Moscow Private Tours, a leading tour company for foreigners in Russia, is now offering a live tour of Moscow and St. Petersburg for those who are missing traveling this year. These tours are also perfect ways for families and friends to get together while doing something fun. Everyone needs some activity to take them out of everyday worries right now, and this tour experience is one of the best ways we can think of.

ABOUT MOSCOW PRIVATE TOURS

Moscow Private Tours creates over 2000 tailor-made tours for foreigners each year. Vyacheslav Kholopov, CEO of Moscow Private Tours, said: “As early as February, it was already clear to us that many tourism activities will migrate online. However, we did not fancy following the usual route of launching online tours in the form of lectures, showing photos of locations or Google street views.”

THE BEST TOUR OF MOSCOW

So they created a truly unique and interactive product that allows participants to feel like they are really on tour. Live Tours Moscow  offers real-time streaming of tours around Moscow with a professional guide. The tours are done in small groups so that everyone can experience the effect of being on a tour. Private Live Tours are also available.

Live Tours Moscow is made real via a Full HD live video that also allows participants to directly communicate with the guide and with each other. This is a very different from other Live mediums. It allow participation by comments or likes.

BOOK YOUR SPECIAL INTERACTIVE TOUR OF MOSCOW WITH THE TRAVELIFE MAGAZINE DISCOUNT HERE

VISITING RUSSIA DURING COVID-19

The private groups can be as big or as small as the organizers wish. In fact, Moscow Private Tours has even organized a date in Moscow for a couple stranded in different cities. However, in order for each participant to have enough opportunities to interact with the guide, Vyacheslav Kholopov recommends around eight participants for each tour.

He explained : ‘This is a non-standard technology. We created our own media-server since the existing services of the streaming industry are not ideal. Zoom, Skype, and Google Meets have limited video quality. Meanwhile Youtube, Facebook, Instagram have considerable latency issues.”

WHAT TO SEE IN MOSCOW

The Moscow Live Tour in English can be booked directly on the website of Moscow Private Tours. The tour includes the most important attractions of Moscow: Red Square, St. Basil’s Cathedral, the Moscow Kremlin, and the Bolshoi Theatre. It even includes a peek at a Moscow subway station famous for its artworks. Yes, the high level of mobile networks coverage in Moscow has made live streaming possible from deep underground.

BOOK YOUR INTERACTIVE TOUR OF THE BEST OF MOSCOW WITH THE TRAVELIFE MAGAZINE DISCOUNT HERE

TRAVELING DURING THE PANDEMIC

The Moscow Live Tour is especially popular with foreigners who want to visit Moscow but who are now unable to do so because of COVID-19 restrictictions. Foreigners who have visited Moscow before and who want to refresh their memories of Russia are also enthusiastically booking these live tours of Moscow. The new St. Petersburg Live Tour is also generating much interest. Book your Live Tour of St. Petersburg, the city built by Peter the Great, here.

Moscow Private Tours will be launching live tours in other languages shortly. Vyacheslav Kholopov explains: “We believe this new format of excursions will stay in high demand even after the pandemic. These live tours will become an excellent tool for promoting Moscow as a travel destination.”

Read more about traveling to Moscow and other major Russian cities in Travelife Magazine.

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Last summer, I lost a silver charm bracelet while walking to my suite at the Standart Hotel in Moscow. This taught me about the philosophy of letting go and letting good.

I’d bought this bracelet at a jewellery store along Tverskaya Street to remind me of all the happy times in this city that strangely feels like home. However the day before I left, the bracelet got unhinged as I was walking through the hotel corridor and some of the charms fell off.

LOOKING FOR SOMETHING YOU’VE LOST

The corridor of The Standart Hotel, Russia’s first design hotel, was spotless and empty. However, I lost four charms here and I couldn’t understand how. Then it occurred to me that perhaps the lady at the jewellery store had not counted the charms properly, as I’d bought something like 25 charms and they were all so small.

