Day 1 - Ukraine

November 21 -

Arriving in Warsaw early, there was not enough time in between transiting to take advantage of the free showers they have there. The best shower ever is washing a long haul flight off your body. Thankfully, the next flight to Kiev was quick. Some of the passengers were wearing masks because swine flu was an epidemic in the Ukraine. Nice. Immigration officers at KBP were gruff but efficient. Kiev airport was small and easy to manage save for the numerous shysters asking if you want a taxi. It also looks like a tacky train station. I had already done my research and knew about the super cheap Atass bus that brings you to the Voksal train and metro station.

I found the bus right out front, paid the 25UAH and was on my way. Upon reaching the train station, and realizing that walking to the hostel would be out of the question, I resigned myself to the metro. Not that I was afraid, but since I was lugging so much stuff, I was worried about crowds and watching my belongings. It turned out to be easy-peasy. All those metro rides in Russia came back to memory. Since Kiev was formally under the USSR, it has the same exact infrastructure.

Finding the hostel was also easy from the Teatralana stop, but I learned upon arriving there were actually two locations and that I would have to stay at the second hostel across the street. This turned out to be the better option as the original location was deep inside a courtyard and and occupied by a group of young school children. I settled into my own room and met up with the rest of the hostel guests: a couple from Poland, another couple from The Netherlands, a young man from the US, and two men from Finland. Jet lag finally did me in and I called it a night.