21st century heathen Posted March 28, 2008 Report Share Posted March 28, 2008 (edited) I'll do it with you Nikki... as long as you can promise to make it quick and easy. *edit* spacing Edited March 28, 2008 by 21st century heathen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spiegal Posted March 28, 2008 Report Share Posted March 28, 2008 T.P.Tours had a trip planned for russia last season, but due to lack of numbers it was cancelled. I know of 4 people <who usually travel independently> who had hoped to go. If Mr Easter is reading this, could he inform us of why he thinks people weren't interested. Was it the cost? Or didn't folk trust the russian league to gaurantee the fixtures. Or does he think people just didn't fancy russia. Would love to know, as i've never known a T.P.T. trip cancelled before. Thank you for your interest...in fact this was the first trip we have ever cancelled. It was a mixture of lack of numbers, the unreliability of CONFIRMED fixtures...Hoteliers who tripled the room rates, plus the internal transfers suddenly became 200% dearer for no reason....I am not prepared to risk clients, their money or our reputation..so I knocked in on the head. Another real problem is the location of the tracks. Many require a transit through Moscow, and internal fares are no longer a few US$ in cash. The country is coming out of a long dark tunnel, and it is a mixture of western/russian business methods...and i felt that the signs just did not prove to be as reliable as I always insist on. We have an extremely good,honest contact in Moscow, but she "lost it" with the local hoteliers, who basically held us to ransom with prices.Better to be safe than sorry. having been to other parts of Russia, I am happy with Moscow/St.Pete..and a few of teh othe rbig cities, but truthfully i got the wrong feeling about everything. My opinion is that a GP will happen in Russia, but it will dpend on several factors other than just the quality of racing....as for the date, i simply have no information, but i do have an idea when it might happen. Trust this helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spanner47 Posted March 28, 2008 Report Share Posted March 28, 2008 Thank you for your interest...in fact this was the first trip we have ever cancelled. It was a mixture of lack of numbers, the unreliability of CONFIRMED fixtures...Hoteliers who tripled the room rates, plus the internal transfers suddenly became 200% dearer for no reason....I am not prepared to risk clients, their money or our reputation..so I knocked in on the head. Another real problem is the location of the tracks. Many require a transit through Moscow, and internal fares are no longer a few US$ in cash. The country is coming out of a long dark tunnel, and it is a mixture of western/russian business methods...and i felt that the signs just did not prove to be as reliable as I always insist on. We have an extremely good,honest contact in Moscow, but she "lost it" with the local hoteliers, who basically held us to ransom with prices.Better to be safe than sorry. having been to other parts of Russia, I am happy with Moscow/St.Pete..and a few of teh othe rbig cities, but truthfully i got the wrong feeling about everything. My opinion is that a GP will happen in Russia, but it will dpend on several factors other than just the quality of racing....as for the date, i simply have no information, but i do have an idea when it might happen. Trust this helps Thanks Mr E, Very informative. I read a while ago that moscow has now overtaken tokyo as the most expensive city in the world to visit. I'm told the mafia are in charge there these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajh Posted March 29, 2008 Report Share Posted March 29, 2008 Went to Moscow in October for the England game and to be honest was totally disappointed with the whole experience. The locals weren't exactly welcoming though I'm well travelled enough to know that you can't judge a city when 5,000 England fans are in town Moscow was certainly expensive as well, sure I read a while back that it's the most expensive city in the world at the moment. Ironically enough though, most of the locals seems to have sod all and most of the businesses such as taxi companies and bars are owned by those with organised crime connections. Certainly after that experience it would take me a few years to gather up any excitement to travel there again. On the spot fines for "offences" are very common, certainly know a couple of fellow England fans fined for very very minor offences. Getting a visa is a relatively easy process though you do have to send your passport off for a couiple of weeks. Ovbiously not a problem for most, but if you are regular overseas traveller it can be a pain. You can go down to the Russian embassy in London and get it done for a premium of course. To be honest I shudder to think what the country used to be like 30/40 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bavarian Posted March 29, 2008 Report Share Posted March 29, 2008 They plan to stage the first Russian SGP in 2010 at the recently upgraded speedway stadium in Togliatti. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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