Just got back from an intensive week in Ukraine. The plan was to visit one girl in Nikolaev, then a second girl in Dnepropetrovsk, with a couple more up my sleeve if it went wrong. Flew with Air Ukraine International from London Gatwick, arrived Kiev Borispol Airport around 1500 local time. The plan was to continue same day to Odessa (also with Air Ukraine International) at 2030, and taxi from there to Nikolaev; the ticket counter at Gatwick said to buy the domestic ticket separately on arrival in Kiev. The flight was also from Borispol Airport (good to see they now fly to a lot of domestic airports from Borispol, as that little Zhulyany Airport used to give me the creeps, and the taxi transfer was always a rip off.)
Anyway, they had kindly cancelled my booking on the Kiev-Odessa flight, which was just as well as Odessa was fog-bound and the flight was going nowhere till morning. This is definitely something to watch out for when planning winer trips, its the second time it has happened to me; those little airfields and old Antonov 24's can't hack it in poor visibility. Option 2 was the Autolux bus service, departing at 2200. I didn't want to lose a night in Kiev so I took the bus for 20 USD and arrived in Odessa 0530. Another point to remember, as the ticket s only a few bucks, try to buy two; I was wedged in beside 300 lbs of snoring Ukrainian for most of the trip.
Arrived 0530 in Odessa; taxi to Nikolaev cost 60 USD. Then called my date from the central bus station, using a phone card I had bought in Borispol Airport (much better than using your roaming mobile). I had forgotten that you have to dial 8 in front of everything when calling from Ukraine, and also must press 1 when the call is answered, before they can hear you. Anyway, she arrived 20 mins later and we went to the apartment she had booked for me. It cost 20 USD per night and was more or less comparable with apartments in Kiev where I have paid 50 USD.
I won't go into detail about the personal side, this is just a trip report, but as so often she did not really resemble the photos. Her English was poor but with my pigeon-Russian this was not a problem.
More to follow...
