Going to Ukraine in 2 weeks, recommendations?

[stevew]

Hello Everyone,
Thank you for all the good information! I have been lurking for awhile and trying to read everything.
I am going to Ukraine in 2 weeks to meet a lady I have been communicating with. But I will be there a week before she is able to take off work. So I wanted to know if anyone had recommendations for a place to go and stay. I would like to have an opportunity to meet other women while I am there, in case the lady and I decide we are not suitable for one another. I want to get away from Kiev. I have a farm, so would like to find someone who is not opposed to a rural life. (Although in the US, it is modern, and there are plenty of towns and cities nearby.) Would Lviv be a good place to go for the first week? How would I get there from Kiev? Any information on how to find an apartment there? And the lady I am meeting is in Poltava. Does anyone know how to find apartments there? She is helping me, but all the links she emailed are in Russian...
Thank you,
Steve

[ghost of moon goddess]

Steve, please check out links below for requested info
http://www.rent-lviv.com/
http://rooms.poltava.ua/about_poltava/

Lviv is a place worth visiting, I promise
Poltava is a beautiful small town, you will like it

Kiev train schedule:

http://travel-2-ukraine.com/transportation/train-schedule.php?id=7&city=Kiev

Welcome to Ukraine!

[stevew]

Thank you, I had read somewhere that trains in Ukraine can be dangerous for foreigners. Is this true?

[ghost of moon goddess]

I thought the travel advice from British embassy in Kiev might be interesting for you

http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/europe/ukraine

[stevew]

Thank you again. I have seen in different places on this board that it is possible that some of the commercial members may be able to make introductions. Is it possible, who would be able to do that, in what location, and what are the fees?
Steve

[Patagonie]

Excuse me i have few tricky questions :

Why do you want to go to Lvov if your lady lives in Poltava, have you seen a map ???
How are you going to explain to this lady that you are coming from lvov, perhaps the throuser not well closed ? Or if you reverse how will you explain her that you are leaving  in advance of one week (if she asks to see your plane ticket, what will you do ?), in particular if she likes you.

I think you really to plan all NOW.

[stevew]

I know Lviv is pretty far. Just exploring options, I have not decided anything yet. I am going in advance primarily in case there is bad weather that will cause delays. After checking the train schedules, I probably will not have time to go as far a Lviv.
I will take care of any explanations that are necessary.

[Patagonie]

I think you have to meet this lady first.
Plan A
You can choose two options. Tell her that you come two weeks and if you don't like her or something is wrong you can move to the next big city which is Kharkov.
Plan B
You can do the same and tell her that you come for one week. If you really like her you can say : i really like you and i can change my tickets and stay one week more. What do you think of that ? If your feeling is so so and you want to meet others girls so it's easy to leave, take the train to Kharkov (which is logical to go because you have a direct plane to go to Kiev). And then you can date. If you don't like Kharkov you can go to Dnepr (by train 3 hours). Then you can return to Kiev - from Dnep - by plane.
But know that the top of the top is to get a feet in agency's offices the friday, to let them to call ladies and have yours firsts date during the week end. The most important time is the week end. Don't expect that FSU women are just waiting you and available. They work a lot, have their own life, and childrens if they are not singles.

It's time to assess your strategy, to get information of which cities are included in your plan and therefore to know which agencies (and ladies' sites of the choiced city) you are going to work with. Don't choice more than two cities for a two weeks trip.
And enjoy.

Pat

[Patagonie]

Get two or three days max to make your plan. When it's done stick on it.

[stevew]

Thank you for your input, I appreciate it! I agree with you about sticking to two cities...

[Muzh]

You can do the same and tell her that you come for one week. If you really like her you can say : i really like you and i can change my tickets and stay one week more. What do you think of that ?

Pat

Pat, the flaw with this plan is: Does Steve here speaks Russian, well enough to pretend he is making changes to his ticket?

I know that the woman, IF she is interested in him and the main assumption for all this planning, will insist on helping Steve to the transaction since she knows (and we assume) that Steve will not be able to communicate with a travel agent. Keep in mind that in UA, when you deal with airlines, to make changes you have to go to a travel agent in the city OR call their office at the airport and good luck in finding an English-speaking rep. From experience.

Steve, keep that in mind.

[Patagonie]

Good point Muzh. Here are solutions :
 
 1/ communication, bring a little laptop, asks to the girl to go to people.net and buy a 3G key with a sim card. Buy credit of course and not the cheapeast one. Tell the girl you need because your brother is ill and you really like your family and tatatitata.
 
 2/ Let a buddy in your country in the confidence and let him a check or some money. Lets  him also details about your complete identity.
 