Andre, the head concierge at The Standart Hotel, which was my home for 10 days in Moscow that June, offered to walk with me to the store to sort it out. This being Russia, the nice lady at the store accommodated us and reviewed the papers, but everything checked out.

READ ABOUT A SONG BY MICHEL LEGRAND & A PIANO BAR IN NEW YORK

ABOUT A CHARM BRACELET IN MOSCOW

Of course I was distressed. Losing some of those charms felt like losing some of my memories of Moscow. In fact, it felt like I was losing Moscow itself. And no one really wants to lose anything, right?

“You know, if something is lost, you should just let it go. There is no use keeping sadness or bad feelings over your loss inside you.”

This was when Andre said to me, as we were walking back to the hotel: “You know, if something is lost, you should just let it go. There is no use keeping sadness or bad feelings over your loss inside you.”

He continued: “These feelings will just go deeper and deeper inside, and the sad feelings will just keep adding up. One day you will find that everything is so heavy because you have not been able to let your feelings go.”

ABOUT LETTING GO AND LETTING GOOD

Isn’t this so true? We must learn how to let sadness go and we must learn to forgive situations, people and even ourselves; or our feelings will just eat us up inside.

“Sometimes, when you let something go, this is the time it may come back to you.”

In the same way, we must let go of things or people we have lost or who no longer belong in our lives and wish them well. This way, none of the negativity associated with them remains inside us.

Then he added: “Besides, sometimes, when you let something go, this is the time it may come back to you.”

HOW TO FIND WHAT YOU HAVE LOST

So, I followed his advice and went back to my suite to pack up my bags. My car was coming in a few hours to take me to the airport for my Japan Airlines flight from Moscow back to Tokyo. Finally, when my suitcases were packed and everything was done, and I was walking out — what do you know?

Right there, in the middle of my suite, right in my path as if they had been waiting for me all along, were the four trinkets I’d been searching for in vain.

LIFE LESSONS ABOUT LETTING GO

I was alone in the suite at the Standart Hotel in Moscow then and tears welled up in my eyes. I swear I immediately felt the Life Lessons there, about letting go and letting good.

“Letting go and letting good” of things, situations, memories — and even of people — you have lost or who have hurt you is difficult. But if you are able to do this, you will feel lighter. The memories may still be there but the heaviness will not remain inside of you.

And, yes, sometimes it is precisely when we decide to let go that some things, and some people, find their way back to us again.

Read more articles about traveling to Moscow in Travelife Magazine.

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Last night we had a traditional Russian dinner at Savva, the top Russian restaurant at the Metropol Hotel in Moscow. The Metropol Hotel itself is legendary, as it was built in 1905 and it was the best hotel in Moscow before the 1917 Russian Revolution.

Today it is definitely one of the city’s top luxury hotels, and it is a must stay for those who want to experience culture and history. So much history happened at the Metropol.

LUXURY AT THE METROPOL HOTEL

The Metropol Hotel is a member of WorldHotel’s Elite Collection.

Recently it has begun a luxury refurbishment of its interiors. Savva, its top restaurant, is today a beautiful restaurant that brings back the days of Imperial Russia. It has kept much of its original interiors, which were created by the famous designer Ignatiy Nevinsky in 1905. So even today you can still see the classic marble columns and the wall and ceiling paintings that he chose.

I had long wanted to eat in Savva as I had heard about its authentic Russian cuisine. The chef of Savva, Andrey Shmakov, is also well-known in Moscow’s gourmet circles for his expert blending of traditional Russian cooking with Moscow local culinary traditions and some techniques for contemporary cuisine.

THE DAYS OF IMPERIAL RUSSIA

Savva is actually named after Savva Mamontov, the founder of the Metropol Hotel himself. So the restaurant is really a tribute to him. I loved the interiors. We had the corner table with a view of the Kremlin, and from here I imagined how Moscow might have been over 100 years ago.

I am sure that the Metropol Hotel and its restaurants were the favorite places of the Russian nobility and Russian aristocracy. Everyone who was anyone in Moscow and in the era of Imperial Russia must have spent time here.

