Country One - Ukraine

Thanks for posting, James! Enjoy yourself out there!!

Off to a great start, James. Happy travels!

But regarding the $6 Covid insurance - where do you acquire that, who gets paid the premium, and what’s getting covered? How and when would a claim get filed, should the situation arise? And is that $6 going to increase n the future, I wonder?

Cyn, supposedly for incountry COVID care. Sold by i think 3 companies, through the official tourism site. Mandatory to enter. I just looked at it as a tax, paid, got a policy and showed it when asked at the Kyiv airport.

In Istanbul, even as a transfer, you have to go through passport control and security (separate transfer line) No vaccine card requested though. All very polite and helpful. Took less than 5 min. Airport was fairly full.

Okay, Agnes, for you. I try and avoid trip reports because my trips to familiar places are boring. I thought the issues of traveling might be more useful.

But a few notes.

I arrived 2 July and got a room near Maidan famous for the birth place of the anti Russian revolution in 2014/15. The monuments telling the story are touching but unfortunately there are no longer much physical evidence of what happened. A friend here said Ukraine got its independence because of Gorbachev but became a nation because of Putin. Probably too true.

I spent the next day just walking the city. The two new place I visited was Pushkin St (one of the more beautiful streets in town) and an island with a beach in the middle of the Dnipr River. The foot bridge to get there is lovely and long. Also did some art shopping on St. Andrew's Descent. This was more of a layover as the goal was Odesa and the Black Sea coast, which is where I currently sit.

I spent one day wandering art galleries and museums, but now I just lay on the beach eat amazing food and enjoy the locals. If you want to live a bit better than you are accustomed to, enjoy some of the kindest and most sincere service; then this is your place. Its why I returned to clear my head for a few days. I had a fishing trip planned, but that got canceled on account of I have to work today. Thank you Zoom!. But I am good with being lazy for one more day before the heart of my trip begins when I land in Istanbul on the 8th.

Plane tickets? Open jaw, IAH to KBP and ODS to IST and ISt to ZGB and ATh to IST and IST to IAH on Turkish Air for about $1000. Filled in with a Ukrainian Air and an Agean Air for another $500.

Like I said, not exciting. But I love this country for the simple things. My "tourism" begins in Istanbul, Croatia, Montenegro, Greece over the next 3 and a half weeks.

Just curious about how much reliant a large city like Kiev (Kyiv) is on cash vs. credit cards. Do they do contactless payment (Apple Pay, etc), or only in "international" digs and restaurants? I hardly use cash anymore for anything (haven't been to an ATM since just before March 2020), so I'm wondering if alternatives are likely in large cities in Ukraine.

I don't use apple pay, so never noticed. But I've been using my tap card a half dozen times a day. But some of the smaller ones still want cash.

James- thanks for checking in, have a great trip.

So, if your idea of the perfect trip is limited to Paris or Budapest, you won't like Ukraine or at most 3 days in Kyiv or Lviv. If you are more into difference in the world and new cultures, you might enjoy it.

I love it here, but I am unusual.

Yesterday's high point was going to a small military base on the outskirts of Odesa. Adjacent to it is a Civil Aviation company that has a number of tiny, tiny 2 seat planes with a clear plastic cabin. For $125, they strap you in and you fly up the coast and over Odesa at something less than 2000ft. You even get to hold the controls if you are nuts enough. The runway? A grass field. Good day.

My hotel the M1 Club Hotel was on the Black Sea water front. I've stayed in a number of nice hotels over the years but nothing has ever compared to this. I spent the better part of the week there to rest and unwind and i could not have chosen better anywhere. I will be back in a few months.

And now I sit in the Odesa Airport waiting for my flight to Istanbul.

I just read another post about Turkish Toilets and it reminded me.:
Yes, some public restrooms in Ukraine have Turkish Toilets. Not many, but you might run into one.

More interesting this that the most common public restroom in Ukraine is Co-Ed for lack of a better term. One room, maybe a few lavatories and a few toilet stalls. A little strange at first, but you get use to it.

Country Two - Turkey

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/country-two-turkey

In my experience taking inter-city buses in Ukraine, you should expect to find eastern-style toilets at bus stations along the way, though possibly not at your destination if it's Kyiv, L'viv or Odesa. But they will almost certainly be attended, and they will be very clean. There will be a fee to use them, but it will be very low.