Spending-Breakdown-of-Trip-to-Russia-and-Belarus

August 20, 2025 • 1456 words

#russia #belarus #journal

Spending Breakdown of Trip to Russia and Belarus

Trip to Russia

7.6(evening)-7.20(evening), 7.6 in airport, 7.20 evening in airport, 14 days

Total Spent: ~15000 RMB

Flight (WeChat): ~6350 RMB
Transport/Trains: ~11000 RUB
Hotels: (Mastercard) ~33000 RUB
Utilities/Bank/Sim: ~8000 RUB
Residual/Food/Activities: ~41500 RUB

~600 RMB/day, or 85 USD/day

(Cash) ~6000 RMB, (Remaining Cash) ~2500 RUB, Spent 62000 RUB

Exchange/Deposit(Cash)

Start Cash: ~6080 RMB

Date	Thing	Place	RMB	Ruble
7.4	Exchange	China Bank	924	10000
7.6	Deposit Yoomoney	Sheremetyevo	/	4500
7.7	Exchange	Hotel Ukraina	1100	11200
7.7	Deposit Yoomoney	Hotel Ukraina	/	13550
7.9	Exchange	GazpromBank	3000	32100
7.9	Deposit Yoomoney	GazpromBank	/	30000
7.13	Money Left	Leaving Moscow	/	10941+2200(cash)
7.16	Exchange	Sberbank	1000	11040
7.16	Deposit Yoomoney	Sberbank	/	10900
/	Money Left	/	/	1900+500 (cash)

Note: I only used Mir pay/Cash other than booking hotels(Mastercard) and plane tickets(Chinese Unionpay).

Activities

In Moscow (7.7-7.12) Total Mir: ~37000 RUB, Total Cash: ~3500 RUB

Transport/Trains: ~6500 RUB (train to NN bought in Moscow)
Hotels: (Mastercard) ~24500 RUB
Utilities/Bank/Sim: ~8000 RUB
Residual/Food/Activities: ~26000 RUB

In NN and KZN (7.13-7.20) Total Mir: ~20000 RUB, Total Cash: ~1700 RUB

Transport/Trains: ~4500 RUB
Hotels: (Mastercard) ~8500 RUB
Utilities/Bank/Sim: 0 RUB
Residual/Food/Activities: ~17200 RUB

Date	Thing	Price	Method	Type
7.6	Shanghai->МОС->СПБ	2784 RMB	WeChat	Flight
7.6	Activate Yoomoney	500 RUB	Cash	Utilities
7.7	MTS Sim Card	1000 RUB	Mir	Utilities
7.7	Москва Аэроэкспресс	600 RUB	Mir	Transport
7.7	Converter МТС	2290 RUB	Mir	Utilities
7.8	Document Help Мои Документы	500 RUB	Cash	Utilities
7.8	Нотариусы	1500 RUB	Cash	Utilities
7.8	МГУ Botanical Garden	365 RUB	Mir	Other
7.9	Лебединое озеро (РАМТ)	2200 RUB	Mir	Other
7.9	Читай Город	977 RUB	Mir	Other
7.10	Эсмеральда (Станиславский)	3500 RUB	Mir	Other
7.10	Activate Sberbank(10 year)	4600 RUB	Mir	Utilities
7.10	Transfer Commission	150 RUB	Mir	Utilities
7.10	State Historical Museum	1000 RUB	Mir	Other
7.11	Жар-птица (Большой)	400 RUB	Mir	Other
7.12	Pushkin Museum	500 RUB	Mir	Other
7.13	МОС->НЖН (Train)	5960 RUB	Mir	Transport
7.15	MasterClass(Тишине Музей)	1430 RUB	Mir	Other
7.15	Bus Excursion	1210 RUB	Mir	Other
7.16	Boat Excursion	800 RUB	Mir	Other
7.16	НЖН->КЗН (Train)	3746 RUB	Mir	Transport
7.17	Comedy Standup	500 RUB	Mir	Other
7.18	Walking Excursion	1210 RUB	Mir	Other
7.19	Bus Excursion	2200 RUB	Mir	Other
7.20	Taxi -> Kazan Airport	700 RUB	Mir	Transport
7.20	КЗН->МОС->Shanghai	3565 RMB	WeChat	Flight

Note: I didn't go to SPB because of flight delay for 12 hours.

