I saw some article about the websites that arrange tours for American (or Western) dudes to go to Russia, one advertised Sevastopol and bragged about its moderate climate where they would take the dudes and have them meet hordes of Russian/Ukrainian women.
They featured some average momma’s boy who met a divorcee and proposed marraige to her at the airport when she came back to the US to visit him; later she left him.
So anyways, anyone on here personally go to Ukraine/Russia to do one of these bride tours? How did it work out? Did you find the potential ladyfriends different than American women, or just the same with an accent?
I used A Foreign Affair back in the late 90’s. They are still around today, which says something for their service (and ethics). I did one of their tours and was very impressed with their service.
A key, though, is to go through their listings well in advance of your trip. Write to a bunch of women that you’re interested in and get to know them a little before hand. Then arrange to meet them while you are on your tour. DON’T get fixated on only one, as in-person impressions are much different than written impressions.
I’ve been married for 12 years to a Russian woman I met through AFA. I also know several other couples who have been married longer than me, so it IS possible to find someone this way.
Now, you DO have to be careful. There are golddiggers out there, but there are also women looking for a good marriage. Do LOTS of reading before hand. I’m sure there are forums dedicated to this situation.
The Russian women are well motivated to get to the USA. I believe the mail order arrangement is fraught with problems, but there are other ways. My neighbor and friend went there and struck up a long distance internet relationship. A couple trips more and she came here to get married. She was 35 and he was 50 and Catholic if that makes a difference. Now they have two beautiful children and live a mile away. From all appearances, it has worked very well for both. It can work if both people are motivated toward mutual goals.
One thing I’ve never understood about the whole mail order bride thing - why Russia, specifically?
Is it just that there are SO many Russian women that are up for this that it makes Russia a logical choice, or is there some other reason (I mean, other than Russian women tend to be smokin’ hot and Russia’s a shitty place to live so may as well put your beauty to good use and get the hell out while you still can)?
I explored the Russian Bride thing a few years ago. I abandoned the idea after realizing that the process would cost around $20 000, money I simply didn’t have.
Heck, Canada has an entire Department of Foreign Affairs. And (wink, wink) International Trade.
My wife is from Ukraine. She was visiting here in the US when I met her. I’ll fix you up with one of her cousins for free if you are set on the idea of a foreign bride.
Well, “Russian” brides generally is shorthand for anything in the old Soviet block. Prior to the fall of the USSR, mail-order brides usually came from the Philippines or other Far Eastern countries, and I believe they are still rather popular today.
I suspect the biggest advantage that Russian brides have over others is that, quite frankly, they’re white.
For that kind of money, you could live like a king in Ukraine (or most of the other former Eastern Bloc nations) for a year or so and actually meet available women on your own.
That seems like a ton of $$$ for a week-long chaperoned speed date, which is essentially what those tours are.
I think the $20 000 included all the air travel, hotels, visa fees, everything, over a period of years. I’d have to look up the website again.
Edited to add: I have never been to Russia, but I have been to Finland, which is next to Russia. Some of the women there were surreally gorgeous, according to the blonde-and-slender stereotype.
My Dad did the same deal but in the Phillipines, about 25 years ago. It sounds very similar to jharvey963’s situation- they wrote to each other a lot before and after meeting and (I think) got married the second time they met, over in the Phillipines (it might have been the third time); it took a while for her to be allowed into the UK after that.
They’re still together and very happy, which is remarkable considering how terrible a husband he’d been to all his other wives. They also know several other Phillipino/Brit couples who got married around the same time and are still together.
While I wouldn’t exactly classify her as “mail-order”, one of my friends is gaga over the one he’s been corresponding with-and in fact she’ll be coming here to meet him in person over New Year’s. I hope he knows what he’s getting himself into (he’s always been notoriously and selectively naive about certain things, in other words).
This isn’t directly at anyone in particular, and if you have a healthy marriage through these programs, great, but my question is why?
Striking out on the local dating scene?
Just have an attraction to Russian women?
Want a woman that will cook, clean, and not nag all of the time? Sort of like American women were 50 years ago?
The notion that Russian, or Eastern European women in general, “cook, clean, and do not nag all of the time” is so far divorced from reality that I have to ask you where you even got that notion. Eastern Europe is is dominated by babushkas who will not only bully their male kin into doing what they think needs done, they don’t have a problem with browbeating strangers the same way.
