My Odessa Trip

[Ravens9273]

I went to Odessa Ukraine on October 5 2007. I live in Baltimore Md (which explains the name. I know we stink big time this year but I am true fan). While searching for airfare I tried to find the best deal possible and had many options since many airports are close by to Baltimore. However the best deal I could find was on Aerosvit Airlines to leave from JFK New York. I managed to find round trip to Odessa from JFK for $652 total.
I woke up at 6am my time on the 5th to start my long journey. A bus trip by Greyhound got me to the port authority in New York ($37) then a bus from the Port Authority to JFK ($15). My Plane left at 6:15pm with a straight run to Kiev. Flight was decent.I had a window seat with the only empty seat on the plane beside me which definitely made the trip more comfortable. I think 95% of the passengers were Ukrainian returning home.
We were 2 hours late taking off from JFK due to a crowded runway which helped to make a layover in Kiev to Odessa shorter.
This was my first time and I was nervous about customs and did not know how it would work. I actually left many gifts home because I was afraid they would be taken from me. However I soon learned I could have brought a semi machine gun into the country and no one would have noticed. The only contact I had with any authority in Kiev was when they stamped my passport and the little pieace of paper I had to fill out as to where I was staying. When going through customs agents a lady asked me if I had anything to declare. I stated I did not think so so she waved me through.
I had no idea how the airport in Kiev worked. We were running late and I was concerned about missing flight to Odessa. A taxi driver approached asking if i needed a ride. I stated I was catching another flight which he asked if I needed help. I gladly accepted since I was completely lost. He took my bags and outside we went to walk to another building that did the domestic flights. I already saw the valuable help this taxi driver offered since I would never have know this. He took me straight to my gate and not a minute too soon. They were boarding already for my next flight.
I pulled $30 in American money from my pocket and gave it to the taxi driver. I think I just made his day by look on his face. However I will not think I gave him too much. His service was valuable to me or I would have missed my flight.
The plane I boarded to fly to Odessa scared the crap out of me. I think this was the plane the Wright Brothers used on their first flight. Lets just say it was very old. During the flight a panel from the ceiling fell and one of the pilots had to come out and screw it back in. Flight to Odessa was short. approx 1 hour(thank GOD. I felt like kissing the ground). I was surprised by the size of the airports. I am use to airports in the USA and to see such tiny airports shocked me. This is not what I expected.
It was raining in Odessa when we arrived. Our plane did not pull up to the main building but yet we had to get onto a bus to take us to the main building. Of coarse they park the plane right in a spot where there was a puddle about 6 inches deep at the bottom of the stairs. I was wearing fisherman style sandals with socks to make trip comfortable so feet could breath, so needles to say my feet were soaked.
Now I was going to Odessa to meet with a beautiful girl I had been writing and chatting with daily on yahoo messenger. I had met her on HRB however I will give no credit to HRB for our meeting. I met her on HRB back in 2005. However any communication with HRB about meeting was met with more obstacles and rules I felt were made to hinder an actual meeting. I sent codes to her over a few letters. The very last letter I wrote on HRB was to her reminding her of things I said and giving her hints to put it together to contact me. Simple things like once saying Yahoo was top email used in USA. Hints to what name was on Yahoo etc...I then left HRB for good. Two days later I got email in yahoo from her so I was glad she figured it out.
Finally we were able to contact each other without anyone in the middle. She gave me her phone number and I was finally able to hear her voice for the first time.
After this she left her agency as well.
We talked just about everyday on yahoo. I wanted to visit sooner yet at the time I was witness to court case that kept being postponed. New dates always interfered with making trip arrangements.
Well court finally occurred giving me the freedom to finally go to Odessa. Her and her mother were nice and offered for me to stay with them. So off I was.
Arriving in Odessa I did not have to deal with any customs or so forth since I came in on a domestic flight.
The bus from plane dropped us off at a back entrance. I walked around the airport trying to find her and saw her standing at the Arrival Flights gate with many other people. (noticed many agencies there as well picking up someone).
I have to admit she took my breath away seeing her. She did not see me because her back was to me trying to find me through the gate. I walked up behind her and tap her on the shoulder. She turned and was very happy to see me.
We waited for my luggage and while doing so I met another American man from CA who had just come to Odessa after visit to Moscow. I can see he was checking my girl out and made comments to me especially comments after hearing I was staying with her.
Well we took a taxi from the airport back to her place and this was my first sights of Ukraine other then airports.
I will admit I was curious because this was my first time in the country but at the same time I felt I was not very impressed with the sights. My first impressions were sort of gloomy and dull. But with time the place grew on me.
Back at her flat I felt a little nervous. This was a person I spent two years talking to but never stood in front of in person before. I can tell she felt the same. I thought the best way to break the tension would be to open my bags and get the gifts I brought.
