Booking a Trip to Russia

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Originally posted by seraphim:

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And tell us, did a different alphabet ever keep you out of Turkey?

That would be rather silly since they use the Latin alphabet

A Latin based alphabet. There are still significant differences.

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Originally posted by my2thhurts:
A Latin based alphabet. There are still significant differences.

Yeah? A couple of dotted i's and the ÄŸ breve. The other four extra letters aren't exactly foreign to anyone even casually familiar German, Spanish, French, Scandinavian, or your average English dictionary (where one encounters the same letters for explicit phonetic examples.) Not quite the same as seeing Cyrillic for the first time.

Not that it matters, now that we know the poster will be traveling with Russian-speaking compadres.

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Originally posted by Continental Op:

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Originally posted by my2thhurts:
A Latin based alphabet. There are still significant differences.

Yeah? A couple of dotted i's and the ÄŸ breve. The other four extra letters aren't exactly foreign to anyone even casually familiar German, Spanish, French, Scandinavian, or your average English dictionary (where one encounters the same letters for explicit phonetic examples.) Not quite the same as seeing Cyrillic for the first time.

Not that it matters, now that we know the poster will be traveling with Russian-speaking compadres.

My point on the alphabet is that if you can't read it then you can't read it. It doesn't matter what language or alphabet is used.

The first time I went to a country that used the Cyrillic alphabet, it was interesting because it was so different. But it didn't make my trip any more difficult. I also don't understand how being surrounded by signs in Spanish or French will make an experience with the Cyrillic alphabet better or easier.

I would hate for another traveler to read this thread and think that their lack of experience in Paris means that they shouldn't go to Russia.

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I would hate for another traveler to read this thread and think that their lack of experience in Paris means that they shouldn't go to Russia.

We would all hate that. Good thing that I never wrote that.

I clarified more than once that it was a combination of (1.) first ever overseas trip (2.) to Russia (3.) with impossible to read signage (4.) in the winter, that caused concern.

The OP initially gave so little information that it came across as a really bad idea. Turns out that it won't just be "me and my roommate", but he didn't bother to mention that at first.

/