A very long day. A day not yet over still... despite already being up for the best part of 10 hours.

Thanks to a large snoring man on the bed below me we were out of our cute little Odessa hostel rather earlier than expected. At last, uber worked successfully and got us to the airport at a fifth of the price we paid to get to the hostel.

Odessa Airport really is a step back in time. There's stray dogs wandering around the check-in desks and the place can only process physical boarding passes. We were then shuttled off in the dark, the pair of us each on the only two planes present at the airport.

The flight was fast, and the only interesting aspect was the game of musical chairs that took place at boarding when most people including myself appeared to be unable to read the very clear boarding passes and find their actual seat.

I made my way to the Pivdennyi station to meet up with Rob on the Kiev-Boryspil express which I am now all too familiar with to be honest. Kiev-Boryspil international is a fair way out of Kyiv thanks to communism and the train ride is a rather spectacular journey through snow-blanketed forests peppered with industrial factories and building sites.

We had a brief, last forray into the city of Kiev. We paid a visit to the St Sophia Cathedral, one of the seven wonders of Ukraine and named after the Haga Sophia I visited in Istanbul. It's a stunning Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral with golden almost minarets, blanketed in pristine white snow.

We then had brunch in a rather plush little coffee shop, full of edgy breakfasts and coffees. I had granola. There was plenty of rum and vodka on the menu as well for the early starters.

After that, we basically done Kiev. Kiev is an intriguing city. On the one hand it's an industrial soot-covered hellish place of factories, metal iron and steel clogged with traffic, no Ladas anymore though, in fact Kiev really doesn't look that different to another European city. That said, it is peppered with architectural gems, not just stunning Orthodox churches but striking and intimidating monuments but a fair few good looking train stations. And the metro, with it's retro train cars and it's ridiculously long escalators will also be missed.

Kiev with it's broad streets, and the copious amounts of snow will not easily be forgotten. With Ukraine International providing some of the cheapest routes from the UK to Asia by far, a long-layover in Kyiv is definitely not something to be dreaded.

Also, if I do have a layover in Kyiv, I'll know the airport well! Boryspil unlike Odessa is a fully-fledged international airport with all the ammenities you'd expect. I managed to exchange my 90 hyrvinia into Russian Rubles - no prizes for guessing where I fancy going next. Also, that's about 2.50 pounds, not exactly end of the world if I end up going somewhere else. It's pretty cool having a few Russian Rouble notes, but I've kept a 1 Hyrivinia note for souvenir along with my flag and fridge magnet. That note is 1 thirty-ith of a pound.

We're currently chilling around the check-in desks. Like most non-UK airports, most of the restaurants etc. are before security, we're waiting as Rob has a bag to drop off. Every day here in Ukraine has felt 12 trillion years long. The cold, hanging around airports and the language barrier has made aspects an ordeal, but the reality is the days have been long because they've been packed. Ukraine is not a place to rush back to. In summer it would have been nicer but perhaps less intriguing and moreso the grim Soviet architecture and industrial complexes would be more on show - the snow does well at hiding the ugly side to Kyiv. Along with the fog.

So there we are, Ukraine is done. A bizarre, troubled country on the verge of disintegration for most of the last hundred years. Definitely one of these places fasincating for the sake of it's existence and it's history. Ukraine is a weird one. But, for Chernobyl and Chernobyl only - not to be missed.

Laters