Good guy Vlad.

I hope one of you lot is getting the beers in for him. 

I downloaded Yandex taxi. its easy as and cheap. 500r for 15kms from Vnukovo to my hotel or 100r for a BMW! Thats what I'm getting :)

Yandex Taxi is the best by far. I normally get around Moscow using the Metro.

Just looking in google play and there's a dozen yandex ads.  Which one is the proper one?

He does raise a good point about who the egoist is.

Anyone who schedules their wedding during a major sporting event is the purest example of a bridezilla you can get. Everyone stop everything, I'm getting married. It's the world cup of me and I win.

What about clowns who get married overseas?  They're the worst.  Oh look at me getting married in an exotic locale.

Me, fark, have to take a week off work, spend a shitload to go to a place I'd never probably want to visit and hang out with the only other 6 people dumb enough to go.

If you ask me overseas marriers are just fuckers too cheap to spend money on a proper reception.

There can be some legitimate reasons for an O/S wedding. For one, if you're marrying a non Aussie then it's unavoidable that to one half the wedding will be held O/S to them. Also it can be a good way to screen out cnts - especially those cnts who aren't cnt enough to deliberately not-invite. But I agree, the hedonists that insist everyone drop everything and go to Hawaii for their wedding are something else. I've often found with these people that they are provably narcissists and the less you know them the more likely they are to invite you.

I bailed on an o/s wedding in Vanuatu. The couple were too cheap to pay for anything, no reception, they did say no presents but they didn't put drinks on or anything. The last two days there they were all locked inside because of terrible storms. I remember all the snap chats from pissed off "guests"

Wording gave me a lol

A few words about money.
There are souvenir banknotes in Russia that look like real ones. Can you see the difference?
Real 

Souvenir (I can't find more fine picture but the quality of souvenir banknotes are excellent)

The paper of banknotes is completely different if you palpate it. Learn to read cyrillic.
Mostly we use 50, 100, 500, 1000, 5000 R banknotes (5R, 10R, 200R, 2000R are rare ), so easy to remember and full descriptions of real banknotes you can find here https://www.cbr.ru/eng/Bank-notes_coins/banknotes_itm/?PrtId=banknotes_itm&nominal=1000
Cheaters deceives old people with the souvenirs very often all over the country. You can get such a souvenir in a fake currency exchange office or as a change in small shops.
Tomorrow try to write a few words about currency exchange scams.

the third Cyrillic word on the souvenir note is different?

No serial number on the second one.  (Red text on left, black text top right.)

On banknotes, I'm hoping to grab a few of these as souvenirs:

cheers. thanks for the heads up. if you spot this when receiving a small amount of change back, maybe hand it back as a tip and see how they react :) 

Mate I'm guessing.  That's what I spotted.  

Just advising, we bought some Russian rubles at Travelex Parramatta Sydney last week, they said they are allowed to sell it due to the World Cup. 

Holy shit!! I can see myself taking these suckers after a dozen beers and not even realising. thanks for the heads up Vlad. At lease we are now forewarned (i'll probably still get sucked in).

I got married in Bali. My mates had to spend less than $500 on a 2-hour flight and accomodation. it was over a weekend so only a Friday and Monday. and we partied like kings (at my expense) for 4 days.

Had 50 come over and they all loved it.

So there :)

Multiple official sources say

"In order to collect your Tickets, you will need to present ... and the payment card used in the transaction." 

That will not be posible because that card was cancelled and I no longer have it. Am I fucked?

What bank are you with?

Don't think so. I saw a bloke on bigsoccer say he just showed his passport which makes sense.  Of course people will lose cards and have them cancelled and so on.

NAB. I am already outside Australia (but not yet in Russia) so I cant go to a branch.

I just submitted my group game tickets for resale so if someone needs Australia tickets try now...

You need only passport if you go to an operator. Proved many times..

