Since I am an absolute newbie I hope some of the more experienced members will help me with some practical advice. A little info about myself. I am 40 years old, never married and without children. I am from a northern European country, but have lived and worked all over the world (although never in Russia).

So far, all I have done is look at mail order brides dating websites, but by now I am ready to take action. However, I feel that the traditional way of writing letters and making a two or three week visit is ill suited to my personality/temperament.

Therefore, I have devised an alternative strategy. My plan is to settle and live in Russia for a period of 5 months, beginning from April next year. Luckily, I have a writing job coming up that will allow me to work from anywhere.

During this time I plan to take intensive Russian classes, and at the same time date as many mail order brides as possible. Hopefully, I will meet someone who I can start a relationship with, but if not I will - if all goes well - have learned Russian and gotten a lot of contacts. That way I can continue the search from home.

The only problem is where to go? What I need is a place with some of the following qualities:

- There has to be a reasonable number of mail order brides to date. Kind of obvious, I guess. That would require a city of some size. There should also be one or more reputable mail order brides marriage agencies to help me establish contact, since experience has taught me that I am not very good at doing this on my own.

- The place should not be too wealthy and sophisticated. Part of the motivation for girls to marry a foreigner would be to get away. I know it sounds unpleasant, but hey, I am a realist. And it should not be over fished, so preferably not a place where too many people go to find mail order brides (like Kherson?). 5 months with mail order brides