Some fool on the internet has written that he had travelled all over Russia using his visa credit card in spite of sanctions, and an even bigger fool believed him so we travelled into Russia without having accumulated a stack of roubles in Georgia. Our big mistake became apparent when we stopped in Vladikavkaz to buy some grub at a supermarket. I had the forethought to check with the manager that our cards worked and they didn’t. Another customer said we should get what we wanted and she woud pay for it. Then the manager said she would pay for it and demanded that we follow her round the supermarket while she put things in our trolley and insisted that we “bought” more and more. So we came away with bags full of free food and astounded by this lady’s generosity.
I went to the Sberbank in Vladikavkaz and was told that they might be able to get roubles for us if I went back to the van to get my passport. Because about 6 people had helped me get to the bank, I was totally confused about where I was and where the van was, and was starting to panic when I got on the main road and saw the van in the distance.
We decided to drive on to Groznyi and stop at a big hotel where, surely, the would help us. No. They couldn’t and suggested I went to the Sberbank just up the road. The receptionist came running after us with an Australian called Ben who told us the banks were probably shut as it was Saturday, and gave us a 5,000 rouble note. That’s worth about $50 and for the second time in a day we were bowled over by the generosity of a complete stranger. The bank was shut but a friendly shop assistant told me there was a bigger Sberbank and, while looking for it, I met Aslan who told me it was in the other direction a long way away. He called (and paid for) a taxi to take me to the bank, but was closed when I got there. The hotel manager used his own card to take 3,000 roubles ($30) from an ATM and gave it me to pay for an evening meal. Four times in a day, people have put their hands in their pockets to help us.
We had a delicious meal in the hotel in the cupola (the dome at the very top on Floor 32) and a bloke in the lift told us it was the highest restaurant in Russia. Jennifer was able to pay (we hope) £91 for one night at the 5-star Cosmos hotel by using her banking app to transfer money into the bank manager’s account and he then paid the hotel. Sanctions are a joke because the Russians have found ways of getting round them. Their economy appears to be booming and people seem happy. The only people suffering from sanctions are me and Jennifer.
