I was contacted and advised that you are writing an article and wanted to contact some guys that have used this service. I am not sure what sort of information you are after but will just jot down a few ideas and impressions ( probably more than you want as I can get carried away once started ) and if you want any further info. you can email me back.

Firstly I guess you will want some info on me. I am a 33 year old New Zealander. Education wise, I never went to University but have military training and 8 years experience as an aircraft electronics technician. I have travelled a bit and have worked briefly in Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, and for 1 1/2 years in Thailand. I have owned my own business a couple of times in the past but currently work as a Fleet Manager for a fishing company in Micronesia. I have never been married and do not have any kids.

With regard to their agency, I will give you a brief outline on the extent to which I have used the service. So far I have used the website to check out the catalogue of Russian women and to obtain addresses for correspondence. I have also used their email forwarding / reply system to send / recieve letters to ladies in Russia. I have even been a part of one of the tours to St. Petersburg, although this was only 5 days ( not a full tour ) which I tacked on the end of a holiday in Ireland and the UK.

My reasons for using this service are many fold ( how long have you got ), but generally my current working / living environment and a dissatisfaction with the dating scene, and expectations of the women back home. For the last 10 months I have been living and working on a small island in the Western Pacific. While there are one or two pretty women here, I generally don't find the local girls attractive and there are some definite cultural differences which put me off getting into a serious relationship here. Also, not a lot to do here out of hours and I enjoy writing letters, so it passes the time, with the large attraction that I may just make an aquaintance that leads on to a serious relationship.

With regard to the women back home, and the ones I have had relationships with in the past, they have just never seemed to work out. Some are off on their own agenda and unwilling to compromise, or the opposite, no drive or desire to see the world or try new things. I won't even mention the women I have met who have been into the feminism thing ( or their version of it ) for fear of turning this letter into a novel. So the idea of meeting a woman from another culture appeals to me, with their different priorities, expectations and outlook on life.

Another reason for using a postal dating service is the medium itself. Often I have a problem in that until I start to get to know a woman and relax a little, I am not a good conversationalist. I get a verbal version of writer's block and have trouble making conversation. If I can get to a second date, I'm usually fine from then on, IF! However doing things by post is different, you can choose your words before you send them, and by the time you physically meet the woman, the ice is broken and there is some history there to foster conversation.

As far as how I have found the service , without trying to sound like I am being payed ( for the record, I'm not ) I can sum up the experince in one word which is Service. All the way from their website which is comprehensive with many features and yet very easy to use, to their tours to St. Petersburg, John and the rest of the team are extremely helpful and prompt in their replies to questions. For example it was almost at the last minute that I decided to include some time with the St. Petersburg tour, on top of an already planned trip to the UK. This must have been a bit of a curve ball for John as I wanted to fly into St. Petersburg a day before most of the tour arrived from the States, and leave half way through. Also I wanted to write to 4 or 5 ladies before I left to try to set up some meetings, and hopefully get a reply back from them, using the email forwarding sevice, ( all this, about 2 weeks before departure ). Oh and by the way John, can you arrange a Visa for me and have it couriered to an address in Britain. All of this was accompished with plenty of email but no drama ( from my side anyway, don't know how easy it was for John to sort it all out ), and I duely arrived in St. Petersburg on July 14th.

Regarding the St. Petersburg tour itself, it was extremely well run, and Ron and Elena did a grand job of keeping things running smoothly. St. Petersburg is a fascinating place, in itself well worth a visit let alone with the possiblity of meeting the woman of your dreams. Unfortunately I only had time to attend the first of the four socials planned for the guys on tour, but was enough to give me the idea.

For me, what really made the trip was a superb mix of a fascinating city, with the opertunity to meet some classy ladies. On the one hand you have a city full of history, Cathedrals, museums, art and culture; and then every few nights you are let loose in a room full of intelligent, educated women, all of them pretty and some being just plain gorgeous. And all of these ladies were single and I think most were seriously interested in the possiblity of meeting someone for a relationship. It was surreal enough to appeal to my sense of humour; to be for once in my life outnumbered by women 5 to 1. The staff was good in this situation and showed their experience by often doing the thinking for you, "time to change tables", "come and talk to this woman", "you seem to be having trouble, here's an interpreter", that kind of thing. In fact most things are taken care of by their agency including interpreters ( available most times not just at the socials ), city tours, the hotel, etc. etc. It was very easy to kick back, relax and have fun.

As to how well these tours work, well I guess that primarily depends on what it is you are seeking. Like I have said, the tour is very well run and the oppertunity is there to meet a large number of women, so if you seriously want to strike up a relationship with an attractive, educated and intelligent women, all the ingredients are there and their agency has done most of the work for you. What's left for you to do is talk to as many ladies as you can, decide which ones interest you and then try to generate some interest from those ladies ( and hopefully a phone number and follow up date ). I guess the success of a persons' tour depends on the individual and I can only really comment on my own experience. At the end of the day their agency make it as easy as possible for you, but it's still up to you to pick up the ball and run with it. As to my own success, I had a great time and even though I was only there for one social, I am corresponding with one lady, and waiting to see if another I met will write back. My other mission of getting a bit of a handle on the culture and character of the people was also successful, and dissolved my fears that forming a relationship with a Russian woman could bring along with it some major cultural hurdles and other problems that could rise up further down the track and kick me from behind.

And my impressions of the ladies of St. Petersburg, well I was very impressed. Generally these women are intelligent and educated; they are cultured and most have an appreciation of fine music, art, ballet, opera, etc, enough to make me feel to uncultured colonial I am. I was delighted to find most had a well developed sense of humour and sarcasm was not lost on them ( a point that stood out after my time in Asia and my present location ). Very many of the women are extremely attractive with beautiful eyes and nice complexions. Their accent was pleasant and many of their mannerisms and terms of speech were also appealing. I could go on but you get the idea, I am quite taken with the women there, and hope to one day find a soul mate amoung these wonderful women.

What more can I say, as far as their agency goes, I guess my best recommendation is that I do not use any other service. I have checked out a lot of others on the internet, but their agency was the first I tried and their level of service has been such that I have not felt inclined to try any others. They have a large database of women and many new ladies joining every week, so feel confident they can keep me busy in the letter writing department. Any questions or requests I have had have been dealt with promptly and their email forwarding system cuts down delivery time by heaps ( especially from here ). Their tour to St. Petersburg I can recommend, especially if you have a serious interest in a relationship with a woman from Russia. Even if by some incredible misfortune you do not meet any women there that you wish to correspond with, it will give you a valueable insight into their culture, way of life and character of Russian ladies. If you have any kind of sense of adventure, sense of humour, appreciation of culture and admiration of beauty, you will have a truely great time which will make a lasting impression on you.

Well, as I warned you at the beginning, once I got started it was possible it could turn into an epic. I hope there is some information here that you are looking for. If you have any further questions, I would be happy to answer them just contact me by email.

Regards,