ukraine and bulgaria

In Sofia, at least, you can probably get by without knowing it, although it might be more problematic elsewhere. Knowing the cyrillic alphabet helps, though.

But guess what? It's pretty easy to learn. You can learn it in a few hours. Your pronunciation doesn't have to be perfect (some of the different letters sound nearly identical to an English speaker), just as long as you can roughly pronounce the words.

I think you should definatly write down some key words or phrases on a piece of paper. How do get tickets, etc.. You can at least point at what you want to say. Sofia, plovdiv, and Varna Bulgaria i think a lot of people know english. Especially at the hotels etc...

We returned last evening from Ukraine and Eastern Europe and I can confirm that at least in Ukraine almost everything is in the Cyrillic alphabet - there are almost no signs using the Latin alphabet. Also, very few people in Ukraine speak English so if you go, make sure you are well prepared especially with transportation options as you will not have much help on the ground.

We spent time in Lviv and Kyiv and found that Kyiv a little easier since the people seem more used to foreigners even though Lviv is the more touristy place. Our route had us entering Ukraine at Uzhgorod on the Slovak-Ukr border and then a train to Lviv followed by an overnight train to Kyiv. Train travel as well as in city travel is incredibly cheap as is the food in the cities. The overnight train ride which included fresh clean sheets was around $15 per person.

Another thing is that we did not run into many English speaking tourists or backpackers so that support network may not be available. In summary, we did all the stuff we wanted to in Ukraine because we were well prepared with guidebooks and additional information gathered before hand.

You will have an easier time in Romania and Bulgaria compared to Ukraine - a lot of the younger folks in these countries know some English and the signage isn't all in Cyrillic. Turkey should present no problems.

Thanks for your replies! I plan on couchsurfing through Ukraine and I can get some help from locals there. But my days would probably be solo as they are usually at work. I am excited to face up to the challenge! I would be landing in Kiev, go to Lviv then Chernovcy before I head to the Southern Bucovina and Maramures regions of Romania.

I'll will make sure to learn cyrillic though!

I just recently returned from Odessa and travelled throughout Ukraine. I was fortunate to have an English/Russian speaking friend , otherwise , I would have had a very hard time there. Very few Ukrainians speak English. It is not a trip well advised if you do not speak Russian or Ukrainian.