Since I am a huge Ravens fan (have talked with her about American Football and peaked her interests) I brought her a number 52 Ray Lewis Jersey. I also had brought her a Ravens team autographed football I had acquired while visiting the Ravens training camp. I wanted to bring gifts that represented the USA and my city as well and could think of nothing better then Football and the Ravens. She loved the gifts as well as the other things I had brought for her. She disappeared into her bathroom to come back out wearing the Ray Lewis jersey. At that point we were very comfortable with each other and things got a little heated and I will leave it at that.
I did not meet her mother yet. Her mother worked 72 hour shifts just to have 24 hours off to do it all over again. So I only got a peek of her mother every three days.
My first full day in Odessa she began to show me her city. Now I will tell everyone here that I was there for a month and she showed me the entire city. I mean every street in the first 3 days. I saw everything from the roads. To the famous sites, museums, beaches, you name it I saw it all in my first 72 hours. I thought my legs were going to fall off. I never did so much walking in my life. Truth be told I lost 18 pounds during this trip. I am 6'2" tall and weighed 205 when going to Odessa. I love weight lifting and worked hard to build size and muscle weight just to have it vanish in a month so I was a little upset. I am also picky with food and do not eat many things. This made being there alot tougher since not much I would eat and I thought most restaurants were horrible. However I did find one place that made a great Pizza and between there and McDonald's (which I normally never eat at) is where my stomach spent all its time.
However she showed me the Opera Theater. I know everyone who goes to Odessa will see this place yet we did attend a show to see the inside. If you have been to Odessa or plan to go I recommend going to a show to see inside the building. Tickets are cheap. I paid $12 a ticket but it is worth it to see the inside of the building.
We visited Arcadia and I am looking forward to seeing it during the summer. Most things were closed due to time of year and beach was empty but it seemed to be very nice place.
7 Kilometer Market was interesting. My Fiance calls it the "FAKE MARKET". Basically you can find any knockoff you can imagine there. I bought a few fake Rolexes that will just about fool anyone unless they took them apart. Yet if you go here get use to the idea of being shoved around since it is very crowded and isles are very narrow. We also visited every other market while I was there. However if you have seen one you have seen them all.
I will admit I was shocked by the cars I saw. I thought Ukraine was suppose to be poor country yet I have never seen so many Mercedes and Lexus in my life. I was also amazed how many Bentley's I saw there. It seems in Ukraine there is no middle class. You are either poor or rich.
The Russian made LADA car was interesting. We actually visited a dealer that was having a 50% off sale on LADAS. I was curious about the car and asked salesman to look over one of them. Funny thing was a brand new one and he could not get it started to show me the car.
I also come to find every other store in Odessa is a shoe store or casino.
I also knew a couple of girls who owned their own agencies that I was very good friends with. I had oportunity to meet with them as well for a night out.
They gave me alot of insights into the business. I remember one night we went out to night club and we saw a lady talking to a very beautiful younger girl. My fiance looked at me and said the lady was from agency and talking to girl about joining agency and telling her how she can get many gifts from men as ploy for her to join. After being there and in person I believe this is why most girls join agencies. What many websites give as reasons for ladies looking for foreign men I saw not to be true. I remember one guy I saw standing in front of McDonalds's waiting to meet a lady I talked to. He said he was meeting a lady from Army of brides. I saw translator meet him and take him away to meet lady. Later in the evening I saw the three of them together. The girl was walking away from the man. Then the girl and translator stopped to look at boots in store window. My fiance and I talked to the man again when he was alone. I asked did she manage to slip in her shoe size when looking at the boots in the wondow for him to hear. He said "Yes, size 38".
I remember reading many threads by Men and could not figure it out at all because I only had my experience to go off of. But being there in person I saw what many Men go through and how careful one must be and how much of it is fake. Like I said I am just very happy I have been so lucky and I have a better understanding for everyone else and the issues they face on this voyage.
First meeting with Mother was filled with alot of smiles. She could not speak a word of English but we seemed to understand what each other thought and was saying. She was a delightful Women and I enjoyed my time with her tremendously.
I also met her father as well who also could not speak English. He as well was very kind and friendly to me and was interested in starting business with me to get John Deere tractors from USA to send to Ukraine for resell.
I am not a drinker but they have tradition to have drink whenever meeting someone for first time so needless to say a nondrinker had quiet a few drinks.
During my visit I developed a toothache. Now in Ukraine they do not have the life saving products such as Orajel or Anbesol. So we made appointment with dentist to take care of the problem. I was worried about this since I have read many reports from men complaining about bringing their Russian Wives to dentists here to find they need much work done. So this made me think that dental care was not that great in Ukraine. Well I did go to the dentist and the dentists fixed my tooth. I had bad cavity. She drilled it and filled it and did a great job. She did not use the metal filling. In fact when she finished it looked like my tooth was never touched. It looked 100% natural and it cost me $18. I could not believe it so I had her go through my entire mouth and fix anything that may need to be done. Not once did I feel pain and she took great care. I know for now on where I am going to the dentist. Save $$$$$$$ big time.
