When we booked the air ticket in January (€50 each), our flight LO 8321 was scheduled to depart Tallinn at 0700 hrs and arrive at St Petersburg at 0805 hrs. However there was a schedule change in April and it was retimed to depart at 1035 hrs, shortened our already limited time at St Petersburg.

With only one desk open for check-in, it took us a while to get our boarding passes.

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We were also asked to show our Fan IDs to prove that we were able to enter Russia. Fan IDs were issued by Russian authorities to football fans who have tickets to World Cup matches and they allowed holders to enter Russia visa-free during the World Cup period.

Found something on sale at TLL’s duty free that we probably couldn’t bring back home

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Mrs used her Priority Pass membership to get us into Tallinn Airport Business Lounge, which apparently was named the best airport lounge in Europe last year.

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Only cold sandwiches and salad were available though.

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Besides the usual cafes, Tallinn Airport has some unique facilities for the passengers passing through it.

For instance, a gym overlooking the runway:-

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Perhaps a game of table tennis?

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The non-Schengen gate area was decidedly smaller than the other side and there was only one café past the immigration.

Turkish airlines ad in the non-Schengen gate area

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Peterburi is the name of St Petersburg in Estonian. We thought that the name could be passed off as a town in Thailand.

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We were asked to show our Fan IDs again before we were allowed onto the bus which would bring us to our plane – an ATR 72-600.

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Although our flight had a LOT Polish flight number, it was operated by Nordica, Estonia’s flag carrier. Nordica is in a strategic partnership with LOT Polish which allows it to use the latter’s booking engine, ticketing system and flight codes. Apparently Star Alliance statuses were recognized on Nordica-operated flights as well.

Snacks and drinks were available for purchase on the short flight.

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Bye Tallinn. See you in two weeks.

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The only entertainment on the hour-long flight was the bilingual in-flight magazine.

Pretty much all the destinations that Nordica flies to.

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Before long we were flying over the outskirts of St Petersburg and landed shortly.

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The immigration control at St Petersburg was rather deserted at our time of arrival.

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While the immigration official looked stern and took some time to process me into Russia, there wasn't any problem with entering Russia using Fan ID. In fact, no words were exchanged beside a 'thank you' from me when I received my passport back.

After getting our bags and withdrawing some rubles from the ATM, we decided to get a SIM card for our time in Russia.

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We ended up with Beeline on the right since there was a longer queue at Tele2. The staff recommended the 15GB plan for 600 RUB (valid for 2 weeks) and needed my passport to register the SIM card. It turned out to be a bad choice as Beeline's reception was rather poor in both St Petersburg and Moscow throughout our stay.

The Russian government provided free public transportation on match days for ticket holders and we could take the free shuttle service S10 between Pulkovo Airport and Moskovsky railway station.

The signages for the shuttles weren't really clear and we needed a volunteer to point us to the exact location.

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The journey took almost an hour and we passed through several interesting sights en-route.

Monument of the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad at Victory Square was dedicated to the victims and survivors of the Siege of Leningrad.

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House of Soviets, the Stalinist-style building which used to house a Soviet research institute.

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Leningrad Hero City Obelisk, located right outside of Moskovsky Station.

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There was a left-luggage inside Moskovsky Station and we stored our bag for 500 RUB/bag for the day. We would retrieve it later in the evening before our train to Moscow.

With our lightened load and some time to spare, we decided to take the metro line 3 from Mayakovskaya to Gostiny Dvor in order to check out Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood.

Like all good metro stations in former Soviet Union, the stations were situated in deep underground. Mayakovskaya station platforms are around 51m deep and it took a long time even with the escalators.

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The city of St Petersburg was buzzing; we could see numerous supporters from both Iran and Morocco on our walk to Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood.

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The church was built on the site where Emperor Alexander II was assassinated in 1881 and it was completed in 1907. Although it no longer functions as a church, it is one of main tourist attractions in St Petersburg today.

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There are also lots of souvenir shops and matryoshka dolls are readily available.

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St Petersburg's FIFA Fan Fest was also located beside the Church of Saviour on Spilled Blood. Fan Fests are large public viewing events organized by FIFA at host cities and were inspired by the success of similar events during 2002 World Cup in South Korea. Fans could catch the matches on giant screens, enjoy entertainment and activities at Fan Fest. However, we didn't enter it due to our limited time.

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Iranian fan interviewed by media along Griboyedov Canal

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Portrait of a Russian boy

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Kazan Cathedral is the mother cathedral of St Petersburg and is dedicated to Our Lady of Kazan, the most venerated icon in Russia.

