How we ended up in Ukraine…
A mix up in our Schengen visa dates meant that we had one week to kill before we could enter the Schengen area. After spending some hours poring over the world map and visa policy for Indian citizens, we made the somewhat unconventional choice of Ukraine. 2 factors drove that decision – a) they had visa on arrival for Indian citizens and b) we had spent some time in Russia in September 2016 and loved it there. We were looking to relive some of that experience through what we hoped would be similar architecture and food in Ukraine.
Flight from Dubai to Kiev on FlyDubai
FlyDubai was our airline of choice for the 5.5 hour journey from Dubai to Ukraine’s capital, Kiev (was not really much of a choice, it was either a day flight on FlyDubai or an overnighter on Ukraine International). It was the first time we were flying a budget carrier with Nadiya and we were a bit apprehensive. The flight turned out to be much better than we thought. We paid for the extra leg room (front row) seats so there was sufficient space for us to handle her. The aircraft FlyDubai operated on this leg was a brand new 737 Max so that made the flight even more comfortable. Other than a minor meltdown on the bus journey from the tarmac to the plane in DXB, Nadiya was so well behaved that the cabin crew complimented her for being such a ‘commando’. If you had told us at the start that the flight would have been the easiest part of our day, we would not have believed you.
Immigration in Kiev (‘Visa on arrival’)
Once we landed in Kiev is when all hell broke lose. The visa on arrival process is an absolute mess. There are 2 consular officers at the airport dealing with at least 40-50 people that are eligible for visa on arrival. The process that they wanted you to follow was to get space on one of 2 PCs, take a photograph; fill out an application form; submit copies of hotels, flights, insurance; print everything out and keep it ready for one of the 2 officers to take it into their room (one family’s applications at a time). They would then spend about 30-45 minutes per application set filling out all the details in their systems manually, printing out the visa before affixing it on your passport. All this for a fee of USD 100 per person (Nadiya’s application was free). It took us 3 hours after landing in Kiev (and being the first people out of the plane) to finally get our visa. We then went through immigration where the immigration officer waved us through with a ‘Welcome to Ukraine’ (the irony was not lost on us!). To anyone looking to visit Ukraine, we would strongly recommend applying for a visa in advance. While in line we met a Chinese lady on her 3 trip into Ukraine and she mentioned that 2-4 hours wait for the visa is par for the course for visa on arrival.
Preparing for ‘city travel’ and cold weather
We checked in to the Intercontinental Kiev for 4 nights to start the Ukraine leg of our trip. It was here that we started developing a bit of a routine of either ordering room service for dinner or having lunch a little late (skipping dinner) as Nadiya was starting to get sleepy by around 7PM. This was going to be the first part of the We2ours1 Tour where we would actively be exploring a city (the previous 2 legs had us mostly spending time in resorts/driving around in a car) so that brought about its own set of challenges with a baby. We chose the Intercontinental because it was located right in the historic center of Kiev (our intention was to follow this same strategy in other cities as well where possible to minimize unnecessary transit time). This would also be the 1st time that Nadiya would be experiencing cold-ish weather (10-15 degrees C during the day).To counter this, we had brought onesies and a fleece jacket from Uniqlo along with a variety of hats to cover her ears.
First signs of a routine for Nadiya
Our daily routines involved waking up, feeding Nadiya, playing with her, bathing her and then putting her back to sleep for her 1st nap while we had our showers and got ready. During her second awake window, we would go get breakfast with her in the stroller before putting her down to sleep again. When Nadiya woke up for the 3rd time, she would be fed first, dressed up in 3 layers, put in her stroller and wheeled off to explore the city by foot. When she started getting sleepy again, one of us would put her in the baby carrier (with the other wheeling an empty stroller) as we continued towards lunch. Nadiya had a habit of doing fairly long naps when she was in the carrier so that helped us get through some parts of lunch. She would invariably wake up while we were at lunch where she would be fed again before either sitting in one of our laps or sitting in her stroller. We would then walk around the city before heading back to the room. This way we would get 4-5 hours out each day with Nadiya getting sufficient rest as well.