 3/ Buy a X - Kiev round trip AND the problem is to go to Poltava : no plane. And you need to know that Poltava is between Kiev and Kharkov. So i you want to escape, escape that you leave by Kharkov because after your main flight is almost connected with the Kharkov-Kiev one.
 
 4/ buy the flight by yourself by credit card, have a look on these three links :
 http://www.flyuia.com/eng/main_fr.html?gclid=CPibntnKtK0CFcdG3god8T6Ing
http://www.khors.com.ua/  http://booking.dniproavia.com/index.php?lang=en  http://www.flyuia.com/eng/main_fr.html?gclid=CPibntnKtK0CFcdG3god8T6Ing
 
 5/ If it doesn't work prepare a mail with the flight you want, call your friend 30 sec that an important email is arriving and you need his help. He will order the ticket for you. Don't forget to ask him the email ticket.
 When you have a problem it's because you are using a western credit card payement with an ukrainian IP.
 
 6/ you can aslo make a bet an bought the return flight before leaving, if you change your plan you will loose between 50 and 100 $ normally.
 
 
 
 7/ In case such things doesn't work at all. Use a terp, any terp and even a student will be happy to do such thing. Per hour it must cost between 10 and 15 $, the will help you to buy the train ticket (in advance preferentially) and help you anything you want to do. 
 
 
 8/ last thing : scroll my previous posts and you will find very valuables informations about agencies - terps in cities i talked and even a taxi (honest, yes not the easiest type of person to find).

[stevew]

Thanks for all the suggestions, but I'm not interested in 1. lying to the lady in question or 2. changing my flight schedule. I am interested in seeing some of Ukraine (not just the women, I like history and Ukraine interests me). So I will do this first, and then go see the lady in Poltava.
Steve

[Muzh]

Hey Steve, have fun and good luck. 

[JR]

UkraineApartments.com

[stevew]

Thank you! So if I get an inexpensive apartment because it really does not matter to me, I am not into luxury, are Ukrainian women going to think I am greedy?

[mendeleyev]

Steve, first stay where you want. Don't worry what they think.

Next, Steve, you will not exhaust Kyiv in a week. I'd love to have a week free to visit Kyiv. It is Ukraine's most historic and largest city, the birthplace of Russia. Ukraine's former capital of Kharkiv is not bad either but given a choice, I'd rather spend a week exploring Kyiv.
 
 Unless you speak Russian, Kyiv is the best place to get help with directions, etc, as more English speakers will be there than anywhere else in Ukraine.
 
 
 http://www.kyiv.com
 
 Kiev apartments: http://www.kievrent.net/a_result.php
 
 ()
 
 
 ()
 
 
 Poltava
 
 ()
 
 
 ()
 
 
 Poltava photos: http://poltava.info/poltava-photo.htm
 
 Poltava apartments/hotels: http://www.kievrent.net/a_result.php?City=Poltava
 
 http://welcome-to-poltava.com.ua/
 
 (I cannot vouch for any of these apartment services.)
 
 
 Poltava is the administrative HQ for a regional (province/county) "oblast" and the Dniper river makes it one cool place for summer sport!
 
 
 Poltava is a nice are and not far from another very nice little city, Kremenchug.
 
 Kremenchug: ()

Note: I put the YouTube links in () because for some reason they're not loading today and simply didn't show up at all, leaving large white spaces. At least this way you can cut and paste and watch them on another tab.

[mendeleyev]

Ok, seems like putting them inside () made them load. Odd, but they're shown.

As for riding on the train, it will be fine. I'd recommend 2nd class as that way you'll have berth communicate, share food, etc. 3rd class works too, but far less privacy as it is like coach class.

[GoodOlBoy]

Steve, first stay where you want. Don't worry what they think.

As for riding on the train, it will be fine. I'd recommend 2nd class as that way you'll have berth communicate, share food, etc. 3rd class works too, but far less privacy as it is like coach class.

To the OP, it is just GOB's opinion BUT, you might want to listen to what the man says.
 
GOB

PS.... Good Luck!!

[jeff9556]

Steve, is this the first time you traveled to Europe? When I travel in Europe I like to choose an apartment or hotel based on where it is, rather than on how much it costs - for example I like places with lots of restaurants and cafes, and certainly inner city, and with regards to transportation (although I am not familiar with the layout of Kyiv). I like to be able to walk to buss, metro or train etc without to much trouble.

Sure cost is always a factor, but cheap can backfire and incur transportation costs, or not be close to food or the places you really want to visit - which might all be in a certain vicinity to each other, so might be better to cough up a bit more for somewhere close by, rather than shop on bottom dollar basis only. Just my 2c.

[Vincenzo]

I am going to Ukraine in 2 weeks to meet a lady I have been communicating with. But I will be there a week before she is able to take off work.

