...anyway, what I will say is that she was kind, warm, afectionate, honest and sincere. Her English was not great but I speak just enough of Russian to get around that most of the time. She took time off work to be with me, she had been shopping and stocked up the fridge in my apartment, she invited me to her parent's apartment where she also lives, and we had a huge meal together with her brother and his family who came round. I am pretty sure it was 5 times as much as they would normally eat at dinner, and it was punctuated by regular toasts. I have come to understand that it is quite normal for the guest to return a toast as well, so I did and it went down well. We also spent some time in Nikolaev, rather wet weather and not at its best in winter, and took some photos by the statue of Admiral Malakoff in the park near the river. I was later introduced to her fiend who spoke very good English and was responsible for translating and sending all her emails; she was very loud and almost overpowering, and I could not help wondering how much the emails represented her thoughts and opinions rather than those of the girl I had come to meet. She apparently helps a lot of local girls in this respect, she is a sort of "fixer" and she seemed to know all about visa procedures inside and out. he even urged us to take a lot of photos together while we had the chance, as these would be valuable later on if we got to the stage of me inviting her to the UK to support her visa application (internet romances are not readily accepted by the embassies, they take some convincing that the relationship is real; apparently it's also better to say that you met by chance on a business trip etc etc; they are looking for some hitory of genuine acquaintance, with supporting evidence.)
After a couple of days I was eady to set off for Dnepropetrovsk. My plan was to go direct by car, it looks about the same distance as Kiev, to save time. I had told a white lie to this girl and said I was going to Kiev to fly home that afternoon (I didn't want to hurt her feelings by telling her I was meeting someone else) and I was going to divert the taxi once we got on the road. However, as I had half expected, her family magically produced a relative who would drive me to Kiev for a reduced price. Sh*t! I had to go with it. I gave the girl some money to make up what she would have lost by not working for 3 days (she was embarrassed but I insisted) and I hit the road for Kiev at 0900. It was very foggy for most of the journey, a flight would probably have been out of the question again. Taxi cost 800 Hryvnas (about 150 USD) and I arrived around 1500, and took the next Autolux bus to Dnepropetrovsk at 1725, finally arriving there at midnight. I called the second girl beforehand and she was there waiting for me. She bore a closer resemblance to her photos, but somehow was different to what I had expected; she was attractive nonetheless.
We spent the first night at her apartment which she shared with her sister, as the rental apartment was not yet available, and in the morning she cooked up a nice beakfast. I was struck by how trusting some of these girls are, I could have been anybody, she only knew me from emails etc. We had to go to an office in town to get the keys to the apartment, and I had to give her the cash and wait in the cab while she went in to sort it out. I must admit this did make me wonder, as the price was 60 USD per night (not a huge amount, but three times the cost of Nikolaev.) Also, as I was leaving on the night bus I only needed 2 nights, but she tok payment for 3; I had to point this oiut to her, and she was persuaded to go back into the office and retrieve the difference. I know its not much money, but I HATE GETTING RIPPED OFF on principle!!
For me this was not a promising start but I determined to put it behind me and keep an open mind, and I tend to think it was the rental agency who was the offending party. We checked into the room, it was pretty central, and it was my idea to go to the supermarket to stock up for a couple of days. She loaded up that trolley with enough stuff for a week (maybe I was still feeling cagey!) We had a nice day out at the park, by the river, but don't visit the zoo if you are concerned about animal welfare.
It was my first time in Dnepropetrovsk and I would say that after Kiev it comes second for me in terms of amenities etc (I am comparing it with Odessa and Kharkov.) I used the Telephone Exchange Office to make inernational calls (I did the same in Nikolaev, they seem to be in every town) where you pay the cashier after the call, or sometimes before and she gives you your change. It costs a small fraction of what you would pay using your mobile. In the evening she had arranged a night out at what I understand to be the most exclusive venue in town; she described it as a ship-casino-restaurant. She then also announced that her older sister would also be joining us, and would I mind? I prepared to kiss goodbye to any kind of budget for this trip. For the record, her sister is dating a French guy and will be heading out there in April with her daughter.
The venue in question is called the "Bartolomeo," maybe some of you know it, it's a kind of country club / yacht club built as a replica of the Portuguese explorer Bartolomeo's ship perched on a replica rock. It is quite impressive, with a long floodlit drive, nice lawns, outdoor music system, security gate etc, and inside it is a complex of restaurants, bars and a pub. There are some bungalows dotted around the main building where you can say for 300 USD per night (minimum.) Anyway, the place is actually worth a visit, and the prices (at least in the pub part) are really not bad. They also take plastic, which I generally noticed much more on this visit than previously.
After my initial apprehension, it turned out that she was also a nice girl, if she had wanted to stitch me up she had several opportunities to try and did not take them. She surprised me once, when a taxi driver gave us too much change, and she gave it back to him, explaining that she didn't like getting ripped off or ripping people off either (not as bluntly as that you understand!) Her feelings seemed to be quite genuine, she was very affectionate and she seemed to care a lot about me.
I returned to Kiev by bus again, this time I used a diferent bus company called "Gunsel" which is supposedly similar to Autolux. The buses are similar, and luckily it was half empty, but there was no service (movie, tea and coffee) although I think this was due to the laziness of the stewardess on this trip (both companies have a stewardess on board.) The other difference was the price, this journey cost me 10 USD! I left at 2300 and arrived in Kiev Borispol Airport at 0600, to fly back to London. I see they also have a small internet cafe now, in the arrivals area, 20 Hryvnas per hour (2 USD).
Am still in contact with both girls, just working out the next move. On reflection I am very glad that I kept the time short in each case, enough to form an impression without too much of a bond, to keep the options open. I am not comfortable with the rather deceptive aspect of meeting more than one girl, but in the event that another guy writes to these ladies and wants to visit them, are they ging to say no?