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World Cup is in the air with decorations along Nevsky Prospekt, the main street of St Petersburg.

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After the quick lunch at the Golden Arches, we joined the masses heading towards the stadium. Metro Line 2 would bring us to Novokrestovskaya, a newly opened station in May 2018 and within walking distance from the stadium.

Horde of fans transferring between stations at Gostinyy Dvor and Nevsky Prospekt

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Fans began cheering their teams way before reaching the stadium.


Krestovsky Stadium or Zenit Arena is the home stadium for Zenit St Petersburg, the main football club in St Petersburg. Its construction was plagued by delays and scandals; when it finally opened in April 2017, it was already delayed for almost 10 years and the cost had ballooned to 1.1 billion USD, 5 times the original estimate.

Morocco vs Iran would be the first of seven World Cup matches taking place at St Petersburg and we were impressed with the turnout of fans from both side.

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Suspension bridge, part of Western Rapid Diameter, connecting Krestovsky island with Vasilyevsky Island

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We had gotten our tickets through FIFA official ticket portal during the first sales phase's random selection draw last October. At that time, the identity of the teams weren't known yet and we just chose to ballot for matches based on location and schedule. Mrs and I balloted for four matches in total (two Cat 2 tickets per match; 165 USD per ticket during group stage) and had a 100% success rate.

Queuing up for security check

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Match ticket

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Beside the ticket, we would also need to scan our Fan IDs during the security check.

Once past the security, the fans could check out the booths set up by sponsors. Budweiser is one of them.

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FIFA World Cup logo

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We decided to go to our seats early.

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Bought two cups of beers (350 RUB each) and managed to spill one of them before the match even started. We had wanted to purchase Coca Cola instead but only Budweiser had the special souvenir cups customized for this match.

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Pre-match: Unveiling of the flags before the national anthems


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It was a match pretty much dominated by the Moroccans although Iran had some good chances along the way.

Attendance of 62,548

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Just as we thought that the match would end goalless, Aziz Bouhaddouz, the Moroccan striker who just came on as a substitute, managed to turn a rare Iranian corner into his own goal deep into injury time and it sent the Iranian fans around us into delirium.

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Iranian players thanking their fans after the final whistle

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It was also the second time ever that Iran won a World Cup match, 20 years after its 2-1 win over USA in France 98. Naturally the Iranian fans were ecstatic.


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Instead of returning the same way that we came from, we decided to try out the shuttle buses. Once again the signages proved to be confusing and we had to ask the volunteers en-route. However, while they tried to be helpful, the volunteers whom we spoke to had limited English ability and seemed to struggle with comprehension and answering. We would experience similar issues in Moscow (poor signages and volunteers' weak English) and I wondered how it would be like in the smaller cities.

To reach the pick-up points, we would need to walk through Primorskiy Victory Park and it turned out that there weren't any shuttle buses that went direct to Moskovsky railway station.

Fans still celebrating / mourning at Primorskiy Victory Park

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The shuttle bus would drop us off at Vyborgskaya instead. We had a quick bite at a kebab place opposite the station before connecting to Ploschad Vosstaniya, one of the metro stops for Moskovsky railway station, on Metro Line 1.

We spent the time looking through the shops before our train departure.

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Schematic map of Russian Railway network

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Our Fan IDs and match tickets entitled us to free transportation between host cities and there were numerous free trains between St Petersburg and Moscow on our day of travel. We chose the earliest departure at 23:36 and would arrive at Moscow the next day at 7:19.

Platform 7 where Train 027ЧА would depart.

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Driving us to Moscow.

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What were the chances of getting fellow countrymen as bunkmates on a Russian train thousand of miles away from home?

We managed to have two Singaporean guys who were travelling in Europe after finishing their 22-month mandatory conscription with the Commandos. We chatted for a while before calling it a night and were awakened around an hour out of Moscow by the English-speaking volunteer on the train.

Our new friend contemplating about how to get tickets to the Moscow games...

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Our train terminated at Leningradsky station, the oldest of the nine train stations in Moscow.

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It sits on Komosolskaya Square with two other stations: Kazansky (for trains to Kazan) and Yaroslavsky (where Trans-Siberian trains depart)

Kazansky Station

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Our Fan ID once again afforded us free travel on local transport within host city and we would take Line 5 or Circle Line from Komosolskaya to Belorusskaya where we changed to Line 2.

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Moscow metro stations are famous for its artwork and Konsomolskaya, considered as a gateway to Moscow, didn't disappoint.

