Moscow for cheap

Moscow has been ranked the fourth most expensive city in the world (see here), something that doesn't surprise me at all. When I visited the Russian capital for a working trip a few years back, I had no idea how expensive the city would be. Just try getting affordable accommodation. In a city full of US$1,000 a-night hotels, consider yourself lucky if you can find a double for anything below US$140.

Food wasn't really an issue. After walking around for a few days, we discovered a chain of Japanese restaurants called Planeta Sushi (ПЛАНЕТА СУШИ). Not only were the restaurants affordable, they were pretty much everywhere.

Taxis, however, are a different story. Taxi fares are reasonable for locals but the minute the drivers realise that you're foreign, prices jump dramatically- a colleague once paid US$120 for a journey which only took 15 minutes. To make matters worse, very few Russian taxi drivers speak English, so bargaining (and arguing) would be impossible. Tip no 1: If you ever take a taxi, always ride with a local. 

And while we're on the subject of spending money, here are my favourite cheap-ish Moscow attractions:

The Moscow Metro

Do yourself a favour, escape from the world above and take a ride on Moscow's underground trains. The city's underground stations are works of art.

Chandeliers and elaborate plasterwork at Komsomolskaya station (you can see the heads of commuters waiting for the trains):

Stained glass panel at Novoslobodskaya station:

More lamps, this time at Ploshchad Revolyutsii station:

Metro tickets are not expensive, you can take five trips within the city for 60 Rubles (US$2.20). Tip no.2: Make sure you learn the Russian alphabet and how it's pronounced because the underground map is entirely in Cyrillic. It isn't difficult once you get the hang of it. Learn it here. 

Lenin's Tomb

This is where Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, founder of the USSR and the Soviet Communist Party, has been resting since his death in 1924. I didn't go in, I wasn't too keen on seeing yet another embalmed body - I'd seen Ho Chi Minh in his mausoleum in Hanoi before- though on hindsight, I'm sure Lenin would've been interesting. Entrance is free.

The Red Square

Obviously not in summer. The red building is the State Historical Museum

Everybody hangs out at the Red Square, the site of important military parades and the most logical place to start in Moscow. If you face south with your back to the State Historical Museum, the Kremlin (the official residence of the Russian President) will be on your right, the G.U.M. building will be on your left and St Basil's Cathedral will be right in front of you:

The cathedral isn't free, there's an entrance fee of 100Rubles (US$3.7). If there's any building which I would recommended you go into, it would be St Basil's. If you don't feel like going in, that's fine, just pick a clear day to visit and snap away. 

Tip no. 3: The Red Square is particularly magical at night, when the lights at the Kremlin and St Basil's Cathedral are switched on.

Moscow is expensive but there are definitely ways to enjoy the sights quite cheaply. Take the Metro and walk around the city if the weather permits because there's a lot to see.

The Moscow River at night

Road trip, USA

Road trip- two of my favourite words, when put together. There's nothing quite like dropping everything, grabbing a map and a friend or two and jumping into a car.

This might sound strange, but I felt kind of nostalgic during our US road trip. Which is weird, because I'd never been to the US before that. Maybe 'nostalgic' is the wrong word; whatever it is, it's that warm, happy feeling I got from driving past small towns, from crossing over into another state and laughing at funny signboards.

This is real, there's a town called Zzyzx on the way to Vegas

U-turn for Devil Dog, somewhere near the Grand Canyon

If we happened to be on the road, lunch or dinner would be at a diner in one of the towns along the way. Portions were huge so we usually ended up sharing. 

But above all, there's something really nice about driving in a country which (still) calculates its distances in miles. There's something old-fashioned yet different about it.

A mile somehow has more character than a kilometre. It sounds more authentic to say that you drove thousands of miles across a large country. 'Thousands of kilometres' somehow just doesn't do it for me.

I loved being told that it was 347 miles (thank you, TravelMath, you served us well) from Houston to New Orleans. I loved finding out at the end of everything that our drive from San Francisco to Washington DC through 14 states covered a total of 5,380 miles (8,658 kms).

The rest of the world can muddle along with its kilometres and kilogrammes. I find any country which tells me that it's 50 miles to the next town, terribly attractive. So attractive that I would love to go again.