When I first visited Russia more than 20 years ago, I don’t think I could have spent $1,000 there if I had stayed a month. Now, you can blow that in a day. Or maybe in an hour.

Want proof? Check out the October issue of Departures magazine. It is devoted entirely to Russia.

For $1,000 in the new Russia you could have lunch with six friends at the Central House of Writers (which was an orphanage early in the 20th century, according to Departures), or dine with six friends at Moscow's Café Pushkin (both are $160 a head). Or uninvite two guests and go to Anatoly Komm ($250 per person for dinner). You could book a room at the new Ritz-Carlton ($900 a night), and have just enough money left over for breakfast. But you'd need a few more of those bills with Grover Cleveland's face on the front to get a top-to-toe new wardrobe on Tretyakovsky Proezd or a chinchilla wrap for winter.

Yes, there are plenty of tips in this issue for an American Express Platinum Card holder, which is appropriate, since that's who this magazine is published for. But there are also quite a few ideas for those of us who are spending the family fortune on adoption trips to Russia. Like having lunch at Teremok, a blini chain in Moscow and St. Petersburg, which will set you back less than $10 a person. Or maybe you can squeeze in a tour of the KGB Museum or Mosfilm, the Soviet era's answer to Paramount, MGM and Disney. Or maybe just get your agency rep to drop you off at the Izmaylovsky flea market on a Saturday or Sunday morning. And for you armchair travelers, there are lovely profiles of Kamchatka, Sochi, Tbilisi, and a boat trip on the Volga river.

If you know an AmEx cardholder, hit them up for this issue. Or visit your doctor's office, which is where I got to do my reading. But thankfully, most of the issue is online here, albeit without the stunning photos that accompany the print version.