04-05-2015, 12:54 AM
Yes, I'm thinking smaller Russian cities and Ukraine are the way to go. I'm not thinking too kindly of Moscow and St Petersburg in general, although of course there may be some gems in these cities.
This may sound tragic, but I've started doing an experiment on Tinder to see which places I'm likely to vibe well with the local women, and getting a general sense of what to expect looks-wise from a general population pool. Just want to do this before setting out on my travels in 2016. Mind you, Tinder may not be the best representation of a population but it's a free exercise and nice little experiment. I still have no doubt based on experience, and from Scott's observations, that traveling to these countries and meeting women in person is the way to go. Online and real life can be very different beasts (well, they're beasts in the West anyway!).
But what I wanted to add to this thread is that Moscow must be a very stressful place to live? The reason I ask is that I was extremely disappointed with the overall looks of Moscow women on Tinder. After very positive matches and interactions with Kiev women (some of them absolutely stunning and young, beyond my wildest dreams in Australia), I noticed most Moscow women looked many years older than their age. 20-23 year olds looked like 30 or older.
I can understand this with local Aussie women, because they spend far too much time in the sun, binge drink, eat poorly and too much, smoke and do all sorts of drugs, stressed at work leading to sleep deprivation etc, but I was surprised with the low quality of Moscow girls. St Pete was better, but again quite disappointing compared with Ukrainian girls. And even though Kiev is a big city, the girls I matched with seemed very sweet and down-to-earth.
Every exchange was pleasant, and I'd go as far as saying that even 18-22 year old Ukrainian girls are more mature than most 30 and 40 something Western women. Amazing eye-opener for me. These girls can talk about anything from travel, food, health/fitness and sport to politics and culture. Pleasingly, there was an absence of dumbed-down conversation focused on celebrity gossip, how wasted they were after partying etc. Also hardly a tattoo in sight (certainly no sleeves), no stupid pulling of faces (even 40 year old Aussie women do this), no masculine poses, no pics of kids as accessories, no obesity, no middle fingers (a pet peeve of mine) and none of those stupid moustache pics that Western women seem to like.
I didn't try Tinder in any other Russian cities, but I'm hoping further East (and perhaps south) will have more of the sweet, down-to-earth girls that I prefer. And hopefully women who actually look their age or younger. Ukraine is looking like my No.1 destination so far.
This may sound tragic, but I've started doing an experiment on Tinder to see which places I'm likely to vibe well with the local women, and getting a general sense of what to expect looks-wise from a general population pool. Just want to do this before setting out on my travels in 2016. Mind you, Tinder may not be the best representation of a population but it's a free exercise and nice little experiment. I still have no doubt based on experience, and from Scott's observations, that traveling to these countries and meeting women in person is the way to go. Online and real life can be very different beasts (well, they're beasts in the West anyway!).
But what I wanted to add to this thread is that Moscow must be a very stressful place to live? The reason I ask is that I was extremely disappointed with the overall looks of Moscow women on Tinder. After very positive matches and interactions with Kiev women (some of them absolutely stunning and young, beyond my wildest dreams in Australia), I noticed most Moscow women looked many years older than their age. 20-23 year olds looked like 30 or older.
I can understand this with local Aussie women, because they spend far too much time in the sun, binge drink, eat poorly and too much, smoke and do all sorts of drugs, stressed at work leading to sleep deprivation etc, but I was surprised with the low quality of Moscow girls. St Pete was better, but again quite disappointing compared with Ukrainian girls. And even though Kiev is a big city, the girls I matched with seemed very sweet and down-to-earth.
Every exchange was pleasant, and I'd go as far as saying that even 18-22 year old Ukrainian girls are more mature than most 30 and 40 something Western women. Amazing eye-opener for me. These girls can talk about anything from travel, food, health/fitness and sport to politics and culture. Pleasingly, there was an absence of dumbed-down conversation focused on celebrity gossip, how wasted they were after partying etc. Also hardly a tattoo in sight (certainly no sleeves), no stupid pulling of faces (even 40 year old Aussie women do this), no masculine poses, no pics of kids as accessories, no obesity, no middle fingers (a pet peeve of mine) and none of those stupid moustache pics that Western women seem to like.
I didn't try Tinder in any other Russian cities, but I'm hoping further East (and perhaps south) will have more of the sweet, down-to-earth girls that I prefer. And hopefully women who actually look their age or younger. Ukraine is looking like my No.1 destination so far.