What an experience!

I think crossing the border was actually the most fun part of the trip!

Rather than a direct intercity train with a little passport check… We decided to take the night train from Kiev to Lviv where me woke up at 8 this morning… And then a Bus to Medyka on the border of the Ukraine and Poland followed by a foot crossing.

It was mayhem! Old women jumping the que to get through the first passport control. We thought that was our only barrier. Then we found the que to get back into Poland/the EU! Wow. I would say it was a que of a thousand or so people.

We didnt fancy waiting with the booze and fag smugglers so we walked down the side as instructed by locals and guidebooks. The Ukranians didnt like that one bit! It got pretty violent and one old woman linched sue and tried to push her over. It was insane, the crowd jeered but we managed to sneak to the front where it was just as bad, people killing each other to get across the border. Humans are pretty discusting creatures!

Never seen anything quite like it.

We met plenty of people, a guy from Khazakstan who was headed to france (via Krakow of course), a pole who was trying to fast track with us and a ukranian who compared this border crossing to the one he had seen at the lebannon syria border.

He took us to the bus which went to the nearest polish city przemsly and from there we got on this train to Krakow where i am enjoying being back in Poland. Its so nice to be here.

I just wish i had caught that insane border crossing and all the fighting on camera. It was incredible!

We took the slowest ever trolley bus towards the train station yesterday, an electric thing which took two and a half painful hours… just for the experience.

Probably not the best move given we were about to get on a train for 16 hours.

Met some jolly nice Ukranians in my cabin, they didnt speak a single word of English but were doing their absolute best to find out about what I was doing with myself.

I caught a few keys words as they shared words with Polish but it was more fun than interesting.

The woman next to me asked me for the time and proceeded to get hysterical when I showed her my watch, I forgot about my different time zones for a second. UK on the computer, Poland on the Watch and Ukraine on the phone, mainly laziness to blame there.

Arrived in Kiev and spent two quality hours in the train station after some idiotic ticket purchasing. We asked for tickets to Krakow and found some that were far too quick a journey and far to cheap… so we bought them!

After accepting they were completely the wrong tickets and she hadn’t understood us, we had to interact with 101 old ladies in the station to return them and buy our new ones – The new plan is to head back to Lviv and cross the border ourselves!

Met a lot of random people yesterday including  my particular favourite of some random ukraine girls on a scary minibus who were offered my lap “Prosze” -please with a smile. They declined in a fit of hysteria but recieved a flower for their troubles!

Couch surfing in Kiev with two great hosts! They are very interesting and welcoming folk but unfortunately we won’t be hanging out too much as we are leaving in the Evening! Actually in about one hour to take a train back to Lviv!

Arrived in crimea and headed towards the only place in the world I can rely on for wifi and washing. McDonalds! Lovely!

Took a dirty minibus directly to Yalta and began our relaxation for a few days.

Yalta is basically a Ukranian version of Margate, a poor excuse for a coastline, dirty amusments and over priced restaurants selling garbage.

I Loved it, the perfect place to lay in the sun for a few days with its sub-tropical climate!

There were a few differences though, plenty of jellyfish to swim with in the sea and rather than fat british chavs, a huge volume of ridiculously toned Russian/Ukranian men and women which gave me the usual 10 minute feeling… I need to get fit.
No real beaches as such, just a concrete block playground which seemed to have fallen into the sea. A couple of nice streets and palm trees though.

Mainly uneventful relaxation… We did meet a chap called Ivan who showed us around town and showed us the famous local wine. Tasted like antifreeze, but at two quid a bottle…

Tried to live up to our English routes while in Margate and order some CHIPS! Tried a couple of times actually and kept ending up with crisps!

Next stop Kiev!

Our Ukraine travel route.

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