A first time trip to Lugansk, Ukraine

[Big-Z]

First trip to Lugansk, Ukraine

I have just recently returned from my first trip to Lugansk, Ukraine where I spent a week and celebrated New Year's Eve there.
First off is that I could get a flight from Kiev to Lugansk but could not get a return because the airline that flies there did not operate on the day I needed to return back to Kiev and fly back home.  What I ended up doing was getting a round-trip ticket with UIA between Kiev and Donetsk then renting a car and driving to Lugansk.  The driving experience only was an eye opener since most of the road was a very poorly maintained two lane road and when you come to a railroad crossing you better stop can slowly cross the tracks.  All in all the driving to Lugansk was not difficult.  There are very few signs that tell you which road you are traveling on but there were an occasional sign that showed Lugansk direction.  I did the drive to Lugansk during daylight hours and averaged speed was 100KPH.  Being my first time driving in the country I made sure when passing by police sites that I was following other cars and driving at the speed limit posted and by the way there are very few speed limit signs.

The main road into Lugansk will take you right into the city center.  Since I only just started to learn Russian I arranged to have interrupter but only had here mobile phone number.  The plane was that I would replace my SIM chip in my phone with one from MTC.  This was my first problem in that my mobile phone was too old and the MTC SIM chip would not work.  I was lucky in that I brought a tablet PC with me and was able to send an email to the interrupter and she came to where I was.  Not too far away from the city center I had rented an apartment for duration of my visit.

My reason for being in Lugansk was to meet a lady that I had been exchanging letters for three months.  We met for the first time late in the afternoon and she had brought along her cousin but I knew she was going to do so because she asked me if this would be ok and I had agreed.  I guided to restaurant that where the interior looked like a hunting lodge with traditional Ukrainian dishes.  The lady I had come to meet spoiled me by pouring tea for me and making sure that I sampled multiple dishes.

The next day because the lady I had come to see had to work she arranged for her cousin to be my guide along with the interrupter around the city but actually it was more an excuse for the cousin to find out more about me but she did tell me a few things about my lady that I did not know.

Each night our small group went to different restaurant so that I could try different foods.  The last restaurant was one that served Georgian style foods.  It was this last restaurant that we ended up returning the following night to celebrate New Year's Eve. 

The night was a bit much for both the lady I was with and her cousin because they both suffered from a bit too much wine and champagne.  I picked up my lady that afternoon but she by the time we got to the city center I had to find a pharmacy for her to buy something to settle stomach and ended up having to take her home so I ended up having dinner with just the interrupter.

We got together the next day which was to be my last day in Lugansk and spent the morning and most of the afternoon visiting the park and then having lunch.  I soon had to depart because I knew the return drive back to Donetsk was not going to be much fun with snow now on the roads.

A couple of words of advice for a first time traveler with first being about the cash you bring with you.  Make sure that you money is nice crisp new bills.  I had a few old bills and the currency exchange place would not take do an exchange at the current rate but would do so at ninety percent of the current exchange rate.  The other is to make sure you have a pin number for your credit card.  I had never used my credit card in a bank machine to get cash so I did not have a pin number.  One last thing is if you are driving make sure you know the road signs.

I had one traffic issue and that was that I made a left turn on a city street that in one direction it was for buses only and that was the direction I was going.   Well to make a long story short there was a police officer standing there who stopped me.  At first he wanted to take my license and car registration papers to the station and said I would have to go to court on the 3rd of January which was the day I was leaving from Donetsk to fly home.  After about twenty minutes of my lady sweet talking to the police office she had me give the officer 200 hryvnia which 25 USD and he gave me back my license and car papers.
All in all it was a fantastic trip even if it was in the middle of the winter.  My lady wants me to return in the late spring or early summer so we can go to a resort in the Carpathian Mountains. 

 

[Faux Pas]

Nice TR there Big-z! Thanks for posting it. You have gotten yourself one big set of pinatas there driving in Ukraine on your first visit. I've made a half dozen trips to Russia and I still won't drive in the next half dozen

[JP5380]

yes, i'm impressed too about the driving. do you know enough basic russian to make sense of road signs?

[Big-Z]

I was surpised that most of the way to Lugansk the city name was in English.  It was not until I got within say about 30 Kilometers that it was only in Russian.

If you can drive in L.A. or Boston you can drive in the Ukraine.  The truck drivers are pretty good at turning on the right turn signal to show you that it is safe to pass them.

Just keep to the right lane as much as possible and if in the left when someone is getting close and wants to pass they will flash their headlights.  Just move out of their way.

Best way to deal with the police is to have your lady with you and let her do the talking.

[Daveman]

Heya Big-z, cool trip! Thanks for posting!


Some info gleaned..


The general rules for speed limits are


60kph cities (unless otherwise posted),
90kph on two lane roads away from the city (unless otherwise posted, but cushion to 105kph)
110kph on four lane (cushion to 125kph)


Play with the "cushion" at your own risk.  Watch for blinking headlights in the opposite traffic - speedtrap/radar alert.. Ukrainians are very good at warning each other. 


When you are cruising between cities on the two lane roads, any time you see a white sign with a town/village/whatever name, the limit drops to 60 until you see the sign again with a red line through it.


Funny how the police check points are named "DIE" ,.. heh... probably because many of the roads do completely suck out loud and could be considered suicidal pathways.  BUT, all roads leading to Kiev are being repaired ( and quite well actually) for saving a little face when the European masses crowd in there.     




My wife grew up in Zakarpatia.  I absolutely LOVE that area.  Kinda reminds me of the Smokey mountains.  Which resort are you thinking about?


Keep us posted!