier at 19.00 instead of 20.00. Came out that 3 crew members had their birthdays, so i joined a little party. I couldn’t even think about having a better start. I and Julia stayed with the crew for about an hour and then went home. Julia’s Mom was waiting for us, she prepared a very nice table full of food an wine. I was very warm welcomed. We enjoyed some red wine, cheese and talks in the kitchen, but enjoyed responsibly as next day we had to start at 8 AM. This is the way I spent my 3 other days (production set+red wine) with the slight diversion to city walks and souvenir shopping.Russian Film
It’s difficult to judge or make a review based on only few days spent with Ikafilm crew, but certain opinion i still have. Working on film production set is a hard and tiering job mainly due to a length of shifts (12-14 hours) regardless of your position. However from what I understood Administration Department is the hardest. These guys start earlier and finish later than others for small pay.
Film Industry is very hierarchical in terms of salaries. Supportive roles are the hardest and get paid the lowest. But this is not a surprise and as in each Industry there are always opportunities and ways to progress. There are as many dreamers as sceptics on set. I was lucky enough to have a chat with all: general workers, production crew, actors, accountants, local and visiting producers and directors. Just with all.
Actors.
Leading actor can be recognised straight away by looking at his/her body language and communication manner. 
There is always a secondary actor/actress, that really wants to show off their importance. Again body language and communication style. 
Main difference is that secondary actor/actress really tries to show how friendly he/she is with all others around, when leading actor doesn’t seem to care much. Leading actor is relatively well mannered, but prefers everyone to understand how busy he/she is with other projects. To be fair leading actors have an intense schedule and for this reason I guess just being well mannered should be acceptable enough. Supportive actors are the best! Easygoing, fun and chatty. My time during these 3.5 days was spent productively and it was quite enough for me to build up an overall picture. 
The most exciting day for me was 16th of October – 2nd Unit production set. At Unit 2 we were filming outside scenes and it was an amazing chance for me to take nice photographs and learn. 
I also recognised one actor i knew from Russian TV – Aleksey Dmitriev. To be honest i neither knew his name nor remembered tv shows/films he played in, but i was so excited to meet an actor which face i knew. And of course Julia introduced me to him. Apart from Aleksey i had a luck to meet other actors who are in fact very interesting and friendly people.
Yaroslavl
We were commuting by car, walking mainly after a shift and couple of times during our lunch. Weather was just amazing! I had not seen such beautiful golden Autumn for a while. 
I really liked waking up each morning in central Yaroslavl, having an absolutely delicious cup of coffee and looking at the river through the window. Every morning I was planning to wake up an hour earlier at 6AM to take few nice photos of sunrise, but it never happened as I simply did not find any energy to do that. I cannot tell you much about the city, as I didn’t have time to explore it, but at the same time I think I did see enough.
Condition of the roads in Yaroslavl is just horrifying. I have a feeling that nobody looks after them. We had to drive around huge pits all the time.
City has a lot of churches – about 28 (276 in a county). I am not a big fan of this type of architecture and this is not something that impresses me at all. I don’t really get why would any city need so many? Apparently to pray for those who get very unlucky on the roads of Yaroslavl (black humour alert, please do not take it personally). I would rather put some effort to fix as many roads as possible rather than covering domes in gold for another church. But based on my research The Russian Orthodox Church – is a separate inviolable organisation, which in fact already manages the country, sets up the rules and decides the fate of people. This kind of power terrifies me. 
After the recent elections on March 18, 2018 I heard from many Russians that they didn’t go to vote at all, because they didn’t want to vote for Putin, but if they did go, they would have probably voted for him anyway as “there was nobody else to vote for”? There were no worthy candidates. I personally think that if you won’t try something new you will never know. I also heard that a lot of “young school” people supported Ksenia Sobchak , but “old school” were scared that with her presidency gay people will get rights and be all around the streets. To be honest, I have no words, it’s just ridiculous. People are afraid of sexual minorities, which in fact are ordinary people (our neighbours, colleagues, friends and relatives) more than actions from current government and the Church. In spite of this, Russians have no problem and are happy to travel to countries, where homosexuality is not considered as something abnormal. I would very much like to ask these people: why do you not get scared on the streets of Spain, Portugal, Germany, England, Finland, Sweden and many other countries that support LGBT community? Homosexuality is a separate topic, which I will definitely write about, but for now I advise all homophobes to get acquainted with the scientific side of this issue.
Nutritionally Yaroslavl surprised and pleased me a lot. Variety of natural organic products, great choice and good quality of food. Huge selection of beer and wine and this is something I obviously liked a lot. I guess this all about Yaroslavl city from my side. 
My last day on set was the least productive one. That was also the last day for the crew before their day off. They all knew it was going to be an overtime and a very important scene at the end of the shift. This is why the atmosphere on set was not very positive, full of stress, fatigue, discontent and even slight disrespect. I and Julia had a different interesting and fascinating schedule. 
