Arrived St Petersburg safely. In an attempt to be more money conscientious this trip I decided to navigate from the airport to hostel using public transport. First step bus no.3, this was easier enough hopped on one just outside of terminal building. Next was to tackle the underground. I would like to think that the issue I had here, was my inability to understand or read Russian (regretting my inexcblicable lazyness pre-trip to at least learn the cyrillic alphabet), which in part I think it was but I think I can also put it down to being a complete moron and not understanding the basic premise of an underground transport system.

Having spent several minutes trying and failing to establish which metro station I was actually at, on the map at the top of the steps, I decided this was probably irrelavent and I should just head down to the train and get on one to the station I need to get off at.

I went to the cashier desk handed over a note, got what I thought was change and put it in my purse, turned from the counter and then wondered where my ticket was. As I turned back the women had second guessed what I had done and waved the coin metro token at me. Realising my error I dug the metro token back out of my purse and headed through the barrier. I walked past the list of stations this line was going to and could not see the name I was looking for, thought there must be another line past this one, as oppose to thinking that I clearly needed to get this line so far and then swap onto the line for the station I needed. So I continued walking past all the signs and back up the other side of the station and out of the barrier, confused and having essentially just paid to walk through the underground carrying my now very heavy backpack. I then managed to get to a map of the entire underground and worked out that I needed to go so far on this line and swap onto a different line for my station, of course thats how it works, even in English, what an idiot!

Second time lucky I paid for another token went back down the underground now confident of the direction and how many stops I needed to go. I got on the train feeling a bit smug that it hadn't beaten me and counted out the 7 stops I needed before having to swap lines (I had no chance of understanding the tanoy or reading the signs). Swapped lines and was a little confused that the name of the station I needed didn't appear on the line, thought I had maybe mis-read it but it was ok because the one that appeared on the map before it was on this line so assumed I would get of at the station after that. This was easy, what a fool I had been earlier.

I got off at the station one after the last name I recognised out onto the street and began to follow the instructions the hostel had given me. There will be a monument in a circle, turn right across main road. Check, this was going to plan. Then it slowly began to dawn on me that I was not in the right place as none of the street names matched the map or the directions. b*****! How had it gone wrong again. I walked back to the metro and realised my latest mistake. The tube stations change name when the line changes, and appear after each other on the overall map, what kind of crazy confusing naming convention did they use here. So the station I was after was actually one in the same as the last name I recognised and hence why I coudn't see the station I needed on the line I was on. I had gone a stop too far. Back down to the metro again and another token.

I just managed to squeeze into the train as the doors closed and unbeknown to me trapped the toggle from the elastic on the back of my bag, I continued to walk foward until several bemused Rusians called me to point out that I was still attached to the doors, brilliant! I managed to shuffle round in the packed carrage and get a hold of the elastic but it was indeed stuck, which apparently was very amusing. Luckily I was off at the next stop! Finally at the right station, I emerged back on to the streets of St Petersburg and attempted again to follow the directions from the hostel.

After several failed attempts and getting to the point where I actually wanted to cry, as my bag was hurting my shoulder so much, I eventually found the little road and checked in to what is thankfully one of the nicest and friendliest hostels I have stayed in and the enitre journey cost a little over two quid. Result!!