As I saw the city I realized my first impressions upon arrival were wrong. I started to enjoy Odessa tremendously. The Women were absolutely beautiful. I got a kick out of seeing many American Men standing outside of McDonald's waiting to meet a lady through agency. You can always spot them a mile away. Always standing there holding flowers. I did speak to a few when I had a chance.
A few times I tried food from street vendors in their little booths. I recommend avoiding this at all costs. Especially that Charma (I think that is how you spell it) however the chicken wrap with glow in the dark ketchup and dried up fries in it. The stuff was horrible. I thought more then anything the people here are starving for good food which explains why McDonald's was so busy. They love American Food.
Before my visit we had discussed the possibility of getting married. We had known each other for 2 years and I very much cared for her even though I had not seen her in person. We thought just in case if this is how we felt upon in person meeting that it would be best to be prepared. I did bring paperwork with me from USA that was required to be married in Ukraine (proof of being single etc..).
Our in person meeting only proved more that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her and she felt the same as well. Other then personal time in the bathroom I spent every minute with her the whole month.
We visited wedding palace right by the Opera Theater and presented documents I was told to bring only to find out they cannot accept any documents from the USA. Now to any man reading this who plans to marry in Ukraine. There is no document you can bring to Ukraine they will accept. Right now understand you WILL HAVE to visit the US Embassy in Kiev. They also only do paperwork on Fridays before 12 noon.
So off to Kiev we were. We took a bus to Kiev that was an all night trip. The trip made me very car sick and I was no good by the time we reached Kiev. I was a mess at the counselors office getting documents. Two other American Men were there with their fiances as well getting the paperwork. We all became instant friends. From there we had to go to some Ukraine Legal building to have the document stamped and certified. My new friends were also there and our fiances were all helping each other fill out the paperwork to get the documents certified.The document was available for pickup after 4pm. At this time I felt better and we realized we had an opportunity to see Kiev.
Kiev is absolutely a beautiful city. I was very impressed with Kiev however I noticed a big difference between the people in Kiev as to Odessa. Odessa seems to be more of a high fashion city. Everyone is dressed to high fashion. In Kiev they were more conservative and in more Business dress. But in Odessa the ladies love the tall boots with high heels. I do not know how they can walk around in them all day but somehow they do.
The rest of my trip we just spent time together doing normal things and enjoying our time together. By the time I left I felt like Odessa was my home.
November 6 came sooner them I wanted and it was time for me to go home. It was a very emotional departure for the two of us. Odessa would not allow her to go to gate with me and we had to say our goodbyes outside of security checkpoint.
I went through security and time was close for flight departure. When arriving at the airport I noticed alot of people with video cameras and did not know why. I soon found out while sitting at the gate to leave. The President of Ukraine was arriving in Odessa. The airport was on lock down and everyone had to wait for his arrival. I saw his plane land and they were right in front of our gate when he got off the plane. Everyone watched through the window.
However thanks to the Pres we were late arriving in Kiev and my return flight to New York had already left. The airline had to book us on other flights.
Customs to leave was even easier then when I arrived. I gave my passport where it was stamped and they took the small pieace of paper back from me that I filled out when I arrived. That was it. No other contact with anyone.
I guess I had a very good trip. Not one run in with Ukraine Police. I walked past 100's of them yet not one ever stopped me.
I had to fly to Germany. From Germany to Paris and from Paris to New York to get home. I was 10 hours late from my normal arrival time in New York.
I enjoyed my trip tremendously and learned alot. I also saw Ukraine as a place full of opportunities. My family has always been in the restaurant business and thought Ukraine could use some real good American Restaurants. My brother owns a chain of restaurants in NC. He worked for Hooters for 8 years then Ruby Tuesdays before opening his own place. After talking with him and checking with Hooters we have decided to take Ukraine region for Hooters. So we are in the process now of getting everything together to open the first Hooters restaurant in Ukraine. Hooters requires we open at least 5 restaurants to get the region. Needless to say we are starting with Odessa due to knowing people there who are helping but will be working our ways to other cities. Kiev is second.
I am going back again in February and this time we will be married. I guess I am lucky compared to many I have seen writting posts. My experience has broken about every rule many write here. I only wrote to one lady and for over 2 years before in person meeting. So I will say my experience is rare. But I found the gem in my life and I wish everyone else the same happiness I have found.