THE BEST LOCATION IN MOSCOW

The Metropol is also the best hotel in Moscow in terms of location, too. The Bolshoi Theater and the Maly Theater are just in front, and the Kremlin is next door. The shopping streets of Arbat and main Moscow avenue of Tverskaya are also very nearby.

At Savva, we chose the gastronomic Russian tasting menu. This offered all traditional Russian dishes, but the food was all done in a stylish contemporary way. I was eager to try the Russian menu as I had just flown into Moscow yesterday from one week in the Crimea, and the food in Crimea is quite different from Moscow.

I also have only a few days in Moscow. So, of course, I had to eat the best Russian food available.

THE BEST SPECIALTIES OF SAVVA

Savva has many specialties. They have a tender deer fillet with celery and coffee, braised eel in kvass with honey, and a tender duck.

We began and ended our Russian gastronomic menu with shots of vodka. This is very Russian, of course. The vodka to start was a horseradish vodka, which was paired very well with some raw fish appetizers and two kinds of caviar on blini.

Then we went on to pelmini, which is the traditional Russian dumpling with some soup. Usually, pelmini is made with meat. But at Savva, they created pelmini with fish. It was very delicious.

BORSCHT IN MOSCOW

Of course, we also had borscht. And the borscht at Savva is most authentic borscht I have tasted so far in Russia. It came with the freshly chopped herbs and the sour cream.

For the main course, we ordered one beef and one fish so that we could taste both.

Finally, a dessert of Russia honey cake with raspberries was served. We ate this with a shot of honey vodka. Both the dessert and the honey vodka were so delicious. It was the perfect way to end my first evening back in Moscow, living a Travelife.

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Hotel Metropol Moscow is a member of WorldHotel’s Elite Collection. WorldHotels is a great online platform for readers to have access to the world’s best independent hotels around the world.

The post Caviar & vodka in Moscow appeared first on TRAVELIFE Magazine.

SIGHTSEEING ATTRACTIONS IN MOSCOW

HIRING THE BEST PRIVATE GUIDE IN MOSCOW

VISITING THE KREMLIN

The post Hiring the best private guide in Moscow appeared first on TRAVELIFE Magazine.

Driving by private car from St. Petersburg to Tallinn, Estonia

This post is about driving by car from St. Petersburg to Tallinn, Estonia.

So yesterday, I decided not to join some friends on their marathon trip to Tallinn from St. Petersburg via a combination of trains, ferries and lots of waiting in Helsinki.

Driving by private car from St. Petersburg to Tallinn, Estonia is basically a whole day affair because they reached Estonia near midnight. This is a normal route, by the way, to get to Estonia from St. Petersburg, but I am really more of a door-to-door traveler and I avoid trains as much as possible as I always travel with 30 kgs of luggage and I so dislike inconveniences.

TAKING THE TRAIN TO ST. PETERSBURG

FROM MOSCOW

The only exception was the other day when I took the Sapsan high speed train from Moscow to St. Petersburg. This is the better option than flying so I had to do it. However, I arranged to do it the Travelife way with my hotel, the Ararat Park Hyatt Moscow. 

They booked a limousine to take me to the station in leisurely fashion, and then arranged for the driver to park the car and take my bags straight to my train carriage.  This is the kind of service that keeps me staying in the best hotels in any city.

As the driver was in a fancy suit, they let him through at Moscow station with my luggage with no problems.

Anyway, back to driving by private car from St. Petersburg to Tallinn, Estonia.

Just to compare prices, as this transfer was not cheap, I decided to ask several local travel agencies in St. Petersburg how much a similar transfer would cost. Most of them had never heard of a tourist hiring a private car to go to Tallinn.

They thought I was crazy, and yet here I am in Estonia, living a #Travelife, after a pretty nice afternoon of driving.

Several of them said: “Why don’t you take the train? Or the bus? Or the ferry?”

But I was persistent in my search for a limo and a driver willing to take me to Estonia as I was not dragging heavy suitcases anywhere. Fortunately I found one.

The trip takes five hours if you’re lucky, and more if the border guards are slow, as you must pass two border controls after all — Russia and Estonia.

