Your travel experiences - Moscow and the Ukraine

[Falling Down]

I have the opportunity to take in a business trip early December that involves a visit to Moscow including going to the British Embassy. I have not been to Moscow since 1983, so I think it may have just changed a bit. All the stuff I have heard has been bad with 8/10 visitors getting robbed, and hotel lobbies full of hookers and pimps (not all bad then).

I might also have the chance to go into the Ukraine, somewhere near the Dnieper River region. Ukraine is a completely different country to Russia now of course, and I have only recently realised that I might get shafted by the language there a bit (I speak some basic Russian), as it is not the same.

So...any experiences to relay, does, don'ts and general advice on the areaa please?

Thanks

[Falling Down]

Thanks to you both for the tips. The hotel in Moscow would be the Radisson Slavyanskaya. Quite pricey even with a special B&B rate of £170/night (but I guess Moscow is the capital, and I heard tremendously expensive now).

Markytop said:

Oh and expect to see something unusual that no-one else seems to bat an eyelid about. For example, there was a woman pushing a full size pig through the pedestrian area in the centre of town in a pram and was treating it just like a her baby. Things like that are normal apparently.

Thanks for that! Probably the funniest thing I have read on this site in the last year. I cannot wipe the smile off my face - priceless anecdote! Sounds like it is really worth going for the comedy gold.

[Falling Down]

Thanks everyone - some interesting insights there.

One question for both Russia and Ukraine, and that is money. I do not know if I am being paranoid, but I thought I might just get a credit card just for use on the trip. I could tell the credit company about when and where I am going, so if card gets cloned, there is some damage limitation. That a good / sensible idea?

Also, currency. Are we still in the age where I should just take cash in $US, or can you actually get local currency out of cash tills. Ukraine seems to have 'funny money', so don't want to bring it back, but not sure how acceptable/legal $US is instead. Any advice on this would be great!

Thanks