advice on travel

[highlander08 9]

Hello everyone I am just looking at my options now.. It will cost me aprox 1,200-1,300 to travel to kiev airport.. but all the flights I can find for tashkent show 3,300 and up why such a big difference and are there any other ways like travel by train part way ect.. any help or advice will be greatly appreciated.

now I know the story. her parents divorced when she was 11 and both moved on to other relationships and left her with her grandparents in tashkent to raise her. aparently they were there from the war.

[Hollyday 122]

Have her take the train to Kiev and meet with her there. If all clicks, then a later trip to her city would work. Or.....have her take the train to Kiev and meet with you and you both take the train to her city.

Yes, these costs are a mere drop in the bucket to the total costs to have a foreign spouse immigrate and live here in the US. Make sure you are prepared for the future. Again, these costs are a drop in the bucket compared to the future costs, especially if there are children involved to immigrate also.

The train from Kiev to Tashkent takes 3+ days. It makes more sense to fly, i think. Direct train Moscow-Tashkent is 2 days and 18 hours (+a visa would be needed for Russia).

Edited May 14, 2012 by Hollyday

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

One caution on booking legs of your trip separately, if you get delayed or cancelled on a leg prior to the final one they take no responsibility to cover the costs of changing your booking the rest of the way. Still sounds like your way is better if the savings are that high.

Yes, I mentioned that and YES it is a risk. Minimize it by giving yourself time between flights. We have done it a LOT now and never had a problem. But I underatnd we could have a problem and the cost will be about $200 each if we do.

One other consideration is that the transat;antic bagge restrictions are much more generous than domestic. While the JFK-Kiev flight allows you 2 bags, 27kg each, the JetBlue BTV-JFK limits you to one bag and 20kg. So you either pay some bag fees or travel lighter

As for meeting, Kiev would be better. For one, the US Citizen does not need a visa and the Uzbek may NOT need a visa (check on that) BOTH would need a visa in Moscow.

[1HappyGuy 45]

Lot's of good advice. If you can get her to meet you in Kiev, that could be great as long as it is after the Euro 2012 tournament. Prices for any accommodations are outrageous. Since you are planning on meeting for the first time, I'm going to be the sour note in all of this. If she agrees to fly to Kiev (the best option in my opinion) then be sure to buy her a non-refundable round trip ticket. Unfortunately, we have all run into different scams and the price of an airline flight could be significant refundable income for Tashkent.

I'm just trying to give you a little caution. We all want this to work out for you, but be careful.

Edited May 14, 2012 by 1HappyGuy

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Yes, I mentioned that and YES it is a risk. Minimize it by giving yourself time between flights. We have done it a LOT now and never had a problem. But I underatnd we could have a problem and the cost will be about $200 each if we do.

One other consideration is that the transat;antic bagge restrictions are much more generous than domestic. While the JFK-Kiev flight allows you 2 bags, 27kg each, the JetBlue BTV-JFK limits you to one bag and 20kg. So you either pay some bag fees or travel lighter

As for meeting, Kiev would be better. For one, the US Citizen does not need a visa and the Uzbek may NOT need a visa (check on that) BOTH would need a visa in Moscow.

I have a two min. two hour rule between flights. Anything less and it's cutting it close to the bone. When your travelling so far for so much $, there's no reason to book flights back to back with no real time in between.

As far as those ghetto European rules, the wife is flying Condor Air this time...never heard of it before, but they don't allow a decent size carry on and they are charging a mint for the extra suitcase. She's flying the opposite direction this time. Anchorage straight to Moscow ...across Russia Far East and Siberia.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

the price of an airline flight could be significant refundable income for Tashkent.

I'm just trying to give you a little caution. We all want this to work out for you, but be careful.

Sounds like a line from "Borat". Highlander, even if you saw it before, it is a MUST repeat seeing before going to Uzbekistan

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

I have a two min. two hour rule between flights. Anything less and it's cutting it close to the bone. When your travelling so far for so much $, there's no reason to book flights back to back with no real time in between.

As far as those ghetto European rules, the wife is flying Condor Air this time...never heard of it before, but they don't allow a decent size carry on and they are charging a mint for the extra suitcase. She's flying the opposite direction this time. Anchorage straight to Moscow ...across Russia Far East and Siberia.

Like just about anything, even going to the grocery store...buying plane tickets in this house is like planning the D-day invasion or the manned moon landing. It usually involves a white board, dry erase makers an active skype connection with Sergey (on Moscow time) and Pasha on stand-by for text messages at least. We are buying four tickets so multiply any savings or costs by 4. Up until this year we had to have round trip going both ways. It is quite the project. It was worse when we were working in green card renewals and biometrics appointments which always seemed to conflict. Now with Sergey coming back for good that stuff is over

I never heard of Condor so I am guessing they do not do the JFK-Moscow run. The last couple years it was always either Aerosvit, Aeorflot or Transaero that had the lowest prices. Aeroflot this year with a stop in Moscow. Sergey is flying back one way on Aeroflot to JFK for $446. At least while he is in school we will pay for ONE trip per year for him to DONETSK to visit Bahbushka. Or until she moves here...next USCIS project (we are addicted) If he wants to get his "main squeeze" there to meet him also, that's fine. The other trips are on him! We are not paying for his LDR

[highlander08 9]

so is it easy to get a visa to tashkent.? how long does it take ?

[1HappyGuy 45]

What, you haven't looked online?

Check out this site to start: http://www.visit-uzbekistan.com/uzbekistan/visa.php

There are probably others you can try but this is the first one that came up. Review it and see if you want to do it.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

so is it easy to get a visa to tashkent.? how long does it take ?

I can honestly report I have no freakin' clue

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

One way of getting there (or used to be anyways) is: US > Soul, South Korea > Vladivostok, RU > Tashkent.

[eekee 182]

One way of getting there (or used to be anyways) is: US > Soul, South Korea > Vladivostok, RU > Tashkent.

That is waaaaay farther, especially for someone on the east coast of the US.

[mendeleev 68]

There are connections between Moscow/Domodedovo that you might want to look into. You might need a transit visa. Don't know about Ukrainian airports but Domodedovo is new and surprisingly well laid out and efficient. Sheremetyevo might be an option, too. I haven't been there since before Sheremetyevo 3 opened, so cannot comment on that airport.

[eekee 182]

There are connections between Moscow/Domodedovo that you might want to look into. You might need a transit visa. Don't know about Ukrainian airports but Domodedovo is new and surprisingly well laid out and efficient. Sheremetyevo might be an option, too. I haven't been there since before Sheremetyevo 3 opened, so cannot comment on that airport.

If you fly Aeroflot, you'll be able to stay in one terminal and therefore won't need a transit visa. MUCH prefer Shermetyevo to Domodedevo. I couldn't even find a power outlet in Domodedovo and the only food was Sbarro. One of the longest layovers of my life. On that note, AVOID SWISSAIR/ZURICH LIKE THE PLAGUE. The only thing in THAT airport is a gift shop of Swiss ####### and all the reading materials around are in Swiss German only.

[AmyWrites 593]

If you fly Aeroflot, you'll be able to stay in one terminal and therefore won't need a transit visa. MUCH prefer Shermetyevo to Domodedevo. I couldn't even find a power outlet in Domodedovo and the only food was Sbarro. One of the longest layovers of my life. On that note, AVOID SWISSAIR/ZURICH LIKE THE PLAGUE. The only thing in THAT airport is a gift shop of Swiss ####### and all the reading materials around are in Swiss German only.

Shermetyevo is now better than DME? Really? I avoided it like the plague after hearing it was hell on earth.