About me
My story and why I write this blog
I’m Irena Domingo. I was born in Russia, I’ve lived in Spain since 1995, and since 2013 I’ve been writing Russiable, a practical guide to traveling in Russia on your own.
You won’t find tourist brochures here. You’ll find what works today to get your visa, cross the border, pay for things and get online, checked before I publish it.
My story
Half my life in Russia, half in Spain
I was born in Russia in 1974 to a Russian father and a Spanish mother, a descendant of the Niños de Rusia: the thousands of Basque children evacuated to the USSR during the Spanish Civil War. I’ve also lived in Georgia, where I still have family ties. In 1995 I moved to Spain, where I live with my husband and children, and I’ve worked as a translator, interpreter and Russian teacher.
I started this blog in 2013, when clear information on getting a Russian visa was hard to find. Then came the pandemic, the conflict in Ukraine, sanctions and the end of direct flights from the EU, the US and the UK, and many blogs about Russia disappeared. I kept going, because every week people who need to travel write to me: to see family, for work, or because Russia keeps calling them. For them, an outdated guide isn’t a small thing: it’s a card that won’t work or a border that’s closed.
My method
How I check what I publish
Travel to Russia changes almost every month: how to pay, which borders are open, which apps work. So I don’t write from memory: before I publish or update a guide, I check it against these four sources.
1
My trips and my people in Russia
Every time I go back, I test what I later write about: the border, paying in cash or with a MIR card, the eSIM, the VPN, the train. Between trips, my friends and family in Russia tell me what’s changing in everyday life.
2
The Telegram groups for each border
I follow them every day: travelers post in Russian about that day’s queues and checks. I sum up what matters in the border guides.
3
Travelers who have just come back
They write to me by email and in the forum, and many publish their travel story in their own words. What they tell me helps me correct the guides.
4
Official sources and Russian blogs
Consulates, the e-Visa portal, Russian banks and mobile operators, and the leading Russian travel blogs, where changes usually show up before they reach English-language sites.
Spotted something that no longer works the way I describe it? Write to me and I’ll look into it.
If this is your first visit
Where to start
These are the guides I recommend reading before you book anything:
- Current situationCan you travel to Russia now?What has changed under sanctions and what you need today.
- Visae-Visa, regular visa or visa-freeWhich one you need for your passport and how to apply.
- Getting thereFlights and bordersConnections, land crossings and what the queues are like.
- MoneyHow to pay in RussiaCash, MIR cards and what doesn’t work.
- InterneteSIM and VPNWhat to install before you leave home.
- PlanningYour trip in 10 stepsFrom itinerary to arrival, in order.
Transparency
How Russiable is funded
Reading Russiable is free and always will be. So you know where the money that keeps the site running comes from, I live on three things:
Russiable Guide
A guide that’s always up to date
It brings together everything you need to plan your trip in a single document. I update it all the time: when something important changes (payments, borders, visas), the guide changes too, not the following year.
Affiliate links
Commissions you don’t pay
Some links to services (insurance, eSIM, VPN, hotels, trains, transfers, MIR card) earn me a small commission if you book through them. They don’t cost you any more. I only link to services that accept foreign cards and work in Russia, and if one stops working, I say so.
Readers
A coffee now and then
Some readers buy me a coffee when a guide has saved them a problem. I appreciate it every time.
So you know what to expect
What I don’t do
I’m not a travel agency. I don’t sell trips or process visas myself: the services I link to are provided by specialist companies, and I explain what each one does before you book.
I don’t recommend things that don’t work in Russia, however good the commission is elsewhere.
This isn’t a political blog. It’s a travel blog: here you’ll find how to travel to Russia, not opinions on current affairs.
Russiable Community
Got a specific question? Ask in the forum
More than 400 members who travel to Russia or have ties to the country. For questions about your own trip it’s the fastest place: there’s always someone who has just come back.
Your trip
Just back from Russia?
Tell me how it went: how you crossed the border, how you paid, what surprised you. Your story will help the next traveler.