Moscow – Finding Eden

Is Moscow Safe for Solo Female Travel?

As an American, I have sort of been brainwashed to think Russia is a little bit evil, scary, and not safe. But I recently hit my one year mark living in Moscow and I was realizing how incredibly safe I feel here.

Consider any megacity; the more people there are, the more crime there is destined to be, right? But Moscow is a lot safer than other comparable cities.

I know I wouldn’t feel comfortable walking alone at night in New York City, and I would make extra sure to hold onto my stuff and lock my doors in almost any of the other megacities, like LA, Delhi, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, or even Paris. Interestingly, I did feel incredibly safe in the Chinese megacities I’ve been to though.

I feel like I have said it 1,000 times, but Moscow is a very comfortable place to live. Transportation is safe, well-connected, and cheap, crime is low, I’m not overly worried about pickpockets, the average neighborhood/building isn’t dangerous, and at least from my own perspective, harassment from men is even lower here. Guys just leave you alone.

In a culture where women are generally dressed in their most expensive clothes, shoes, and jewels, with expensive haircuts, manicures, lip fillers and fake eyelashes, men will still (for the most part) surprisingly leave them be. They do tend to leer, but that is a general Russian trait, not just men being creepy.

One minor problem when it comes to men here though, is drinking culture. There is always at least one completely drunk guy on the metro- just absolutely smashed, and you obviously can’t trust a guy like that not to do something erratic, but even so, I’d trust a drunk Russian man to still maintain a semblance of social acceptability over a drunk American man any day.

I ride the metro alone every day for almost 2 hours, and I walk home in the dark on small unlit backstreets every night too. (Not that I come home super late, it’s just dark for 14 hours a day most of the year.) I’ve never had any problems. I even feel comfortable taking a quick snooze on the train during rush hour, provided I manage to snag a seat! I get paid in cash, and sometimes I let a few months worth of paychecks collect in my sock drawer before I take them to an ATM, and I am still not stressed about someone taking my bag, or watching me make my deposit at the bank. I would never feel safe doing any of that in any other megacity.

The cold and the dark are hard to handle, but being harassed, mugged, or assaulted is not on my list of worries in Moscow at all.

Making Moscow Home

So I’ve been having some major issues dealing with seasonal affective depression alongside homesickness and I made it significantly worse by visiting my warm, sunny, amazing home over the holidays and then coming back in the middle of JANUARY.

In an effort to be more mindful and thankful for my current living situation (and to help mitigate my depression) I’ve been actively trying to notice the really great things about Moscow.

Honestly there aren’t that many amazing things in Moscow- a few cool attractions, but mostly its just really easy to make it home.

Public transportation is AWESOME. I’m hesitant about busses everywhere I go because they have been terrible everywhere I’ve lived. They take forever, they don’t go where you need, they cost more than it’s worth when you can just walk. But the busses here are incredible, especially in conjunction with the metros which are laid out really nicely and run every 1 or 2 minutes!!! Everything works on a Troika card which you can refill on an app and it’s so cheap. And even when you don’t feel like taking public transportation, taxis are SO affordable. Infinitely better than anywhere in the US or Italy at least. Slightly more expensive than China though.

Grocery stores are EVERYWHERE. From the front door of my building I can get to 3 grocery stores in under a 5 minute walk. And within a 10 minute walk I can get to an Ашан megastore (but I think that was just the luck of the draw because there are only 3 of them in Moscow). And I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again, you can find practically ANYTHING you might need/want in a Moscow store.

Heating and hot water are better than you could possibly imagine. When we were in Milan, it was SO COLD, but heating was SO expensive, so we never turned it on, we just wandered around our apartment wrapped in blankets. Its way colder in Moscow, so I was worried about our heating bill, but then I found out that the heat is set by the GOVERNMENT?!?!? (Apparently they set the interior temp based on last year’s temps that day, so sometimes it gets too hot and we have to open a window.) The heater in our house doesn’t even have an option to adjust it. It’s always so nice and toasty warm, and all of our utilities together have never been more than $30 a month. Also you know how in winter you always seem to run out of hot water? Not in Moscow. Unlimited SCALDING hot water- instantly. Seriously, it’s so hot you can burn yourself, and I still forget all the time and turn it all the way to maximum hot.

Drying clothes indoors is MAGIC? Because heaters are always running full blast the air inside is super dry. If you put sopping wet clothes on a drying rack indoors, they’ll be bone dry within 24 hours. For reference if you’ve never lived somewhere without a dryer, out on the balcony in the wind in Milan, it still took 2-4 days, and longer indoors. (Side note, dryers are horrible for the environment and you should try to airdry as much as possible! It makes such a difference and it’s way better for your clothes!) This super dry air makes everything really shocky though- way too much static electricity. I work in a kindergarten and I always forget that its so shocky and I feel horrible when I shock my babies on the face or head.

It’s easy, it’s accesible, its cushy, it’s comfy, it’s cheap. I would probably recommend living in Russia if I was being honest! As long as you don’t mind snow and can pick up a tiny bit of Russian, you’ll settle right in!