Exactly. Most obvious - No serial number on the souvenir note and third word top right is different - on the real one "РОССИИ" means "of Russia" easy to remember since you will see this word everywhere in Russia. The first letter of the last word bottom right (Ruble on real) is different (Double on souvenir) that totally changes the meaning of the world :) The paper of souvenir note (btw you can buy them in souvenir or book shop) is very polished like that of printed posters. Don't be a paranoic, just keep in mind that it could happen, especially first days.
Real

Souvenir

Real 

Souvenir

For those who is going to bring cash (USD or EUR).
Russian banks are very concerned about the conditions of banknotes in USD or EUR you want to change. Banknotes (EUR or USD) must be in immaculate conditions or so - no stamps, marks, tears, attritions etc., otherwise they refuse to change.
According to the law, there is no difference in rates for small and big banknotes and you can exchange foreign currencies only in the bank (not travel or money changing bureaus, shops, money changers as private persons, fine is 100% of the sum, but very rare applied). Sometimes bank branch or bank foreign exchange office is just a cubic kiosk but it’s OK. At the airports the rate is 20-30% below than in the city center.
At the moment there is no need for Russian people to seek for foreigners to buy dollars cheaper than in bank (as it was 15-20 years ago), since the spread between buy and sell rates in the banks is minimal, some smart guys (like me :) ) buy dollars in Moscow Stock Exchange at the interbank exchange rates with smth about 0,0002% commission and after 1 month on the account I can withdraw it in cash with no commissions. Paradise. Money changers in Russia disappeared many years ago.

In the second half of 2014- first half of 2015 when Russian ruble fell from 30 to 80 R per 1 USD and people were attacking banks for buying dollars, there were popular 2 scams in Moscow (especially around Railway terminals) and in the center of Sankt-Petersburg.

1. Was heavily widespread. You give money to a cashier, she returns it to you after a few minutes because of many reasons - her computer is down, the bank doesn’t have enough rubles or dollars for exchange, the office is about to close, the central office prohibited the operation etc. Of course part of your money is missing but you don’t count because you are in a hurry since your train is about to depart, you trust banks, you watched the whole process clearly and everything was ok. Variant – the cashier exchanges your money, counts dollars or rubles you buy manually or using the machine, everything is OK, you watch the process, you take money, don’t count, come home, count – part is missing.
You communicate with cashier through the bullet-proof glass and transfer money to the cashier through the metallic box - you slide the lid, put money inside the box, close the lid, the cashier open the lid, take the money, close the lid). Some smart cashiers put drops of glue or honey (!!!) on the side inside the box and while she/he is putting your money inside the box, she/he sticks 1 or 2 banknotes to the drops on the side of the box by the invisible gentle hand movement. If you count and find that some missing she always can say look carefully into the box.
I was told few stories when guys came next day promising big problems for the cheaters and they got the missing money back. But since it’s near railway terminal the most take a train and who knows when they come back.
The cure for that is very simple – Count money every time when you let money in or out your hands, even or especially if you watch the whole process clearly.

2. Less popular but happened. You give money to the cashier and she declares that one of the banknote is fake, calls the bank security, her chief and all of them are f@cking your brain that you would have a lot of problems with the police, will go to prison etc. and they have to confiscate this banknote, all your money for testing etc. Their goal is take some of your money and let you go. According to the law in this case, the cashier must call the police, the police come, fill up the protocol and, since you are not in the Interpol wanted list, let you go with no consequences at least for the first time.
Good idea is to copy or scan at home all you banknotes you want to change and be calm and firm. Call the police? Excellent! The cashier has replaced the banknote with a fake one is a good excuse.

Even though I’ve never heard about these scams since the end of 2015, you know WC is a special event that attracts bad guys. May be police will sweep all these artists out, may be the artists will buy the police. Life is a game.

Appreciate the advice Vlad.  Now about that beer.  Check your inbox.

So Vlad, will it be impossible to change AUD in russia? or will it be possible with a really bad exchange rate?

My plan is to get all cash from ATMs but thinking of getting a couple hundred in USD in case of problems with cards. 

I've heard people that have already arrived saying they were able to exchange AUD at St Petersburg airport no problem. 43R to $1AUD. I'm sure you'll get a better rate in the city (if you are willing to take that risk). I have exchanged some Rubles here in Melbourne and got 40R for $1AUD. I am landing via Moscow Domodedovo airport, so I might look at exchanging some more there if I am able to.

I'm banking (geddit?) on ATM's because I'm only taking a couple of hundred Oz dollars and do not intend to change them at all.  From all reports we should be sweet.  A quick searchup of the airport I'm flying into lists heaps.  http://www.domodedovo.ru/en/passengers/welcome/services/bank/