Booking Russian trains - avoid the middle man - go direct with Russian Railways (RZD), price comparison

If you google "Russian Trains" you are going to get a third party company, Russiantrains.com. It is a slick, user-friendly website but you will be royally ripped-off. You will also be paying more than double the price. They even add "Taxes" to the ticket price. The only advantage is you can book for longer than 60 days in advance.

Book directly with the official website for the state-owned Russian Railways (RZD): pass.rzd.ru

• It accepts different web browsers.
• Click Registration to make an account (easy to do). Your future bookings will be stored under "My Orders" if you lose the printed tickets.
• When you get to the passenger info section, click "Foreign Document" not "International Passport" before you put your passport number.
• You can choose seats, forward pacing seats, proximity to toilets/luggage storage/power plugs/dining.
• When you get to Pay section, choose left hand option NOT right hand (yellow Yandex option). Left button takes you to credit card payment. Pay with Visa/MasterCard (it didn't like my AMEX because it had a 4 digit CVV).
• Once payment is successful, you get PDF tickets to print out to take to the station. 

Main page RZD - Passengers

"Allegro" high speed train St-Petersberg to Helsinki
Once you have chosen date and time of day, the page drops down for car and seat selection.

Savings

For the same journey time, same class, same seats, same train, high speed "Sapsan"

Moscow - St Petersberg:

Russiantrains - 4722 ruble  ($AUD107, $US83)

Russian Railways - 2000 ruble  ($AUD45, $US35)

St Petersberg - Helsinki "Allegro":
Russiantrains - 11901 rubles ($AUD269, $US208, 169 euros)
Russian Railways - 5488 rubles ($AUD124, $US96, 78 euros)

Ticket prices vary greatly according to seasons. Travelling on the weekend we booked St Petersberg - Helsinki for 2034 rubles (29 euros).
It is the same price if you book online with Finnish Railways (vr.fi) but no seat selection is possible.

NB.

Background: My wife and I are retired. This will be our first trip to Russia. We are English speaking and hardly computer-savvy.

Another useful website for Russian newbies: Russiau.com/trains (also invaluable for Australians and New Zealanders applying for a Russian visa).

Random Bali Travel Tips - taxis, body surfing, visas and being a cheap bastard

• Sit as close to the front of the plane as possible. This means you are first off, avoiding long queues at the Visa On Arrival counter. Having US$25 (per person) on you will make life easier too.
• If staying in Kuta, cheapest place for drinking water and tonic water (for the all important Duty Free vodka/gin and tonics watching the sunset) is Matahari Supermarket - Kuta Square.
• Use metered taxis for the trip to the airport.
• Every time I go to Bali I get a swimmer's ear (ear ache), whether it's in the surf or hotel pool. Pack a wad of Blu-tack and use as ear plugs. Works a treat. I have lost proper ear plugs in the rough surf.
• Wear reef shoes when in the surf, water can get murky and there can be surprises (e.g. broken glass, old nappies/diapers from the beach). Don't be put off, the waves are worth it! Great for body surfing. 
• Kuta/Legian, best time for body surfing is before the flags go up (often red) and the surfers and surfing schools arrive. Before 8:00 a.m. Before 7:00 ideally, only the locals are on the beach. Classic views of volcanoes to the north, before smoke from local burn offs/cloud arrives.
• Don't pay hotel prices for Balinese Massage. One hour, full body in air conditioned comfort in numerous salons along Poppies Lane 1 or Poppies Lane 2 around 50, 000 rupiah ($5 Australian). Set price. Keep underwear on, don't expect 'a happy ending'. The girls ask you whether you want hard or soft massage. It's much better than beach massages where you have to negotiate a price, put up with sand in the oil, the heat and miscellaneous visiting vendors flogging beer, tee shirts or hair braiding.