We went to meet the landlady of the flat that was rented first for one of the directors and then one of the actors. The flat was just outstanding! I have never ever seen plush nightstands. I had a feeling that i had entered some cheap porn lair, although this could have been just my rich fantasy. 
The landlady turned out to be a typical character with an income above the average for a small town. In my life, I saw only Russian women advertising their wealth in velor pink sports suits with large shiny inscriptions on their chest and back. I don’t know where does this fashion come from. In London I see either Russians or chavs wearing velor sport suits.
Around 9PM I was already falling asleep. I was extremely tired and really wanted to go to Julias to pack my stuff and get in bed. This was exactly what we did. When all my stuff was packed I didn’t even have any energy for our classic glass of red.
18th of October
Morning. Breakfast. Train Station. Beautiful sun rise. Farewell.It was a very warm and emotional farewell. I was very grateful and i still am for Julia’s invitation and the shadowing opportunity she provided. It was just an amazing and valuable experience. But it was time to move on and Moscow City was waiting for me. 
This time I was travelling on my own like a Queen with no other passengers. There was only one girl who joined the seat opposite my berth in few stops. We were notified by the train staff 30 minutes before arriving to Moscow, which was very handy. I went to the restroom to make my hair, then put my stuff together and went closer to the exit. I was well prepared for Moscow and it looked like the capital was welcoming me. The weather on that day was just wonderful! It was unexpectedly warm.
Helen and I agreed to meet at Leningrad Train Station next to storage rooms. I was so positive and full of happiness walking from one train station to another, looking around and just enjoying myself. Entering the Leningrad Train Station, same as entering airports, you have to go though luggage security. 
You don’t have to take your coat off, but all bags must be scanned before they let you in. Security guards as a other Russian people are naturally not very emotional or smily like in the UK for example, but they are quite friendly if you are friendly to them. They guided me on how to get to storage rooms and the toilet. I didn’t have my glasses on. I put them in my backpack before having a nap on the train and didn’t bother to dig them back as it was only few minutes walk from Yaroslavl Train Station to Leningrad Train Station. And as restrooms and storage rooms were in the same direction I decided I could manage another short distance without seeing surrounded world at 100%. 
Toilet was my first priority! Here you go – Russian reality: toilet cabins, which can only be reached after successfully passing an obstacle – a table, a chair, a saucer for collecting money and a stone face Madame who is responsible for the entire setup. Imagine the following: I approach her being so excited and happy with blurry vision, say hello and ask how much do I need to pay to pass her control to use a bathroom. I wait few seconds and get no answer. Confusion. 
My level of happiness and excitement start slowly going down, but I decide to ask once again – no answer, neither from a stone face Madame nor from a cleaner who stands next to her. I sarcastically thank Madame for her “help” and try to look for any signs that would tell me the price for that bloody toilet. 
Madame then reluctantly opens her mouth and says that everything is written on the plate that is located on the table. I try to explain that unfortunately I do not see well that small font as I do not have glasses at the moment and I think it should not be that difficult for her just to advise me how much the price is. And her answer is “You have to wear glasses if you don’t see. I wear. Everything is written.” She never told me how much was the price for the toilet was. I said that it was “very kind of her” to give me that advice, tried to adjust my vision to see the price on a little plate when her colleague-cleaner eventually told me it was 50 rubles (£0.58). I paid 50 rubles and told them what an amazing customer service they provide. I was brought down to earth. Welcome to Moscow! On my way out from restrooms i met Helen, we left our stuff in a storage cabin, i put my glasses on and everything seemed to get settled. I had only one day to spend in Moscow and therefore my plan was quite standard – wine and sightseeings. 
We booked tickets online for Ostankino TV Tower and went to Red Square. After a short photo shoot at Red Square it was time for some wine to shine. We found an amazing restaurant with an open terrace – Wine & Crab. The weather was great, so getting some % shine at the terrace in the centre of Moscow was exactly what we needed.
Getting a kick from champagne in a cosy place with an amazing service was so nice, but time was flying and we literally had run on a train hoping not to be late for our tour slot at Ostankino. To get to Ostankino TV Tower for an ordinary tourist is a proper challenge.
Google Maps brought us to weird rural ways. 
I still don’t know whether there is a human pedestrian way from the station to the tower exists. We were obviously late, but to our surprise this was not a problem and we were offered a next hour slot. Ostankino Tower territory is huge and very confusing due to no guiding signs. Customer service is quite poor. All security guys try to look very serious, don’t wish to speak or help. They look very robotic and their body language shows how much important they think they are. I understand everything perfectly – vigilance, caution, etc.. But it’s an attraction and your work also includes customer service. And your scary unfriendly stone faces won’t diminish the amount of terrorists, but the amount of customers. We also were not delighted with the excursion itself: Ostankino offers you a height, a cafe, a restaurant and a view to a suburban area for 1000 rubles (£11.70).
30 minutes was more than enough for us.
