Everything is falling into place beautifully.
My British Passport has been approved and printed, so it was all go on booking the flights I had ear tagged, just waiting to hit the buttons.
I am flying from Auckland NZ – Bangkok. I then wait 51/2 hours and hop onto Ukraine Airlines and fly direct too Kiev. This is where Lenochka & Svetlana (her daughter) will be waiting.
That flight from BKK – Kiev, is every Tuesday & Thursday. They depart 05:20 & 05:50 respectively, from BKK. The cost is $604US + tax approx $60US. Direct and arrives Kiev 11:55am same day. Good for Australians and Kiwi’s. the price is set at that and you could grab one at any time at that price, I would think. You need to ask for the tickets to be delivered from their BKK city office to the BKK terminal. I hope this part goes OK. The lady in the Ukraine office has been very good with email contacts, so it looks all good.
Lenochka & I have an apartment for the 2 months I am with her. We also have an apartment to use free in Moscow and I entend getting a Russian Tourist Visa in Ukraine. Haven’t obtained a visa for Russia this way before, but Lena says it 10 days and $75US to do it.
Travelling on the British Passport has made things a lot cheaper and simpler. In this timeframe I am visiting Ukraine I have not needed to apply and obtain a Visa to enter Ukraine.
So any chaps need Kiev ladies checked out or test run, just give the details on here, and I will check in periodically. He he hee.
No, seriously, I know I am going to be very happy and very well looked after by my Lenochka.
All taxes included...
If I only had time, I would go every weekend...
To tell you guys the truth.. I live a little outside the city, so if I go for some drinks and a couple of beers, I will pay almost the same for a taxi both ways as I do for the flight to Estonia... The drinks and everything else in Estonia is 1/3 the price I pay here, so considering I have a habit to buy drinks for everyone, It is less expensive for me to stay a weekend in Estonia or Ukraine than one night at a restaurant and a nightclub here with the taxi home... And also.. The ladies ain't bad either...
Not all that related, I but I will be headed to Bangkok this August. My niece is graduating from Pharmacy College, and it is my graduation present to her.
Looks to be a great place to take a vacation. Too bad it is roughly 18 hours of travel time for me to get there. :-(
And are you going to show them a haka when you reach the airport?
(that should show them something about people from the land of the wrong white crowd.)
(Seriously [a little bit]: why do people from the colonies still hold British passports?)
I suppose I am curious myself. I thought Australia was still a commonwealth of the British, so I would expect them to carry British passports.
I also have heard of the vote of breaking away from the British Commonwealth occuring several times in the past, but the general consensus has been to remain in the commonwealth.
N()R
You saying Taxi's exp in Kiev ??? Will be on Kiev soil 2nd June.
Geriatrix
My father born Scotland so I qualified for British Passport. I only got it yesterday. Big help for travel and visa's and bloody invitation letters etc & MIGHT be big help for marriage.
Re the Haka, I a little sick of seeing to be honest. Been over commercialized like everything else today, if there is a $ to be made they will go for it.
Being in the Commonwealth does not mean you have a British Passport. You must be born there or have a parent born there. In fact I think mother not count, only father, but I could be wrong on that.
I was reading my post over again, i am sorry, it was easy to misunderstand...
What I actually ment was that I can go a weekend to some FSU country, and I can do that for about the same money I would have used on one night here in Norway on taxis and drinks..
NOR..yes its common in Europe to travel to countries for cheaper booze, entertainment. Swedes go to Danmark, Finns go to Estonia, Germans to Holland (coffee-shops)for weekend.
And you seem to make good commercial for Estonian tourism industry :)
My parents have friends, who live very close to the border with Poland. They live in a very small town, and when they want to buy food or some other products, it is easier for them to go to Poland (there is also a city there not far away from the border with nice shops) then to go into another town here in Ukraine...I find nothing strange in that!
N()R
Clear as mud !!
No, I understand you perfectly.
Even taking into account the $1800NZ it has cost for return trip NZ-Kiev, it will be a cheaper 2 months than staying home. As I just said in the $$$ post, this lady like the last, wont let me waste money. This one doesn't even like dinning out too much. She like preparing a home meal. Sounds like good wife qualities ah !!!
If you can avoid the Accommodation cost in Eastern Europe, then living is very cheap. I don't really understand WHY Hotels - Apartment are so bloody expensive. their staff get paid peanuts, yet their Rates are more expensive than NZ - Aussi
Do they have a different set of prices for foreigners and locals???
How can a ukraine person have money to stay in these hotels??
The prices in some of these cities are close to the same as here in Norway, and I believe we are one of the most expensive countries in the world to have a vacation in... Crazy..
N()R
I don’t think the prices are different for their own people. In SPB, many Russians where holidaying and they paid the same, big group of Norwegians were there one night too, they know how to party, and they were all retired or close to it and evolved in the building and construction industry. good people !!
Hotel Kharkov, Ukraine, Russian men with ladies in tow, would arrive very late at night and sometimes be gone early, the ones that were still there when I got up, had a minder / body guard sitting outside their room. Ashtray overflowing, me been the cheeky prick I am, used to say Giday Mate, and they would just glare, so I would repeat it several times. They were like Robots.
So do not forget there are many Russians that have more money than all of us put together. There is huge wealth there shared amongst a small %. But then 10% of 165 million is a lot of people to absorb the Hotel vacancies.