Uncivilized Mother Land

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Uncivilized Mother Land and how not to travel in Russia

A word of advice for anyone considering traveling by RailRoad in the Russian Federation and are looking to purchasing tickets through Russia's Rail Road's official site. First and foremost, do not purchase tickets on trains entering Russia from another country. I made that mistake planning to enter Russia from Lithuania/Vilnius by train. But tickets bought from the site of the above mentioned site can only be picked up in Russia. I thus ended up buying another ticket in Vilnius for the same train.

Biggest hassle, however, came in Moscow when I went to pick up my tickets for a train leaving from that same evening and that I had purchased online as well. I never made the train. Instead, I stood inline for 2 hours and then asked for a refund as I had already missed my train (and all other trains) that night before my turn.

Causes:
-No machines to dispense already-purchased tickets
-No separate lines to pick up tickets for already-purchased tickets
-No system of order (people buy spots on the line, skip line, etc - complete anarchy)
-A system in which each individual takes 15-20minutes to purchase a ticket
-A system in which the volume of paperwork necessary to do anything is absurd (20 minutes for me to cancel my ticket and receive a refund).
-A system designed to create conflict: After I got closer to the ticket-counter, I saw a notice stating that those who have purchased tickets online can go to the front of the line to pick them up (ie: tell a bunch of disgruntled people that you are skipping line).

And after I got to the front of the line, another traveler got in front of me because, he said, he has an e-ticket. Having waited for 2 hours, I wasn't going to let him pass. Pushing/Shoving ensued. In the end, the ticket saleswoman was counseling both of us and my competitor invited me to have his chicken & vodka with him.

The next day, I went to another train terminal (there are 9 in Moscow), where w/out any problems I located a counter specifically designed to print-out already-purchased tickets (wait time 5minutes)

moral of the story: Amtrak is Heaven.

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