Travelers have any number of ways to check e-mail and access the Internet on the road. Of course, using your own laptop, PDA (personal digital assistant), or electronic organizer with a modem gives you the most flexibility. If you don't have a computer, you can still access your e-mail and your office computer from cybercafes.
Without Your Own Computer
In Moscow and St. Petersburg, cybercafes are concentrated around the tourist attractions such as the Kremlin and Nevsky Prospekt. Russian public libraries often offer Internet access free or for a small charge. Avoid hotel business centers unless you're willing to pay exorbitant rates. For a listing of cybercafes around the world, visit www.cybercaptive.com and www.cybercafe.com.
With Your Own Computer
More and more hotels, resorts, airports, cafes, and retailers are going Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity), becoming "hot spots" that offer free high-speed Wi-Fi access or charge a small fee for usage. Most laptops sold today have built-in wireless capability. To find public Wi-Fi hot spots at your destination, go to www.jiwire.com; its Hotspot Finder holds the world's largest directory of public wireless hot spots. The site http://www.waytorussia.net/Practicalities/Business/Internet.html lists spots in Moscow and St. Petersburg with Wi-Fi access.
For dial-up access, most business-class hotels throughout the world offer dataports for laptop modems, and a few thousand hotels in Europe now offer free high-speed Internet access.
Wherever you go, bring a connection kit of the right power and phone adapters, a spare phone cord, and a spare Ethernet network cable -- or find out whether your hotel supplies them to guests.
Electric current in Russia is 220 volts (as opposed to 110 volts in the U.S.), and older hotels will require a five-pronged Russian phone adapter, available in Russian hardware stores or from hotel staff. Newer hotels will have standard phone jacks.
Surfing the "Ru-net" Before You Go
Soviet programmers created their own interactive "Web" back in the 1980s, and today's Runet (roo-net), as the Russian-language Internet world calls itself, is as vibrant as any online community. More and more Russian sites have English-language pages, and below are a few worth checking out before you go. The sometimes clumsy translations are compensated for by the information and guidance. And, of course, don't forget www.frommers.com, especially the advice from other travelers on the Russia destination forum.
Museums:
www.hermitagemuseum.org: Official site of Hermitage Museum, good for planning your visit to the museum ahead of time.
www.rusmuseum.ru: Site of St. Petersburg's Russian Museum, a good introduction to Russian art.
www.tretyakov.ru: Site of Moscow's Tretyakov Gallery, another good introduction to Russian art.
www.kremlin.ru/eng: Official Kremlin website, with history of the Kremlin complex itself and excerpts from President Vladimir Putin's daily schedule.
News:
www.themoscowtimes.com: Site of English-language daily newspaper The Moscow Times. News, weather, exchange rates, entertainment, and restaurant listings.
www.sptimes.ru: Site of English-language semiweekly paper The St. Petersburg Times.
www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/default.cfm: Johnson's Russia List is a compilation of articles and commentary about Russia from the English-language and Russian press, updated daily.
www.exile.ru: Best known for its extensive, audacious listings on Moscow nightlife and for its caustic, often X-rated commentary on Russian society.
Listings/General Information:
www.ru: Calls itself the "original Russian Web directory." Information-packed and searchable in English, but rather unwieldy.
www.infoservices.com: The Travelers' Yellow Pages for Moscow and St. Petersburg, with searchable telephone and address listings in English, including nearest metro station and opening hours. Not comprehensive but useful.
www.waytorussia.net: Company offering advice and listings, aimed at expatriates in Russia but useful for tourists, too.
www.expat.ru: Forum for English-speaking expats, mostly in Moscow.
www.cheap-moscow.com: Irreverent site with tips on how to live in Moscow on little money.
www.eng.menu.ru: Moscow restaurant reviews and listings, most but not all in English.
www.cityguide.spb.ru: Site of the City Guide, an English-Russian quarterly available at St. Petersburg hotels and restaurants.
Airlines/Airports:
www.aeroflot.ru/eng: Site of Russian airline Aeroflot, with schedules and fares.
www.transaero.ru/english: Site of airline Transaero.
http://eng.pulkovo.ru: Site of St. Petersburg's Pulkovo International Airport, with updated flight information.
www.sheremetevo-airport.ru: Site of Moscow's Sheremetevo International Airport.
Visa Information:
www.russianembassy.org: Site of Russian Embassy in the United States, with visa applications and information and links to embassies and consulates in other countries.
www.myrussianvisa.com: U.S. company that arranges invitations for travelers not with a group.
www.visatorussia.com: Can issue invitations for travelers from nearly any country in the world. (Note: Fees for visa invitations -- sometimes called "visa support" -- are in addition to the fees you must pay the embassy for the visa itself.)
Maps:
www.infoservices.com/moscow/map/index.html: Maps of Moscow neighborhoods and sights.
http://www.infoservices.com/stpete/map/index.html: Maps of St. Petersburg neighborhoods and sights.
www.yell.ru/map: Interactive maps of Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Online Traveler's Toolbox
Veteran travelers usually carry some essential items to make their trips easier. Following is a selection of handy online tools to bookmark and use.
Airplane Seating & Food. Find out which seats to reserve and which to avoid (and more) on all major domestic airlines at www.seatguru.com. And check out the type of meal (with photos) you'll likely be served on airlines around the world at www.airlinemeals.com.
Foreign Languages for Travelers (www.travlang.com). Learn basic terms in more than 70 languages and click on any underlined phrase to hear what it sounds like.
Intellicast (www.intellicast.com) and Weather.com (www.weather.com). Both give weather forecasts for all 50 states and for cities around the world.
Mapquest (www.mapquest.com). This best of the mapping sites lets you choose a specific address or destination and, in seconds, it will return a map and detailed directions.
Subway Navigator (www.subwaynavigator). Download subway maps and get savvy advice on using subway systems in dozens of major cities around the world, including Moscow.
Time & Date (www.timeanddate.com). See what time (and day) it is anywhere in the world.
Travel Warnings (http://travel.state.gov, www.fco.gov.uk/travel, www.voyage.gc.ca, www.dfat.gov.au/consular/advice). These sites report on places where health concerns or unrest might threaten American, British, Canadian, and Australian travelers. Generally, U.S. warnings are the most paranoid; Australian warnings are the most relaxed.
Universal Currency Converter (www.xe.com/ucc). See what your dollar or pound is worth in more than 100 other countries.
Visa ATM Locator (www.visa.com), for locations of PLUS ATMs worldwide, or MasterCard ATM Locator (www.mastercard.com), for locations of Cirrus ATMs worldwide.
Weekly Events (www.themoscowtimes.com, www.sptimesrussia.com, www.russiatravel-pdtours.netfirms.com). The Moscow Times and its sister paper The St. Petersburg Times have comprehensive listings of music, art, dance, and theater events, as well as restaurant reviews and unusual museum exhibits. Patriarshy Dom offers listings of its English-language tours.
Expat Advice (www.expat.ru). See what Moscow's English-speaking expatriates are up to, or ask them for advice before you go.
