Many people throw down a challenge to the life, climbing the highest mountains, fighting with hurricanes, rains and snow avalanches, visiting the coldest and the hottest places on Earth. They win in the fight with the elements and with themselves.

People who visit different countries as tourists sometimes come close to those who prefer to be engaged in extreme activities, since each foreign country presents different complications to the visitor. Even today, in the age of globalization, getting in a mess in a foreign country would lead to unpleasant consequences. At the same time, there are some general rules to follow. If you do, you avoid exhausting troubles. In this article, we will draw the reader’s attention to the common dangers and annoyances the tourist might face and some specific things he should know when visiting Russia. We will also give recommendations on how to be safe in the country.

General overview
Today, most tourists going to foreign countries face the main threats of terrorist attacks and pick pocketing. Given that the foreigner who lost his documents and money may face serious difficulties not only with his trip, but with returning home as well, this is the biggest threat many people fear. Among the other threats people cite illnesses and accidents during the trip.

An annual travel insurance survey by financial company Goldfish showed that more people worry about having their wallets stolen on holiday than about becoming victims of a terrorism attack. 22% of people most feared having cash, traveler’s cheques or credit cards stolen while abroad compared with 11% last year, Ananova.com reported on August 26, 2003.

The threat of terrorism was ranked as the most serious concern by 21%, compared with a result of 19% last year. Losing their passport was listed by 18% of interviewees as their biggest fear. The research found 5% of people listed deep vein thrombosis as their biggest holiday nightmare. Other responses included being mugged (8%), food poisoning (6%), losing bags at the airport (5%) and becoming ill before setting off (6%). More people held travel insurance policies this year compared with 2002 - 39% versus 31%.

Pick pocketing
As for the pick pocketing, the situation on Russia is perhaps much close to the one existing in the other countries. There are a lot of pick pocketer’s, especially in the busses, underground and other crowded places and tourist attractions. The risk of theft is greatly reduced if you keep the money in a money belt or under a layer of clothes and are precautious.
Foreigners enjoy more attention from the thieves, as they carry dollars and know less about the countries’ realities. Remember: it is pretty obvious that you are a Westerner, so take care. The good idea is to be neither paranoid nor insouciant and have a look around.

Mafia
Don’t be too concerned about the Russian "mafia". What you read in newspapers, is not always true. "Mafia" or criminal organizations do not pose a big threat to the travelers, and walking the streets of Moscow and Saint-Petersburg is perhaps about as dangerous as walking the streets of London or any other big city in the world. It is also unlikely that you will be the victim of the mafia in any other Russian city. Perhaps the most dangerous thing is getting involved in some fights or meetings of the different mafia groups on the street, which does not happen that often, even in the bigger cities. In this case you should use common sense and try to avoid getting involved in the matter. The general recommendation for tourists is to avoid the remote areas and outskirts where the poorest social groups reside.

Travelling
In general, traveling on trains and planes in Russia is reasonably safe. But you always should take simple precautions about your luggage. NB: money exchange is not available on the trains while you can easily find the exchange in each airport and in the biggest railway stations.

The time might be one of the most confusing aspects of your trip. The territory of Russia is huge, and that it why there are several time zones. The train schedules usually cites the Moscow time while the airplane arrival and departure schedule is local time. From the last Sunday in September to the last Sunday of March the Moscow time is GMT/UTC + 3 hours. At the other time it is GMT/UTC + 4 hours.

Hygiene
Bring in all medicines you need, but be sure that their use is not prohibited in Russia and that you have all necessary documents, including doctor prescription. Note that antibiotics and some other medicines should be taken only under medical supervision, so try to avoid self-diagnosis and treatment. In each carriage in the train as well as on the plane, bus and car there should be a first-aid box. All necessary medicines can be easily bought in the drugstores, except for those requiring a prescription. Note that a specific local danger in some parts of Russian including Siberia and Far East is tick-borne encephalitis.

Toilets in Russia are the Western variety. The majority of public toilets are now of the reasonable quality, although sometimes they may not have been cleaned to date or may not have any toilet paper in them. In the central areas of the city, there are pay toilets. Some bars and restaurants might not allow visits to the toilet to those who are not eating at the restaurant. In any toilet, Æ stands for Ladies while M stands for Gentlemen. As a rule, there are understandable pictograms.

Women should bring hygiene items such as tampons only if they stick to a certain brand which can be unlikely found in Russia. The majority of Western brands, such as Tampax, can be easily bought in Russia. The situation is similar with the majority of the hygiene items and drugs.

Renting a car in Russia
In Moscow you may rent a car of any class, with or without driver. In case you like to enjoy the pleasure of driving, take care of the local traffic peculiarities. In many cases, the traffic differs from what you are accustomed to in Europe or America. We recommend to learn some basic rules of driving before renting a car. The traffic police officers in Russia might be very eager to take the money for a driver’s slightest violation of the road rules and many don’t like the foreigners. A car with a driver will allow you to escape the danger of driving at night and the unpleasant confrontation with the awful covering of some of Moscow’s roads. NB: there is a zero tolerance of the drivers’ alcohol consumption is Russia.

Where to rent a car in Moscow

Russia country code +7. Telephone area code 095.