I don't understand.
If she works when you're in her city, you can still meet for couple hours after work. If you arrive on Friday, you'll have the next weekend together.

How is it possible? You're in her city and she doesn't want to meet even for a moment.

[Kuna]

SteveW,

If your lady is in Poltava but you want to see somewhere else (other than Kiev) then I'd suggest you take a few days in Cherkassy or Dnepropetrovsk.  Both aren't too far from Poltava.

Cherkassy is a smaller city on the Dnepr River.  There is a very good Museum of Natural History there... well worth a visit.  Also,  there's a HUGE park on the river (to the north of the city I think) that "a friend" might take you too... a nice walk,  some very nice scenery in winter and you may even get to go ice-fishing (if that takes your fancy).

If you go to Cherkassy I'd suggest getting a private car (and driver)...  If you return later you can try to negotiate the buses but a car will be hassle free this time.  Should cost you $200 - $250.



Dnepropetrovsk is a bigger city (~1 million people) but more laid back than Kiev.  Dnepr is a very nice city in my opinion (but my wife is from there) with a few big parks which are nice for walking and a very nice area to walk along the river (The Embankment).  In "centre" it's pretty easy to get along even if you don't speak "much" Russian - but try to have a few words before arriving.  Moct shopping centre (pronounced moh-st) is very modern and a good place to get out of the cold - there's also free wifi in the coffee shop on level one with the passcode on the receipt. There's some nice restaurants (affordable too) up on level 1 as well if you wnat to do some people watching.  European Square also has a large shopping centre on it and a few nice cafe's/shops.

There's the Opera and a Museum of History which are noth worth visiting.  if you go to the Museum go around the back to the War Museum - it's excellent.  As you go around the back of the museum you'll see a park down the stairs.  As you meander through that park eventually you'll get to the river and to the right (if you were walking straight) there is a small island called Monastery Island.  Again,  worth a visit but I've not been there in Winter... 

There's a trolley car (tram) that will take you from near Moct right up to the train station in Kiev.  Cheap (I think 1.5 grivna) and a nice way to see the city along Karl Marx Avenue.  When you come back down get off the tram at the Opera and walk down the centre of Karl Marx - there should be some market stalls there with some interest craft and gift ideas for the folk at home.

If you go to Dnepropetrovsk take the train from Kiev.  It's a 6 hour ride on a nice modern express train.  Seating is like an aircraft seat (comfortable) and you'll get to see the countryside on the way.  (Toilets on the train are clean too... but take some loo paper just in case)...   

If you want to do the quick dash you can fly... tickets will be about $150 last time I flew... train is much cheaper but the flight is OK too.



With regards to Lviv... we don't see many men go there for some reason.  There doesn't seem to be the same opportunities to meet/marry women but I've heard it is a beautiful city in any case.  You might be prepared for a different culture to Eastern Ukraine though... Lviv was formerly in Poland but now is somewhat the nationalist centre of Ukraine from what I understand.  My wife has commented about people being very rude if she speaks Russian in Lviv - and when I was "searching" I was corresponding with one girl from there who was pretty rude when talking about languages and Eastern Ukraine, etc.

No matter where you decide to go there will undoubtedly be plenty of people here who can offer help or advice for your trip.

Good luck!

[chivo]

As for riding on the train, it will be fine. I'd recommend 2nd class as that way you'll have berth communicate, share food, etc. 3rd class works too, but far less privacy as it is like coach class.

NO it doesn't  .
 
Trains are fine but seriously never travel by train cheaper than 2nd class especially with your woman and especially the first time. You can thank me later.
 
Enjoy your stay in Ukraine.

[Hammer2722]

Steve, I just got back from 2.5 weeks in Lviv 2 days ago. If you are dead set on going there you won't be disappointed. It's a beautiful city and much more European than the Eastern cities. I recommend you go online and find an apartment in the city center.Just type in apts in Lviv.You can find decent apartments with WIFI for about 40-50 dollars a night.Sometimes even cheaper now that the holidays are over. This way all you have to do is walk to all the sights of interest if your already in the center and won't need to always hail a cab. The weather in Lviv has been much warmer than the norm but my fiance tells me it will soon change so plan on bringing some really warm clothing as there is already snow on the ground there. My girl lives near Lviv so if you have any questions or are in a stuck or bad situation, feel free to PM me here and I can give you her cell phone number. She speaks good English and is always willing to help out with calling a cab and negotiating a fare a head of time. The taxis at the rail station will try to fleece you. It should not cost you more than 60 Grivna to go from the station to the center. Good luck.

[nygna_pomosh?]

Steve, good luck in Ukraine.

Does your lady know that you are not sure about her? I bet she is already planning her wedding :-)