Travel Journal

Day 1: 23rd July 2010

City: Kiev

Flight: British Airways- 09:45- 15:05 arrived 15 minutes early, but took 1 hour to get through immigration: not enough staff at all, but far less security conscious than the rest of Europe, the 1 unarmed soldier at the airport looked like Hoggle from Jim Henson's Labyrinth.

On the flight my "single serving friend" [note the homage to Fincher] was a Ukrainian girl from the Russian/Ukrainian border who has been living in Taunton, Somerset for 8 years- visiting family here for a week.

And so... Kiev or Kyiv- and the confusion doesn't end there- somewhere between traditional Soviet concrete, Parisian street bars and a commercialised New York City (with its very own statue of liberty-esque monument towering over the cityscape) this city doesn't cease to confuse!

The road system makes Milton Keynes look as easy to navigate as the M3 and I wouldn't dare try to figure out how to negotiate walking around these spaghetti loops. The metro system is over ground, underground, in shopping centres or hidden behind cryptic doors and feels more like a Greek orthodox chapel than London's "very much in need of redecorating" tube system- beautifully tilled walls and chandeliers adorn each station, with escalators which seem to go up to the heavens to accompany. The only downside- and a major one at that- is they are impossible to navigate if you can't read the Cyrillic alphabet.

Young people, business men and taxi drivers: charming and will go out of their way to help you, the taxi drivers seat you in the front and give you a guided tour with recommended itinerary or show you a book to illustrate just how complex their language is.

To travel on the metro you have to tell the counter assistant the number of stations you want to visit and collect plastic tokens (its all a bit Legoland!) and fear not, if you do not speak Russian or Ukrainian, they will keep repeating themselves, but just shout it louder until someone appears from the queue to attempt to assist you.

There is a heat wave here- 35 degrees- too hot for all this, my 2 ½ hour jaunt around Kiev's metro system was enough of an adventure- the city is huge and Babyn Yar and me are at opposite ends. There are no tourist points, no road or location signs in the Roman script- all in all confusing, unless you know the Cyrillic alphabet. The 45 minute walk to the metro seemed endless and ATM machines at best give you heart failure (you have to press cancel to get your card back) and at worse just simply do not work. Not the weather for it, sweltering, but have a bit of a tan appearing, feels like a wasted trip and unnecessary expense: in the future go with instinct- seemed like it would be difficult, shouldn't have attempted it- never mind you don't know until you have tried it.

I cried a little on the escalator: a couple tried to comfort me in Ukrainian- didn't help, just emphasised the fact I was a lost, wandering English girl with no hope of ever getting back to her hotel had I not given up and grabbed the nearby taxi. At this point I was still an hour away from Babyn Yar, the sun was starting to set and I had come out of the metro station, only to discover I was at the same metro station I had been at about 1 1/2 hours ago, despite trying to ask directions from numerous people along the way.

I am resting now- looking at the lovely view of this Ukrainian statue of liberty and the golden roofs of the Orthodox Churches, if I was going to come back here again, I would definitely do the following:

-Come for longer, ½ a day is not long enough to battle with the transport systems- the city is much bigger than it appears on the maps

-Get a map in Cyrillic script and/or learn the bloody alphabet

-Stay in the city centre, curse STA's travel associate who "sort of guessed" that their hotels would be centralised- for future reference, its basically the Kingston-on-Thames of Central London: no where near!

-Get a taxi driver (Who offered this service) to drive me around the city- a good Christian whose wife and children went on holiday to London today for a week- at least I will have his cheery conversation to entertain me on the way back to the airport tomorrow at 12:30.

Tonight I will spend trying to learn Latvian so that perhaps I can survive in the next country for the 3 days I am there!! I wonder if I can get a guide to take me to Salaspils- might be worth it- have internet access in the foyer: will explore this.