Visiting Europe for the first time. What can I expect?

[MStrike1978]

Greetings everyone.

I am an attractive 31 year old male that lives alone in Wisconsin. I have a successful job which affords me the ability to go on one or two vacations a year. I have taken a few singles cruises, been to Hawaii, Belize, Grand Cayman, Costa Rica, Cozumel, Puerto Rico, and just got back from Las Vegas. I have traveled. Dating is not a problem for me. However... I believe that I have become, perhaps, disenchanted, with the American woman. I've dated... and find most women to be mostly selfish, un-kept, guarded, smoking alcoholics, and generally unfeminine. I am not faulting anybody, these are just my personal observations. We are all just trying to find happiness.

I have, however, dated some very kind-hearted women, but despite this, I will honestly say, the attraction was not sufficient to keep me around. I would like to meet my beautiful sweetheart with a heart of gold.

My question to the group is.... I will be visiting Kiev / Poltava this year with AFA, and I have never been to Europe. I have been working on my Ukranian for the past week and should be able to have short conversations, and understand "some" conversations.

What are some reasonable expectations for this trip? My ultimate goal would be to find someone that I am happy and satisfied with, but I won't be adverse to having a little fun while I am down there either.

Any advice for me....

(Ready to be flamed if necessary).....

[Chicagoguy]

There are serious girls in their early 20's from Ukraine, Russia, Moldova and more countries every Summer in Eagle River and even more in the Dells. Maybe there are other locations I don't know about. Plus they speak English !

[facetrock]

Here is some advice... Forget the tour.. Go write some women from free sites and go visit.
Your young and you dont need a tour, plenty women will be happy to meet with you and tours dont have the best of reputations.
Learn Russian not Ukrainian

[MStrike1978]

Are the tours not the best way to meet the most women?

[myrddin]

Are the tours not the best way to meet the most women?

 Maybe quantity, but not quality.  They've been known to recruit women with promises of free food and drink (I've heard some are simply prostitutes).  Odds are against finding a sincere woman, which is presumably the goal.  Meeting real women is not at all difficult in Ukraine.

Best way is to go there, make friends, and meet people the way you do anywhere else.

You can also join free websites like freepersonals.ru and mamba.ru

And there are people who will place ads for you (at a cost, of course) and help with apartments, translations, transportation, general advice, and so on.

What kind of attention can I expect from the women as a younger American man sharply dressed?

You can expect attention, perhaps even intoxicating attention if you're not used to it, but where it goes depends on the character inside those sharp threads.

Oh, and Welcome MStrike!!

[JR]

Welcome MS Strike,

Forget the Ukrainian. More Ukrainians speak the Russian Language than native. Learning Russian will take you further.

Ukrainians smoke and drink. They can be guarded. They will also be feminine and well kept. And they can be just as selfish as people from any other society. It is all about the individual.

I'd also say ditch the tour and strike out on your own.

Best of everything to you.

[I/O]

First thing to note is "Ukraine" is NOT "Europe" (not speaking geographically here), not by a long chalk.

[MStrike1978]

Thanks everyone.... I am very much looking forward to experiencing this for myself. I will admit... I am hoping to get alot of attention. If I have a good experience, I will likely visit Russia as well this year.

First thing to note is "Ukraine" is NOT "Europe" (not speaking geographically here), not by a long chalk.

Really? A whole post just to make a point of something that I am already aware of? I never said it was. I just said I have never been to Europe.

[facetrock]

 Your missing the point MStrike. Even though Ukraine is in Europe it is not like other European countrys and it hard to explain until you have been to both.
 Huge difference.
Looking at the places you have been to, this will be far different than anything you have experienced. Very little English spoken, most signs are in Cyrrilic compared to western European countrys where English is common.
I think your mind is made up about the tour. Hopefully you can meet someone but I would be very surprised if you do.

[I/O]

Really? A whole post just to make a point of something that I am already aware of?

Aware enough to head your thread up with.........

Visiting Europe for the first time. What can I expect?

Suggest you dump the 'tude before setting sail. The FSU can be a graveyard.

[Boethius]

Actually JR and facetrock, you're wrong about Ukrainians not speaking Ukrainian.  Russian is more commonly spoken in Eastern Ukraine.  Poltava is a pretty strongly "Ukrainian" region of the country.

[JR]

I bow to your home town knowledge Boethius but I still say the Russian language will take him further. It will be spoken in Western Ukraine while Ukrainian won't be spoken in Russia, which he says he may visit next.

[Markus]

MStrike,

I think an earlier point being made is that going to a European city such as Frankfurt, Germany or Stockholm, Sweden is quite different than Kiev.
In Frankfurt and Stockholm many people speak English. It's rather easy to get around and communicate. In Kiev, there are not as many English
speaking people like there are in some of the cities in the EU. I've never been to Kiev and am going on what my wife says. She's been there many
times to visit relatives. I can say each year I go to Russia, I touch up on the Russian words I know and I still cannot carry on a good conversation,
but I can communicate some. The phrases I know don't get me too far in a conversation. You might be able to expect the same.

I/O wasn't giving you a geography lesson, just saying that visiting Western Europe is quite different than FSU countries in Europe.

Mark

[ECOCKS]

Simple advice:

Learn Russian, it's more useful and no one there really cares that a visitor learned a popular language rather than"Ukrainian".

Take the tour if you want. However, if you are serious you can read/study this site and then setup your own trip with good efficiency and productivity. Lots of us will help if you ask and engage in discussion.

This is a long process so keep a safe expectation and pace yourself if you are serious about a woman for the long-haul. If you want a show pony, you can find one, buy her a house and give her half your bank account balance every 3-5 years.

[Shadow]

Apart from the language, Ukraine is more European as some people believe. When you look past some financial issues the building style and general mentality of the people is closer to European as to Asian.

Mstrike it depends on what you aretrying to do. If your goal is to see a bit of the country and have a good time with some women, the tour will be ok.
As you will stand out as one of the younger guys, expect many women to be around you. However tours do not have a good reputation inside the FSU, meaning that the quality of women you will meet might not be high.

I can suggest you to send a PM to the member 'Law' who has been on a tour, his trip report is still here somehwere though it was side-tracked by a pictures issue.