Exploring Kiev
Per our expectations, Kiev did share some architectural similarities with Russia. Nisha was delighted to see the many golden domed cathedrals dotting the city and insisted on visiting all of them (some more than once). Our favorite was St Andrew’s Cathedral that is built on top of a man-made hill. Sophia Cathedral and St Michael’s golden domed monastery were also gorgeous and made even more beautiful by the fact that there was hardly a tourist in sight. Kiev was also a surprisingly green city and we spent considerable time strolling through its many beautiful parks. The hotel concierge made some good recommendations for where we could grab lunch each day and we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the restaurants in Kiev. It was 4 days well spent eating, strolling and sight seeing at leisure and we would like to go back some day.
The train journey from Kiev to Lviv
Our next stop in Ukraine was to the western city of Lviv, considered to be the most ‘European’ city in Ukraine. We opted to take a train from Kiev to Lviv – a journey of little more than 5 hours. Given that this is was Nadiya’s first train journey, we opted to spend a little more and get first class tickets (the difference in cost was not as much as we had expected). However, as has been our vaunt on this leg of the trip, our journey started with a little bit of drama. Owing to a marathon in central Kiev, a number of the roads were closed and what should have been a 15 minute taxi ride to the Kiev train station on a Sunday took close to 45 minutes. We then made a mad dash for the train with Nisha carrying Nadiya and the diaper bag and Ajay lugging the 2 big bags, the stroller and backpack up and down stairs (no elevators/lifts anywhere) reaching the train with about 4 minutes to spare. Thankfully the first class coach was fairly empty and we ended up getting an entire cabin to ourselves which was great as we could let Nadiya play with her toys, watch out of the window and feed/change her with no one to bother us! Upon arrival in Lviv, we ordered an Uber (thank for Uber – taxis seemed more sparse than they should have been)
Exploring Lviv
In keeping with our strategy, we checked in to Hotel Leopolis which is right in the historic center of the city for our 3 night stay in Lviv. If we had to pick one word to describe the hotel, it would be ‘efficient’. There’s limited choice in the room service menu, the staff is limited, there is no concierge (all things that are important to us normally – even more so with a baby). However the location could not be faulted – everything that we needed to see/explore in Lviv was a short walk away. From the historic Market Square, the magnificent churches and cathedrals to the quiet parks and by lanes with beautiful historic houses – Lviv is a city worth visiting. It certainly had a lot of the old world charm that has made places like Prague such a hit with tourists (probably just a matter of time before Lviv is also as crowded, so we were glad we went while it was still relatively tourist-free).
Overall impressions
Attentive readers of this blog would note that we had hoped Ukraine in general would have some of the architecture and food that we fell in love with in Russia. While the architecture was certainly worth it, the food was a little bit of let down. While there were some similarities with the food in Russia (dumplings, borscht etc.) somehow it didn’t seem to bring out the same reactions from us during our trip to Russia with Namrata and Nikhil.
Final thoughts
Overall, Ukraine was a last minute choice for the We2ours1 Tour. We had considered Iran or some of the ‘stans’ (Kazakhstan, Tajikstan, Kygyztan) as possible alternatives but finally narrowed it down to Ukraine. Did it meet all our expectations? Maybe. Would we recommend a visit – yes. If you want to experience Europe without any of the frills or the tourists, then Ukraine is the place for you. We would definitely recommend Lviv over a city like Prague for instance. Beautiful architecture, wrought iron balconies , local living and the near absence of tourists gives Ukraine a very genuine charm that is hard to match.
Visas
Indians are eligible for visas on arrival at the 2 Kiev airports and the Odessa airport for a fee of USD 100 and proof of outbound travel from Ukraine, hotel reservations in Ukraine and travel insurance. However, as highlighted in this post, the visa on arrival process is a a nightmare so if you are able to apply for a visa in advance that will save you a lot of time and stress at the airport.
We2ours1 Tour Overall Stats
Total # of Countries: 4 (Ukraine, Sri Lanka, UAE, Oman)
Total air miles: 5,900 (3 flights)
Total distance driven: 2065KM (driving in Sri Lanka, UAE and Oman)
Total train distance: 469KM (1 train)
Total nights: 22
Nadiya’s age at end of this leg: 12 weeks, 4 days
Around the world with a baby 