Hotel Information

Date	Name	Place	Price/Day	Info
7.7-7.9	Radisson Slavyanskaya	МОС	6000 RUB	Quiet, luxurious, near shopping center, good Internet, I was too tired after plane delay at airport
7.9-7.11	Винтерфелл Сокольники	МОС	2440 RUB	Cheap, room no window, 7 toilets(shower, toilet in one), slow Internet, shady people, booked a whole 2 bed room
7.11-7.13	Стромынка	МОС	3843 RUB	Standard apartment, no table, 1km from metro, slow Internet
7.13-7.14	Смайл	НЖН	1287 RUB	6 people room, mostly empty, good Internet, good public space, 1 toilet, 1 urinal, 2 showers for male, hot room without AC
7.14-7.16	ГагариНН	НЖН	1700 RUB	8 people room, 2 toilet bowls and 2 showers for male, slow Internet
7.16-7.17	Overnight Train	НЖН	/ (See above)	Left side is 4 beds perpendicular, 2 up and 2 down with some space in between, right side is 2 beds up and down parallel, no charger right side up, hot inside(around 27)
7.17-7.18	Минем Урын	КЗН	1539 RUB	10 people room, Clean, Overpriced amenities(3-4x, 300 RUB for luggage and slippers, 400 for washing), 3 toilets total and 2 showers for male, charger doesn't work on bed
7.18-7.20	Островок	КЗН	1180 RUB	10 people room, mostly empty, 2 toilet bowls and 2 showers for male, slow Internet, shady people

In Москва(7.7-7.12): 24566 RUB

In НН and КЗН(7.13-7.20): 8586 RUB

Note: I always booked with Mastercard on Yandex Travel(somehow it works)

Other Notable

Date	Thing	Place	Price	Method
7.6	2 Water	Sheremetyevo	650 RUB	Cash
7.7	Water	Hotel Ukraina	540 RUB	Mir
7.6-7.8	Сова Хостел	СПБ	1400 RUB	Mastercard
7.13	App Bug	Yandex Travel	1287 RUB	Mastercard
7.17	Commision	Yoomoney	345 RUB	Mir

Total: ~4000 RUB

Trip to Belarus

7.29(0 am)-8.18(8 am), 20 days

Total Spent: ~14500 RMB

Flight (UnionPay): ~7200 RMB
Transport/Trains: ~350 BYN, (UnionPay) ~85 RMB, (Mastercard) ~50 BYN
Hotels: ~1260 BYN, (Unionpay) ~162 RMB
Utilities/Bank/Sim: ~240 BYN, (Mastercard) Insurance ~90 BYN
Residual/Food/Activities: ~880 BYN, (Unionpay) ~75 RMB

(Unionpay) ~7500 RMB, (Cash) 6800 RMB, (Mastercard) ~140 BYN, (Ruble) ~2500 RUB

~350 RMB/day, or 50 USD/day

Exchange/Deposit(Cash)

	Thing	Place
Start	Money Left			500 RU RUB+
				1850 RU RUB(Sberbank)+7000 RMB
				+ (Unionpay) 162 RMB (pre-booked)
				+ 200 RMB (insurance)
7.29	Exchange	Sberbank	3000 RMB	1170 BYN
7.29	Exchange	Sberbank	500 RU RUB	18 BYN
7.30	Deposit	VTB Bank		735 BYN
7.31	Money Left	Leaving Минск		120(Cash)+632(VTB)+
	(On train)			815 RU RUB(Sberbank)+4000 RMB
8.4	Exchange	BelarusBank	2000 RMB	822 BYN
8.4	Deposit	VTB Bank		800 BYN
8.5	Exchange	MT Bank	1000 RMB	410 BYN
8.8	Money Left	Arriving Гродно		340(Cash)+622(VTB)+
	(On train)			661 RU RUB(Sberbank)+1000 RMB
8.14	Exchange	BelarusBank	500 RMB	206 BYN
8.15	Exchange	BelarusBank	300 RMB	123.6 BYN
8.13	Money Left	Arriving Пинск		259(Cash)+20(VTB)+
	(On train)			661 RU RUB(Sberbank)+1000 RMB
8.18	Money Left			2(Cash)+0(VTB)+
				9 RU RUB(Sberbank)+200 RMB +
				166 RMB (Unionpay) small amounts spent total

