Hi y'all,
I decided to go ahead and make an initial post in a new TR thread regarding an upcoming trip I will be making to Kharkov, Ukraine in March. Surprisingly there is only one other thread in this forum section, which I find curiously strange. Eh, ok, live and let live. Hope my thread makes this section seem a little more like home and that other members will post here too. Why? Well I am glad you asked. I am a long-time member of RWD who has grown tired of the difficulties associated with the open TR forum section. Most of what I had to offer when posting there kept getting lost in all of the squabbles from posters who shed more heat than light and who had no problems with hijacking another person's TR. So I decided to give this a try. And here we are.
Ok enough of the preliminaries let's talk a bit regarding the trip itself. I have not been to Ukraine since September 2006. Instead I have been travelling exclusively to Russia, so admittedly this will be a "new" experience for me, though after having been to Ukraine ~8 or 9 times in the past, it's hardly "new."
My stateside interpreter is named Elena, she does my three-way phone conversations with women from the FSU. She's originally from Moscow and asked me to give Russia a try. So I did. It's been good and I'll probably go back there someday, but for some reason, probably the reports of other men who have been there, I have this strong interest in trying my search in Kharkov. So here we go!
I have already begun doing some preliminary work in preparation for travelling to Kharkov. I will be flying Delta from Austin through Atlanta, JFK and then direct to Kiev (KBP). Based on my arrival time the only flight to Kharkov from Kiev (currently) doesn't depart until around 5-something PM (Aerosvit). So I'm gonna have a wait. No big deal, Delta had a sale going on at the time I purchased the tickets, so it's well worth it. I'd have preferred to go direct to JFK from/to Austin instead of through Atlanta, but oh well. No big whoop. So the travel aspect should be straightforward enough, though a friend of mine has cautioned me about the early morning flight out of Kharkov back to Kiev. Sometimes it doesn't happen if the weather is in the least bit "poor", so I'm considering taking the bus from Kharkov back to Kiev, the one that takes you straight to KBP. We'll see. TBD. That's the only concern I have on the travel front. Delta has always delivered my luggage when I've been to the FSU, so I have confidence that this phenomenon will continue.
At the moment I am planning on doing the personal ad in the newspaper thing. I am working with Slava on this aspect of my trip. I have read both the good and the bad regarding Slava here on RWD. So far he's done "ok" by me, but I am keeping a watchful eye out and will report back on RWD how he conducts himself. The biggest criticism seems to be his busy schedule and therefore not keeping up with all of the women who respond to the ads. I have raised this issue with him and he has assurred me that he will do a good job of managing everything. We'll see. I think he reads RWD too, but I have no worries in mentioning all of this right now, because it's nothing I haven't discussed directly with him already. So if you ARE reading Slava, do a good job for me! ;-) Hahaha!
That having been said I will also use another interpreter named Mila. She has also been mentioned on RWD. So far she has also done an "ok" job. However she won't be running a personals ad for me. Instead, Mila also offers an introductory service where you can meet one of the women who she personally knows for a small fee, plus her interpreting time. Kinda like what you find in an agency, only much cheaper and with "non-agency" women. This will be the extent of my involvement with Mila, as she is busy with another client who will be in Kharkov at the same time as me. If she has time and if I meet a woman through the personal ads, then I will have a meeting with Mila and the woman to get Mila's point of view "as a fellow Ukrainian woman", to use the words of a mutual friend. 'Seems like a good idea, UW-to-UW so I'll go with it.
Slava is also responsible for finding a good flat for me to use while I stay in Kharkov. He's been fairly good at taking photos and sending those photos of the various flats for me to review. If you go, there are many sources from which you can draw in order to find the best deal on a flat. Some also offer airport and train transfers as well. See the links at the bottom of this post for references. My only real requirements will be some form of Internet connection and a working washing machine that we are allowed to use.
Finally, Slava will be my primary interpreter for the meetings through the newspaper ads, or one of his assistants, depending on how things go. I've told him that I'd prefer to use just one interpreter if possible, but that I'll understand if that isn't possible. I just don't want to have a different interpreter everyday, that kind of thing. We'll see what develops.
Agencies. Oh boy. You know, I've used about as many agencies as anyone and I've come to only two real conclusions:
1) There is no 100% honest agency
2) You can still meet a good woman through an agency
Which seems almost contradictory, I realize that, but that is my experience. At this point, I intend to meet one or two women through Charming Brides and about the same through Kevin's Kherson Girls affiliate in Kharkov named Kharkov Marriage Agency. So far these agencies seem to be ok, but I'm reserving judgement. I've also had some involvement with the IDI-Bridge agency, but the jury is still out on them, to be fair. So we'll see. I will give a more detailed report of my experiences with these agenices, be that experience good, bad or indifferent upon my return home. The model that I will follow however for this trip will be to attempt to meet my future other half through the personal ads that Slava will run for me or the women who Mila will introduce me to, with the agencies being relegated to a backup role. I have done the personal ad thing only once and the result was a mixed bag, mostly consisting (as others have commented on in other threads) of women who I simply didn't have any chemistry with, many times for both of us. Finally, to "round out" the approach model, I will look into LuckyLovers and freepersonals just to "make sure I'm not missing anything", though I suspect that there won't be much there to be found. I've used both avenues in the past, also with mixed results.
Ok so that's the introduction and that's the plan of attack. I realize that some folk reading this thread may not support the WMVM notion, but I ask that you keep an open mind as you read my posts. I am not a WOVO proponent myself, though I have tried it twice in the past. Both times it ended disappointingly, but we won't go there, I don't want to open that debate for discussion again, especially when no one can reply to these posts. You should understand two things about my WMVM instantiation however:
1) I am not going to Kharkov to play games, be they "sex games" or whatever else you may dream up, I am going to (hopefully) find a woman with whom I can build a solid future that will result in marriage and a family with children, and
2) When I find such a woman, all other meetings cease. That's the way it's always been with me, I just haven't always found such a woman during a trip that I have taken, that's all.
So...WMVM is what works for me, YMMV.
Ok, enough for an initial post. I'll keep you updated as the now-3-weeks roll by of any developments in my planning or communication.
Thank you for reading. I hope this thread helps someone someday.
Best,
Jerry
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RELATED LINKS:
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http://www.kharkovapartmentsforrent.com/kharkov_travel.htmhttp://www.discover-ua.com.uahttp://www.charmingbrides.comhttp://www.elenareachingrussia.comhttp://www.Mila-Interpreter.comhttp://www.kharkov-marriage-agency.comhttp://www.idi-bridge.comhttp://www.luckylovers.nethttp://freepersonals.ru