Company name Address Telephone, www MezhGorTrans 14, Dvintsev st. 289 7063, 289 5118, 289 6012, 289 7062, 289 7077
http://www.yp.ru/mgt A.M. Rent 65 -2, Dubininskaya st. 952 9658
http://www.amrent.ru Rent-a-car Moscow 6, Leninsky pr. 504 4696
http://www.rentcarmoscow.ru Avis Rent-A-Car Sheremetevo-2, airport 578 7179
http://www.avis.com Delta Rent-A-Car 55 - 7, Dubininskaya st. 505 3377
http://www.deltarent.ru EuropeCar 165, Mozhaiskoe shosse 785 5826
http://www.gema.ru Greenline Auto 12, Krasnopresnenskaya nab. 258 2254 Pinguins Auto 2/1 korp. 6, Talalihina st. 105 0536
http://www.pengvinavto.ru

Where to rent a car in Saint-Petersburg
Russia country code +7. Telephone area code 812

Company name Address Telephone, www Biracs Rent-A-Car 8, Boitsova per.
310 5356
http://www.biracs.ru Crimson Court 40, Nekrasova st., office1 327 3373 Rex 3, Kievskaya st., office 206 320 6662
http://www.rexlux.spb.ru Autogrand 46, Kolomenskaya st. 164 9173 Carline 17, korp. 6, Vitebsky prospect 320 0020
http://www.rolf.ru/rent Euroservice plus 40, korp. 7,Kondratevsky prospect, office 15 540 2389 Astoria Service 11/13, Borovaya st., office 65 164 9038, 112 1583


Photography
Be careful in taking photographs in the official places like railway and underground stations, official buildings and military structures. These places might prohibit photo taking and local police officers might confiscate the film.

Police
Try to avoid contacts with various types of police, if there isn’t a real need for it. Some of them, especially the road police mentioned above, try to present various non-existing penalties for the drivers.
Being caught with any kind of illegal drugs will mean serious trouble, so before you go, check all medicines you are bringing in.

The age of consent is 14 years. If you are arrested, the Russian authorities are obliged to inform your Embassy or Consulate immediately and allow you to contact it without delay. But in practice it might not happen. Nevertheless, be polite with the officers and try not to argue with them.

Attitude towards women
It is unlikely that a woman will suffer any sexual harassment on the street, but women should be careful. In Russia women are not treated as a second-class people as in the oriental countries, but a woman alone should certainly avoid going out and at night a women should take private taxis. A woman might at night, especially near the bars and clubs, be regarded as a prostitute.
If you travel with children, you may find some child attractions, but you will not see child areas near the supermarkets or shops. They are quite rare. But you can always visit zoos which can be found in every bigger Russian city and parks with child attractions.

Disabled travelers
Russia is not the best place for a disabled traveler. Most buildings, stations, trains, busses and shops are not wheelchair accessible. Rough payments and roads might also be dangerous for disabled travelers. Before your travel, get in touch with your local or national organizations. In the UK contact Radar (tel. 020-7250 3222, www.radar.co.uk) or the Holiday Care Service (tel. 01293-744 535).

Sex
Attitude towards sex in Russia is in general the same as in the Western countries. After the fall of communist regime sex issues started to be openly discussed. Sex before marriage is a normal thing in Russia. Sometimes there are prostitutes in the hotels and bars although it is prohibited by law.

A traveler with the homosexual orientation should be careful in demonstration of his/her preferences. Being in Russia, you may see girls walking hand in hand or drunken men being very affectionate. However, in Russia open display of the same-sex love is not common and not well accepted. It is not the safest country to be gay in.

The younger generation more or less got used to the homosexuals and there many gay-clubs in Moscow and Saint-Petersburg (see articles about entertainment in Moscow and Saint-Petersburg on the Russian Courier). Gay and lesbian culture is developing. Although, in some situations or in smaller Russian cities it is better to avoid demonstration of the homosexual relationship.

Nationality
Russia is a multicultural state with many nationalities living here. In general, there is a tolerance for people of different nationalities, although sometimes foreigners may suffer. People with darker skin may suffer as they look different from the others.

Every year, on the eve of the day Hitler was born (April 20), the Russian public witnesses a splash of interest in the home-bred neo-Nazi movement and the problems of racial intolerance, though neither the citizens nor the government truly believe that neo-Nazism exists in Russia. According to crime statistics, the skinheads wearing "bombers" and heavy boots beat "non-Slav-looking" people in the streets all the year round, both in Moscow and throughout Russia. In the first part of this year, about a hundred foreigners (mainly students and, more rarely, embassy officials) are reported to have been attacked in the capital.

Shops and restaurants
Things are getting better in Russia, but be prepared for the impolite hotel staff, shop assistants unwilling to turn to the customer or cafes closed for the afternoon break. Sometimes it still happens. Now there are almost no queues in the shops. There is an increasing number of shops working Monday through Sunday or 24 hours a day. The majority of offices work from 8 or 9 a.m. to 5 or 6 p.m., although the shops are open longer. Restaurants are typically open from noon to midnight or morning.

Conclusion
According to the Saint-Petersburg Police Chief Mr. Vlasov, the main threat for the foreigners in the Russian cities is their "unwarranted trustfulness". "The level of crime in Saint-Petersburg is the same as in any other European port city", he said.

The situation is not that simple. There are some dangers for the foreigners coming into the country. Vice versa, Russians might think that foreigners pose some threat to them. How can this be? It is simple. According to some surveys, Russians think that the main threats the foreigners pose, include political and economical enslavement of Russian people, buying land, getting power and money, use of the Russian resources as well as marrying Russian girls. So may be the overall objective of the foreigners coming to Russia is perhaps changing the image of a foreigner and the attitude of Russian people towards people representing different cultures.

Below there are several recommendations to the foreign tourists coming to Russia.
- Try to find as much relevant information about the essentials of being in Russia as possible
- Try not to go anywhere alone
- Don’t visit dangerous places and do not go somewhere with people you don’t know
- Bring the necessary medicines with doctor’s receipts
- Don’t show off your non-traditional sexual orientation

Evgeniya Stroganova