Fortunately, I found a wonderful driver with a pretty swish Audi who was willing to do the heavy paperwork required to go across the borders as Estonia is part of Schengen and Russia is, well, Russia.

This was an 800 kilometer roundtrip drive for him, from St. Petersburg to Estonia and back, and he needed the right papers for the car and for himself to enter Estonia. And I’m forever grateful to him for taking on this tough job and doing it so professionally.

It wasn’t a cheap service, but convenience and comfort never are, when you are traveling. For great transfers practically anywhere in the world, please book with Blacklane. They’ve never let me down yet.

At the Hotel Astoria in St. Petersburg, living a #Travelife…

To complicate matters, a friend from Moscow who had come all the way from Moscow on a very nice spur-of-the-moment decision to show me the sights of Petersburg had been trying all morning to check in for his flight that same afternoon.


He was planning to return to Moscow, you see, as soon as I drove out of St. Petersburg.

This being Russia — the check-in website wasn’t working and he was dangerously late for his flight check-in. A quick check of Google maps showed traffic around where we were as well. I was quite sure by then that he would miss his flight to Moscow and I certainly felt guilty about this, especially as he’d traveled a very long distance just to see me in Petersburg.

This is the Russian border. You exit here and drive a few minutes to the Estonian border.

But I’m always unbelievably lucky in my Travelife. No kidding.

Just exactly then, when we were looking at Google Maps giving us crazy times like 90 minutes to the airport by car, my driver for Estonia texted saying he was at the hotel an hour early. Oh my goodness.

I sweet-talked the nice driver into dropping my friend off at St. Petersburg airport before heading to Estonia, even if it wasn’t exactly on the way.

Thankfully, the driver was a very kind man and he was also an expert driver. He literally zoomed through the backstreets of St. Petersburg so that we saw no traffic whatsoever, and we made it to the airport in good time.

The driver and I actually had lots of interesting conversations on that long trip yesterday, as well. After we’d left the airport, he’d also told me: “The trip to Tallinn can take seven hours if the border processings are slow. Get ready.“

Seven hours by the way is about the same time as the train, but then you have to get to the train station as well, so the actual trip from Petersburg to Estonia is more like ten hours. 

As luck would have it, no traffic in the borders although the guards on both sides were quite surprised to see an Asian girl with five passports stuck together being driven across to Estonia in a limousine with computers and a host of communication gadgets in the passenger back of the car.

Lots of questions, but friendly ones, mostly out of curiosity. And it was quite an experience going through the borders, especially as there are so few  real borders left on land, so I was really happy I did this.

We even had time to stop at the duty free which reportedly sells the cheapest Russian and Estonian liquor in this part of the world. I bought a bottle of Estonian liquor to get rid of my last roubles but lacked the last seven rubles to pay for it.

Just as I was reaching for my credit card to pay for the seven roubles, my driver actually paid for it instead. #lucky 

The drive from Petersburg Airport to Tallinn was beautiful, full of vast forests in fall colors. It was amazing, and my driver even had a playlist of nice songs to enjoy the drive with.

And sooner than expected, we were in Tallinn, pulling up to one of the Tallin’s best hotels, where the bellhops took over handling my 30 kg luggage and all my other bags.

I checked in, got changed for dinner, and made well in time to a dinner with friends at one of Tallinn’s fanciest restaurants, with a trio playing mostly Tchaikovsky in the background. It was a beautiful mix of good food and wonderful music.

CAVIAR AND BORSCHT IN TALLINN

I had more caviar and Russian borscht last night as I was still in a Russian state of mind.

I left my heart in Russia for now, but I’m also excited to explore more of Tallinn, a city I visited a very long time ago but never forgot.

Then it’s on to Istanbul to celebrate my birthday — one of several birthday celebrations, as I’m celebrating in Istanbul, Manila, Singapore and Tokyo — at one of the world’s most beautiful hotels, with a couple of amazing dinners and a day out on a private yacht with champagne and all as we cruise the Bosphorus, as always living a #Travelife.

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