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Train's here.

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Our Airbnb in Moscow was located just steps away from Khovrino station, the northern terminus of Line 2.

The building where our Airbnb was located.

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Supermarket below.

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The accommodation at Moscow had shot through the roof during World Cup and we were really surprised to find a bargain place to stay at 40 USD per night. However, we also realized that if the deal was too good to be true, it probably was.

Lift landing which Mrs said reminded her of horror shows.

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Retro doorbells

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Corridor leading up to the unit. Although the host mentioned that there would be renovation going, we didn't expect that the house to be so dusty.

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Basic bed. Thank goodness that we found clean sheets in the drawers.

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The rest of the house seemed to be in a state of being semi-abandoned with lots of dust and dirt around. We debated whether we should find somewhere else but in the end, we chose to bite the bullet and stayed on.

After leaving our stuff at the airbnb, we headed to Belorussky railway station where we were meeting my Chinese friends from Shanghai for lunch.

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They had arrived earlier in Moscow for the opening game and would be leaving for Japan later in the afternoon; Belorussky station was a convenient meeting place for us since they would be taking Aeroexpress to Sheremetyevo Airport (complimentary again due to Fan ID) after our meal together.

Lunch was at Saperavi, a Georgian cafe opposite Moscow Marriott Tverskaya. We exchanged souvenirs and caught up with one another over some pretty tasty Georgian food. The cost came up to be around 5500 RUB for the four of us, which we all agreed was a reasonable amount for the quality and quantity.

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As our friends from Shanghai passed us some food items, we decided to head back to the Airbnb to put them down before heading to our match.

The match was at Spartak Stadium and the fastest way to get there from Khovrino was through the complimentary shuttle buses running from Sokol metro station. It seemed that the service wasn't publicised; there were only two other passengers beside us in our otherwise empty shuttle bus.

Glimpse of Spartak Stadium from our shuttle bus

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Also known as Otkritie Arena, the stadium opened in 2014 as the home stadium of Spartak Moscow, the most successful team in Russian football.

Due to a combination of various factors (namely Messi and the match being held in Moscow), this match was probably the most popular fixture during the group stage, with black market prices reportedly going for up to a thousand dollars (or more) per ticket. While we were walking towards the stadium from the shuttle bus drop-off point, there were fans holding signs looking for tickets. To my surprise, I actually witnessed someone giving away a ticket for free! Lucky day for the receiving fan indeed.

Spartacus welcoming us at the entrance.

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Indian fans posing for photo with a Spanish-speaking celebrity (I am guessing Mexican). Any idea who he is?

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Icelandic fans being interviewed before the game.

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Our gate turned out to be the furthest away from the entrance and we probably walked around 1.5km to reach there. The security personnel wasn't satisfied with the photograph on my Fan ID and asked me to show him my passport before being allowed to enter.

All of that was worthwhile because our seats (row 6) were really close to the pitch!

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Panoramic view

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Players coming out from the tunnel

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Argentine national anthem - due to its length, only short instrumental version is played at sporting events.

Lofsöngur, Iceland national anthem

With Messi as the team's captain, it was no surprise that Argentina was dominant from the start.

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Freekick to Argentina

Although the pre-match attention was all on Messi, it was Sergio Agüero who broke the deadlock in the 19th minute.

Argentine players celebrating

Iceland, the smallest country ever to qualify for World Cup (~350,000 inhabitants), pulled level just 4 minutes later through Alfreð Finnbogason.

Viking Clap from Icelandic supporters

Can you spot Lionel Messi?

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Ran out to grab a quick beer before the end of first half.

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The second half was similar to the first half with Argentina dominating but Iceland managed to repel everything that Argentina threw at them, including a 64th minute penalty.

Another Viking clap to celebrate

Full house at Spartak Stadium

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Final whistle

Nobody gave Iceland a chance before the game so a draw was definitely a good result for them. I was quite sure that many Argentine fans was disappointed with only one point.

Iceland's players thanking their fans in the stands

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The Man-of-the-Match had to be Iceland keeper Hannes Þór Halldórsson, a part-time film director outside football. He was one of the Icelandic players who went up to hug his family members sitting in the stands.

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Highlights of the game from FIFATV

Both Mrs and I really enjoyed the game as we were close to the action and we tried to spot ourselves in the giant screen by waving our Singapore flag. Apparently my sister managed to see us (or rather our flag) on TV!