Time came for another farewell. We bought tickets for a train from Ostankino back to Leningrad Train Station. Here we are, sitting on the train: I, Helen, drunk homeless woman just opposite us. Each is looking at the window and having own thoughts. Everything happened real quick. I and Helen got off the train and ran to the storage room to pick up our stuff, then hugged each other and went to different directions. I went to take my Sapsan train and she went to work. 5 more minutes and I would have missed my train to St Petersburg. Great success!
Sapsan
Our train departed in few minutes. I had 2 options: to work on few projects on my laptop or go and get some food and drink from the restaurant car. I didn’t think for too long as my stomach was making some noise.Restaurant car is a regular car with the only difference there is a kiosk with food and drink. Dining car is a regular car with the only difference there is a kiosk with food and drink. You can consume food and drinks only within this car and designated few square meters. Square meters. All seats in the restaurant car were obviously occupied, so my only option was to find a standing place next to a kiosk-bar and this was exactly what i did. I ordered some German style sausages and a beer. Menu was quite good by the way. This way I spent next 4 hours. I was sipping my beer (3 cans in total), was looking at different people moving lots of thoughts around my head and chatting with kiosk staff from time to time. They were coming and going. I had lots of thoughts.
By the time we arrived to St Petersburg i was already quite tipsy. My friends Kate and Dima met me straight on my way out of the car which was extremely helpful for my condition:) When we arrived home we spent some time in the kitchen having red wine and a chat. I was way too tired and when the time came to go to bed I fall asleep quickly. Next day was just awesome. Kate and I were walking around central St Petersburg visiting some of my favourite and new locations.
Traditionally we started from already beloved cultural сentre Loft project “Etagi”. 
There we went to a designer shop I purchased my turquoise coat from few years ago – Milnaya Belka (Soapy Squirrel). I left the shop wearing a new Burgundy sweater from NNERDE. I applied a different lipstick and we went to the rooftop cafe to treat ourselves. Everything at the cafe was top level : great service, tasty food, lovely atmosphere.We enjoyed the pancakes, took few nice photos and moved further. Our next destination was the legendary Irish pub Mollie’s , the one that is located on Rubinstein Street. I knew about this pub from Goblin’s youtube show and I was quite curious to see what was so special about it.
It was a regular pub from my opinion, but my husband gave me some respect for visiting it. We both quite like and respect Mr Goblin for his honest film reviews, great translations from ENG to RU that are close to originals.
*Mollie’s is a first Irish pub in St. Petersburg and one of the most popular places among city for residents and tourists. Mollie’s attracts with its special offers, democracy and its style of playing music. I and Kate had a good pint of Irish beer each and went to Jack & Chan for a dinner. Jack & Chan has been in my “favourite places” list for a while now. After a tasty dinner we went to Golitcyn Hall and I was literally amazed. This place was for my body and for my creative soul. “Golitsyn Hall is an art-space, where there are more than 70 sections : designer show-rooms, tattoo-studious, beauty-salons, hotel, art exhibitions and a lot of other interesting places. However, most people come there to spend the time in cafes, bars and restaurants.” I love St Petersburg so much and a big part of my love goes to all these designer places, lofts and cosy restaurants. I boost my creativity and inspiration in St Petersburg every single time I go there, even just for a day. 
I dream about opening some sort of loft creative space here in the UK one day. Would be Great to bring that atmosphere here.
It was getting darker, we had a long day, got tired and decided to go into some place for a beer and to wait for our other friends to finish their work. Kate offered to go to “popravka” bar. At first sight this wasn’t a very cosy place and design looked to me a bit odd and incompatible. It also looked a bit empty, but at the time i forgot it was Friday and people had not finished work yet. One thing i like a lot though – they had a kicker. 
Menu was very interesting too. They had a good selection of nastoyka. I Don’t like vodka, but nastoyka is a completely different story. I got in love! Soon after I and Kate had couple of beers our friends Dima and Dasha arrived one after another.
*All guys are my very good friends. All are originally from different cities all over Russia, but ended up in St Petersburg. These people have an incredible sense of humour and they are just lovely. Generally, our evening was unforgettable. We laughted to tears non stop, drank different flavoured nastoyka and then ended up in a Jazz club The Hat Bar. There we had 2 other people joined us Lesha and Misha. Misha is my friend from Tallinn, Estonia. He was in St Petersburg at the same time as I, but neither of us knew. I was filming the band and accidentally saw him through my camera. He was looking into a window from outside. It was unbelievable! St Petersburg is magical indeed.Just one day, but how good and fun it was. My trip to Russia came to an end. I woke up early, it was still dark. I took a taxi to the airport and again “Pobeda”, same guy that was sitting next to me on the plane from London and in few hours – home sweet home.
PS! I still have trials with “Pobeda” airline, they are obliged to pay compensation according to EU laws and regulations for flight delays, which of course they are trying to circumvent. They have now cancelled their flights abroad btw.
