26 February 2022 update: originally published on the 19th of October, 2021. I moved this post to 2022 so this info about the Black Sea ferry from Chornomorsk shows up on the homepage of my blog. Do I recommend taking this boat from Odesa, Ukraine to anywhere else right now? No, I wouldn’t want to be on a ship that says UKRFERRY on the side right now. As far as I know, the ships named Greifswald (link leads to current location of ship), Kaunas, and Vilnius aren’t leaving the port of Chornomorsk at all right now. You can follow theContinue reading
Ukraine
Apps in Ukraine: 10 Apps to Download Before Your Trip
We spent 89 days in Ukraine in 2021. These are the apps that proved most useful in Ukraine and helped us navigate the country. Click here to read which and how to get a SIM card in Ukraine. 1. Google Translate with Downloaded Ukrainian + Russian This is essential if you don’t speak or read either of these languages. It starts with using the camera function to translate menu items, followed by typing in something and then letting the translator robot voice speak for you, and lastly using the conversation function to let either party speak their preferred language. IContinue reading
Arabat Spit: A Day Trip to Ukrainian-Controlled Crimea with Hot Spring + Pink Lake
These events happened on October 3rd, 2021. Our Booking host in Heniches’k named Yuri offered to do a day trip with us down the Arabat Spit to visit some hot springs and a pink lake. This eventually turned into a little adventure with even more spontaneous stops and detours along the way. The Arabat Spit is geographically part of the Crimean Peninsula, but administratively it’s Kherson Oblast. Russia didn’t annex this part of Crimea back in 2014. Ukrainian-Controlled Crimea: Is it Safe? Yes. Since 2014 there has been nothing really going on on the Arabat Spit. One should of courseContinue reading
Kharkiv Cable Car: A Soviet Ride in Primary Colors
We rode the Kharkiv cable car on Wednesday, the 25th of August, 2021. I guess technically, it’s a gondola lift or an aerial tramway or something like that (Spanish: teleférico) and I’ve seen the Kharkiv one referred to even as a ‘zip line‘ (which it is absolutely not), I’m gonna keep calling it a cable car because it feels right. Learning About the Existence of a Cable Car in Kharkiv My friend Nina from Roaming Pencil hails from Kharkiv. When I told her we were going to her old city, she mentioned a cable car as one of the thingsContinue reading
Chernihiv to Kharkiv via Sumy by Thumb (Ukraine)
These events happened on the 19th and 20th of August, 2021. We were hitchhiking in Ukraine. The first day, we hitchhiked from Chernihiv to Sumy. On the second day, we finished our trip from Sumy to Kharkiv. The Plan Back in Kyiv, I really wanted to make a visit to Chernihiv and Slavutych. We booked five days in an Airbnb in Chernihiv, left one day open, and then booked an Airbnb for two weeks in Kharkiv. Everything was already plotted from Kyiv and this was the most pre-planning – three weeks ahead – we’d done since the start ofContinue reading
My First Time Shooting Guns: Glock 19, AK-47, Sniper Rifle, and Shotgun (Kyiv, Ukraine)
These events happened on Tuesday, the 3rd of August, 2021. We had booked a shooting guns activity at a shooting range outside of Kyiv. This is what to expect from this activity and the four different guns we fired. Note that this was my first time shooting guns and that I do not know the correct terminology for a lot of actions/gun parts. If you have corrections/mansplanations, please drop them in the comments! Booking the Activity After booking our trip to Chornobyl, Jonas found out that you can also shoot Kalashnikovs in Kyiv. This is something he has wanted toContinue reading
Celebrating My Birthday in Kyiv, Again! (30th)
When booking Ukraine, I knew that I was gonna celebrate my 30th birthday in Kyiv. This happens to also be the same town where I celebrated my 22nd birthday back in 2013 during my first medium-sized hitchhiking trip. A few things have changed: I’m not a happy single anymore but a happy partnered individual. And as a partnered individual I am also not hyper-poor and on the brink of developing scurvy anymore. I believe they call this ‘progress’. Jokes aside, quite a lot has changed. My interests have changed. And though I think getting blind drunk, getting banged on theContinue reading
How (Not) to Get a SIM Card in Ukraine (Kyiv)
When traveling to Ukraine, it’s a great idea to get a SIM card for independent travel. Though we arrived at Boryspil International Airport (KBP), we didn’t buy one there because the shop was closed. Mobile data is neither expensive nor cheap in Ukraine. Here are our learnings from getting a SIM card in Ukraine on our first day in Kyiv, so you can avoid the mistakes we made. And ooh boy, we made a lot of mistakes! FYI, the country code for Ukraine is +380 Our Experience Buying a SIM Card in Ukraine FAQ SIM Card in Ukraine + InternetContinue reading
Well Hello, Kyiv?! Uzbekistan to Ukraine (Semi-Live Blog)
These events happened on Sunday, the 25th and Monday the 26th of July, 2021. We hoped to fly from Islam Karimov Tashkent International Airport (TAS), Uzbekistan to Boryspil International Airport (KBP) nearby Kyiv, Ukraine. I’m trying to update this blog as a sort of semi-live blog while on the move. Quick update because I need to sleep. We arrived well in Kyiv but the long wait for check-in to our apartment was excruciating. Peace out I’m gonna catch some zzz’s before finishing this Monday, 26th of July: Shattered in Kyiv Ugh Train to Kyiv, killing time The train ride isContinue reading