Activities

Date	Thing	Price	Method	Type
7.26	Insurance(BGS)	89 BYN	Mastercard	Other
7.29	Shanghai->Urumqi->Минск	3684 RMB	UnionPay	Flight
7.29	Минск Airport Bus	7 BYN	Mir	Transport
7.29	MTS Sim Card	40 BYN	Cash	Utilities
7.30	VTB Bank Card	200 BYN	Cash	Utilities
7.30	Bus Excursion	60 BYN	Mir	Other
7.30	Metro Card	28 BYN	Mir	Transport
7.31	Train Минск->Сморгонь	6 BYN	Mir	Transport
8.1	Train Сморгонь->Гудогай	2 BYN	Mir	Transport
8.1	Bus Гудогай->Островце	1 BYN	Mir	Transport
8.1	Bus Островце->Гудогай	1 BYN	Mir	Transport
8.2	Train Гудогай->Молодечно	3 BYN	Mir	Transport
8.3	Pants	50 BYN	Mir	Other
8.4	Bus Молодечно->Минск	9 BYN	Cash	Transport
8.4	Train Минск->Рыбцы	1 BYN	Mir	Transport
8.5	Train Рыбцы->Минск	1 BYN	Mir	Transport
8.5	Bus Минск->Янушковичи	8 BYN	Cash	Transport
8.6	Bus Янушковичи->Дашки	3 BYN	Cash	Transport
8.6	Taxi Дашки->Вилейка	80 BYN	Mir	Transport
8.7	Краеведческий музей	4 BYN	Cash	Other
8.7	Bus Вилейка->Молодечно	3 BYN	Cash	Transport
8.7	Train Молодечно->Лида	17 BYN	Mir	Transport
8.8	Train Лида->Гродно	12 BYN	Mir	Transport
8.9	Гродненский музей	8 BYN	Mir	Other
8.10	Train Гродно->Барановичи	15 BYN	Mir	Transport
8.11	Train Барановичи->Брест	22 BYN	Mir	Transport
8.12	Taxi (Brest)	8 BYN	Mir	Transport
8.13	Taxi (Brest)	7 BYN	Mir	Transport
8.13	Train Брест->Пинск	7 BYN	Cash	Transport
8.14	Train Пинск->Минск	25 BYN	Cash	Transport
8.16	Bus Минск->Борисов	9 BYN	Cash	Transport
8.16	Train Борисов->Минск	36 RMB	UnionPay	Transport
8.17	Train Минск->Бобруйск	25 RMB	UnionPay	Transport
8.17	Train Бобруйск->Минск	25 RMB	UnionPay	Transport
8.18	Taxi to Airport	51 BYN	Mastercard	Transport
8.18	Минск->Urumqi->Shanghai	3485 RMB	UnionPay	Flight

Hotel Information

Date	Name	Place	Price/Day	Info
7.28-7.29	IT Times	Минск	162 RMB	Booked on WeChat, far from metro station, quiet, I just went there to sleep
7.29-7.31	9 Этаж	Минск	35 BYN	No hot water for one day, free slippers & laundry. 7-people dorm in a hostel in a normal apartment on the 9th floor, 1.3km from metro.

7.31-8.1	Гостиница Сморгонь	Сморгонь	31 BYN	Private single room with a balcony. Clean. Shared toilet with one other room.

8.1-8.2	Guesthouse (Александр)	Островец	80 BYN	Room for 2 (Островец, Кольцевая ул., 6)
8.2-8.4	Отель "Молодечно"	Молодечно	93 BYN	Room for 2, with breakfast
8.4-8.5	Агроусадьба (Сергей)	д. Малинники	90 BYN	Booked on Kufar. Paid 45 BYN deposit (transfer) + 45 BYN cash, Room for 2 (Майская ул, 18, деревня Малинники)
8.5-8.6	Агроусадьба (Александр)	д. Янушковичи	105 BYN	Booked on Kufar. Paid 55 BYN deposit (transfer) + 45 BYN cash(5 BYN discount). Room for 2. (Школьная ул, 6, деревня Янушковичи)
8.6-8.7	Вилия	Вилейка	42 BYN	No hot water.
8.7-8.8	Перекресток	Лида	30 BYN	Single room in a hostel.
8.8-8.10	Гостим	Гродно	40 BYN	6-people dorm in a hostel
8.10-8.11	Славянская хата	Барановичи	115 BYN	Didn't find hostel, Most hotels no place, Room for 2
8.11-8.12	Сити	Брест	32 BYN	4-bed dorm in hostel, no place next day so had to move
8.12-8.13	МотельЧик	Брест	120 BYN	Expensive Guesthouse in rural location. Room for 2.
8.13-8.14	Пинский дворик	Пинск	150 BYN	Didn't find hostel, Most hotels no place, Room for 2.
8.14-8.15	Overnight Train	/	/	No running water.
8.15-8.18	Бронь	Минск	60 BYN	Hostel in a rural area, 2 km walk to metro, 6 people dorm

Remarks

This trip represents youth idealism and adrenaline, and depression and severe isolation resulted intense escapism (impulsive decision making, overconfidence, physical recklessness, and ignoring personal safety), rather than the normal traveling or risk-taking.

Future trip planning should be focused in developed countries or going in groups, physical comfort, and avoiding unnecessary trouble. Treatment of mental health struggles is also very important.

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