Heading out, we passed by many Chinese fans who were traveling in groups to watch the game. Although China didn't qualify for World Cup, an estimated 60,000 Chinese fans made the trip to Russia according to Xinhua Sports, outnumbering even the English fans. Having many Chinese sponsors at the World Cup probably made it easier for Chinese fans to secure tickets, especially popular ones such as this match.

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After taking the shuttle bus back to Sokol, we found our way to a nearby McDonald's.

We bought a Happy Meal which came with a World Cup toy before returning to our depressing Airbnb.

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We had a late start to the day and passed by this strawberry on the way out.

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Figuring that the Red Square area would be filled with fans, we decided to head to the nearby mall first at Rechnoy Vokzal, one stop away from Khovrino, for brunch.

Moo Moo, a popular Russian restaurant, was where we had our meal. The meal came to an affordable cost of 648 RUB.

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I even had time to do some shopping and bought a World Cup T-shirt from O'stin, a Russian clothing retail store, for 999 RUB.

We took the metro to Teatralnaya but found the Red Square closed to public. Not quite sure why but there were lots of fans in the vicinity of Red Square area.

Statue of Georgy Zhukov, Soviet general during World War II or "Great Patriotic War" for the Russians.

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Through a Facebook group which connects fans to trade match tickets at face value, I met up with the buyer of my Poland vs Senegal tickets by Zhukov's statue. After dealing, we walked around the area for a bit and soaked in the atmosphere.

Four Seasons Moscow, one of the top luxury hotels in Moscow.

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Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, dedicated to Soviet soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the Motherland.

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Cooling down in the summer heat

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Since we weren't able to visit Red Square, we decided to head to the stadium early via Metro Line 1 from Okhotny Ryad station.

The Mexicans were out in full force; belting out Cielito Lindo, the unofficial anthem of Mexican national football team.


We decided to follow the majority of the Mexican fans who alighted at Frunzenskaya and kept chanting and singing on their way out of the station.



A sea of green greeted us outside the station. At least several thousand Mexican fans had received the memo and would make the 3km trek to Luzhniki Stadium together.

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Trump made an appearance as well.

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Many Mexicans had the same idea of getting drinks at the supermarket.


The procession of Mexican fans was a sight to behold and many Russians living and working along the route came out and take photographs and videos.

Spotted a jeep with South Korean plate; it must be a long drive for these guys.

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New friends

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It took us roughly 30 minutes to reach Luzhniki Stadium, venue of the day's match. The original stadium was built in the 1950s and was the national stadium of Soviet Union. It was torn down in 2013 for the current stadium which was constructed at the same location.

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More singing by Mexican fans. It was clear that German fans were heavily outnumbered by the Latin Americans.


The enthusiasm of the Mexican fans were infectious. It was hard not to be affected by them from a neutral's point of view.

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Finally some German fans... I suspected that the World Cup being in Russia had put off some European fans from attending.

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German fans attempting Cielito Lindo on behest of Mexican media


It was a long but exhilarating walk with the fans and we decided to enter early to rest our feet.

Beautiful stadium

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Queuing up for F&B

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Picked up another souvenir

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The teams came out for warm-up in front of the fans an hour before kick off.

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Unfurling of flags


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Mexican fans in full voice singing Mexican national anthem.


Pre-game huddle

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Despite Germany being the defending champion and the heavy favorite, Mexico took the lead against the run of play in the 35th minute with a well-taken goal by Hirving Lozano.


Pandemonium!


Mexico went into half-time 1-0 and Mexican fans were jubilant.

Second half underway

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We were one of the 78,000 spectators and I estimated that more than half to be Mexicans.

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Germany had lots of possession throughout the game but struggled to conjure any meaningful chances.

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Although the joke was made four years ago, Mexico's keeper is still Guillermo Ochoa, aka Ted Mosby's doppelgänger.

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Nail-biting finish for the Mexican fans but they managed to hold on for an upset.


No prize for guessing correctly the man-of-the-match

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Celebration continued outside the stadium. I could imagine that the whole of Mexico going crazy at that moment in time.

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We went back to Fruzenskaya where there was a Moo-Moo. This time round we had shashlik while the game between Brazil and Switzerland was playing in the background.

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Although it was already several hours after the end of the game, Mexican fans were still revelling in their happiness on our journey back on metro.


After three consecutive days of catching matches, our World Cup journey in Russia had came to the end. Although the games that we watched were relatively low-scoring (only 4 goals over 3 games), we enjoyed the atmosphere and the upsets. Not sure if we will be heading to Qatar in 2022; this could be our last World Cup game in a long while.