Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 8/7/84; site ucbvax.ARPA Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!ucbvax!wildbill From: wildbill@ucbvax.ARPA (William J. Laubenheimer) Newsgroups: net.travel Subject: Re: Russian vacation info wanted (by 9/ Message-ID: <2390@ucbvax.ARPA> Date: Sat, 6-Oct-84 03:42:33 EDT Article-I.D.: ucbvax.2390 Posted: Sat Oct 6 03:42:33 1984 Date-Received: Sat, 6-Oct-84 07:19:11 EDT References: <408@homxa.UUCP> <23000009@hpfcla.UUCP> Organization: University of California at Berkeley Lines: 32 > Re: travel in Russia > A while back I saw a long article by Robert Heinlein detailing the horrors > of travel in the USSR. If you are thinking of going you might want to find > it and read it. (Sorry, I can't give you a reference, but you might try > the Reader's Guide by name of author...) I don't have a title, but I read it, too. It's in his collection, \\Expanded Universe//, which I saw as a trade paperback. Don't know if it appears anywhere else. > To hear him tell it you are better off staying home on a cold winter night > in a house with no heat and no windows, eating eels and drinking vinegar. > Alan Silverstein That's not exactly what he says. To paraphrase, it goes something like this: Visiting Russia is essentially a game. It's You vs. Intourist. They are attempting to bleed you white for the sake of obtaining Western Currency, and You are attempting to have a good time and an interesting vacation. Heinlein's advice was to recognize that this is in fact what is happening, and play the game with the avowed intention of making life as miserable for your hosts as they are trying to make it for you. He suggests several interesting maneuvers along these lines. Now all of this was written in a late-'60s-early-'70s time frame, so I don't know how much is still valid today. It is still interesting reading, though, even if you aren't planning a trip to Russia. Bill Laubenheimer ----------------------------------------UC-Berkeley Computer Science ...Killjoy went that-a-way---> ucbvax!wildbill