[bgreed]

Hey Raven,
Sounds like you had a great trip.  my first trip to FSU was to Odessa in November of 2005.  It's a pretty cool town made acouple of friends there that I still stay in touch with.

And yeah the whole paperwork process in Kiev is a trip.  Never could figure out why when you were there before noon you had to wait until afet 4pm to get your paperwork back when all they have to do is collect some money and put a stamp on it.  Oh well it's Ukraine

I never went to the pizza place your talking about however i have been to Marios and like most pizza in UA was terrible.  Ihave thought about opening a pizza place in Sumy where my wife is from.  believe good pizza is not the norm.  Hooter would probably go over pretty good Americana has a special attraction there.  Don't know how the spicy wings will go over though

Happy for you that everything worked out great and you found that special lady.  Best of luck
Gregg

[Ravens9273]

BGreed,

I also ate once at Mario's. Fully agree with you. I ordered a Calzone. I got dough with an egg inside of it. Had no taste to it at all and I could not figure out what the mystery center was until I finally hit yolk. Was very upset with them.

But I agree. They love Americana. I introduced my Fiance to Peanut Butter and Jelly. I explained to her this is why not many people there had smiles on their faces. They did not have peanut butter and jelly as a kid. 

However she was hooked on it after the first try. She was eating it everyday afterwards.

[LiveFromUkraine]

Maybe you should spend more time in Ukraine before investing into businesses.  It is a whole different world than what you are used to.


Congrats on the trip. Hopefully it all works out for you.  I do worry about the amount of time you spent before getting married but that seems to be the norm on these boards.



Thomas

[Donhollio]

The summers in Odessa are the best in UA  IMO.  There's lot's to see and some beaches are very easy on the eyes
 I've spent many hours at 7km
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventh-Kilometer_Market

 Personaly I think it's a tourist attraction in it's self. While a lot of it is fake, I have bought some good stuff there as well. Having to jump out of the way when a wide load comes down the narrow walkways is a blast !

 Take Thomas's advice.  Hamburgars are not seen as being "Good for Health" and the guys who I know from there ,never eat them.  BTW if you want to see the big girls in UA just sit inside a McD's, it's the only place you'll see them, the slim one's will have a ice cream and coffee/tea.  There's also the service fee to the boyz and Odessa was refered to as Mob central of the FSU.
 
Other than that , enjoy the future with your wife.

[wxman]

It's a breeze going through customs at Borispol airport "terminal B"  They really don't care what you bring in, and rarely ask questions. Since I have a ton of Ukrainian stamps in my passport, they just leave me alone and never ask anything anymore. However, if you bring valuable gifts, and tranfer to another city through Terminal A, you just might lose some of them. I've lost a few things in my carry on luggage, which when flying a prop, they now make you check. They x ray all of them again, and if you check it early, they have time to look through it, especially if they see english on the luggage name tags we so foolishly put on our luggage. I always wait to check my luggage, and don't put any name tags on my luggage. No reason to do so, as they give you a luggage claim ticket for each piece.