Sorry mate. I wish I could join you for a cold beer and a warm sheila. I will be about a month behind you. Have you been to Odessa before? If you need advice on where to eat and drink let me know. I'm also thinking of a side trip to Nikolaev too. So, I will be very curious what you think of it. From what I'm told there isn't much there but it does have some of the most beautiful women I have seen on the various sites and I like the small town girl more than the big city girl. Good luck and keep us informed.
have you done your research to see the battle that awaits you with the Australian Immigration dept before you meet some stunning babe. We have the most rigid and annoying bloody Migration laws... Just so you know you will have to visit Ukraine more than once.... And DIMA does everything possible to knock back a fiance visa
hey does anyone have advice on anyplaces to stay in simferopol.i will be there sometime in febuary, i haven't booked it yet.if anyone could tell me what i'm in for it would be great, i've never been there before.also i found two flights i can take one will take me right in simferopol and the other will take me to odessa.the one to odessa is about 300 dollars cheaper.is it worth saving the money and taking a train in or should i spend the extra money and fly right in.finally could anyone give me a rough estimate on how much money i should take.i will be there for roughly 10 days and i have no clue how much stuff costs there.any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Well. Being you're on short time I'll give you some quick information. Renting an apartment (They call them flats) is the best way to go. In Odessa the largest apartment broker and marriage agency is Adam-and-eva.com. I rented from them and was very happy. Check their website. They will have about 40 apartments for you to choose. You can check availability online and reserve your apartment by credit card. They offer airport pick up and take you directly to your apartment for $15. This time of year they should have plenty of aparments available but I would get my ass moving if I was you. The holiday season could be good or bad for you. The ladies will have holiday from work and school so they may be more avaiable to go out or they may be too busy with family. Good luck. Keep us informed on how your trip turns out. I think you like Odessa a lot. Check out the clubs 'Evening Odessa' and 'Palladium' and 'Captain Hook or Morgan'. Deribosovskaya is the main street in the center. Many of the restaurants there will accept credit cards. Good luck mate!
come on the 3rd of Jan will be a bit tight for accomadation in Odessa, although some will be going back after the new year,but get it booked as soon as possible
Simferopol is not a intresting place at all,its the capital of the Crimea, but can not think of anything intresting there,you would be far better in either yalta or Sevastopol
I had the pleasure of driving through there last night, apart from the normal grid locked roads, every where was iced over,
This time of year you would be best flying with Turkish airlines if you can get to Istanbul, as they fly 737 to Odessa and Simferopol and there is less chance of delays than the smaller plans from Kiev,
if you are flying ftom the UK Aerosvit from Birmingham $500 return to Simferopol by far the cheapest, most the others are $800+
Chris,
Aerosvit scam on tax, the return fare Brum to Simferopol is USD390 but then they charge an additional USD250 in 'supposed tax, this brings the fare to USD640, they only operate 3 flights a week and the timings are far from ideal.
One can normally, with a bit of advance planning, travel UK to Kiev for USD350, then booking connection tickets via Ukrainefare will bring the total price to approx USD100 less than Aerosvit charge.
Good point Chris. I forgot about the carry over of the New Year's celebration people. Steelman you may have a tougher time of finding a place to stay than I thought. I hope it is not the case but Good luck!
Bob sopel the guy in Manchester is selling it at just under £300, a friend used it on wednesday, there were 6 on the flight !,
its not great and its only twice a week,
someone else is coming tomorrow and they booked direct with Aerosvit I think he payed about £289 but will know for shore when he gets here but on the net it was showing $499 including tax,
its hard to get Cheap flights this time of year, Dimitry in Odesssa is good, I work with him also,
the problem with going via kiev is that in most cases you have to spend a night in Kiev, which is getting expensive now, even Borisopol Hotel, which used to be good charged me $80 for a room, I payed $40 in march for the room next to it !,
Turkish is best if you are coming down this end, particularly, in winter time, and although they dont advertise the fact, if there is no connecting flight that day they put you up in a hotel,
when I came accross in October a 1 month return was £311, and the return date was changeable for another £30, with BA and many others you dont have that option but when I checked out Turkish and KLM both wanted around £500 for the Christmas period
Chris,
I always try to use Austrian Airlines, their frequent flyer points are transferrable to Ukraine International Airlines.
My last 2 trips I have paid GBP75 = GBP100ish tax for LHR-VIE-KBP, their flight timings are perfect for my connecting flights to/from Dnepropetrovsk, 2 hours in KBP in each direction, and I can stock up on cheap fags, 3200 of them, in Vienna at half UK prices, the fag savings pay for my airfare and more!
Austrian do operate direct from VIE to Dnepropetrovsk except that a DNK flight cost approx GBP450 as opposed to KBP at GBP175. Austrian have put their prices up for the winter season, last I checked, for Kiev, KLM had some good prices, GBP199 (including tax) from London and a little more from UK regional airports.
For me, the problem with Aerosvit would be 4 or 5 hours in KBP in each direction and unsociable Aerosvit, and connecting. flight times, Austrian have been perfect for me.
If anyone is travelling from UK to Odessa I can definately recommend MALEV Hungarian via Budapest, from Heathrow or Stansted. If you sit near the front in economy you get a business class seat and MALEV have good prices and good flight times.
Martin as you say Austrian airlines is good but the prices keep changing often January to March they have some very good deals, KBP is shit to spend any time in by contrast Istanbul is very nice shops bars etc and nobody hassling you
the less time I spend in kiev the better,
Malev have consitanly good prices but in spring is direct flights from Tallin to Simferopol and very Cheap with estonia airlines, also flights are cheap to Tallin and I beleve it is a good place to spend a couple of days
thanks for all the advice.this is my first trip and the reason i'm going to simferopol is to see one lady.i'm in pennsylvania, so i can leave from new york,philly, pittsburg, or newark n.j.since i've never to uk before would 1,000 be enough for spending money for 7 days.minus apartment,airfare,and train ticket.does anyone know what visas i need or how to get them and how much they are?thanks for any help.oh yeah my dates aren't set in place yet so is there antone who will be going in feb- march.
polockinpa23
First...when you wrote uk in your post, I assume since you were talking about Simferopol you ment Ukriane. UK=England, UA=Ukraine. Since you are American you will not need a visa for Ukraine. 1000 usd should be more than enough money if you are not including rent and airfare. I was in Lvov in Sept for two weeks and did not spend 500 usd. That included a small spending spree to buy gifts for Lena's parents and grandson.
$1000 be more than enough,there is no point in spending money like crazy, the chances are it wont do you any favours either, Aerosvit from JFK leaves in the Everning about 6pm your time to Kiev, and then they have a flight you can catch down to Simferopol later that day,it will be your best option at this time of year I think the price will be just over $1000,
if you are a US citzen you dont need a visa,
I go through Simferopol on a regular basis and pay be able to help with a apartment,
Steelman. Don't forget that you can use ATM cards in almost in every city of Ukraine. So you don't have to bring $1000 cash spending money. Just have your ATM account full. I bring the cash for payment of my apartment rent and the ATM for my spending money.