rivlinm

Introduction
TPA>LGW>KBP
Kiev, Ukraine: Day 1
Kiev, Ukraine: Day 2 (Chernobyl)
KBP>EVN
Yerevan, Armenia: Day 1
Yerevan, Armenia: Day 2
EVN>TBS>BUS
Batumi, Georgia: Day 1
Tbilisi, Georgia: Day 1 (Batumi>Tbilisi via Georgian Railway)
Tbilisi, Georgia: Day 2 (Kazbegi)
Tbilisi, Georgia: Day 3
Tbilisi, Georgia: Day 4
TBS>GYD
Baku, Azerbaijan: Day 1 (part 1)
Baku, Azerbaijan: Day 1 (part 2)
Baku, Azerbaijan: Day 2
GYD>IST>LGW>TPA
Conclusions


Previous Trip Reports:
Iran, UAE, Oman - February 2015
Chile - July 2015

rivlinm

Following my early 2015 journey to Iran I had planned to use my last remaining 2015 days off exploring the wonders of Bagan (Myanmar) and have an expedition somewhere in the shadows of Mount Everest (Nepal). Along the way Nepal suffered its tragic earthquake and while the Nepalese tourism industry and its people certainly needed visitors I didn't feel the country would be fully recovered by November.

FLIGHTS

Soon after, a (mistake?) fare from various cities in America to Iguaçu Falls popped up for $270 on LAN. I booked a quick three-day trip to visit the falls from both the Brazilian and Argentinian side and an over night in Lima. Still leaving me with about two weeks of time off I was on the hunt to find a way to travel across some of the current and former CIS. I had always been fascinated by the mix of new and old that Baku, Azerbaijan offered. Plus who doesn't want to visit the world's lowest capital by elevation? And one of only two below sea level. I originally found a Priceline fare for $1100 on a BA direct from TPA to LGW connecting on PS (Ukraine) for a flight to GYD (Baku) and back that maximized efficiency. I figured for that cost and distance however I should see what else the region had to offer. Armenia and Georgia seemed to interest me for a variety of reasons.

Fast forward about a month or so and I stumbled upon a $550 BA fare for a direct TPA>LGW round trip (with a little side trip via MIA to YYZ added in for good measure). While that extra leg worried me, should there be a flight disruption on the return, it turned out to be my first blessing in disguise. I quickly got to work piecing together a trip that would allow me to see Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan. In that order mind you. Little did I realize how complicated traveling those three countries, due to their political relationships, would prove to be. I'll get into the details later, but long story short, Armenia hates Turkey so flying TK was out. Azerbaijan hates Armenia so no direct transit there. Georgian (A9) didn’t offer any practical flights from EVN (Yerevan) until just weeks before when they finally opened their winter schedule. That doesn't even account for the disputed territories such as Nagorno-Karabakh and what troubles having those stamps in your passport could cause. I ideally wanted to visit Azerbaijan first for immigration reasons but flights just didn't play nicely.

Ok, just like my travel planning I'm getting carried away. Back to my route. I found a PS flight via KBP (Kiev) to EVN which allowed 26 hours in Kiev and enough time to visit Chernobyl. After spending a few days in Yerevan I booked two segments to get me from EVN to BUS (Batumi) via TBS (Tbilisi) on Airzena (Georgian Airways). Their non-peak schedule wasn't released until a month out and I wasn't very confident in its reliability, but figured trains or marshrutka would really slow things down. After exploring Georgia by train/marshrutka I had a flight from TBS to GYD on a Qatar fifth-freedom flight. Not wanting to fork out the cash and undergo the hassle of a full Azerbaijani visa I took advantage of the three-day (seven in reality) transit visa. TK offered a reasonable route via IST to get me back to LGW for my return flight to TPA. Although with a somewhat tight connection in IST.

Likely idiotic, I had less than a day on the ground before heading south to Iguaçu from MCO on the day before Thanksgiving! Between this trip and some work travel I would spend 5 nights at home during November. Not sure what I was thinking there.

Relieved I had found an optimal routing between the three countries, I mostly neglected any additional planning and focused on all of the logistics for my upcoming 2016 Kilimanjaro and African safari trip. (Stay tuned on that one). Less than a month out, and still dreading 20,000+ miles in economy, I realized I needed to focus on hotels and other logistics. With lots of travel for work around then, planning time was at a premium.

However for some reason, the airline gods looked favorably upon me. BA offered its $2,000 round trip business fares but for some reason it priced out ~$1,600 before the 10% off and $400 AARP savings. So for just about $1,000 I could do the two dreadful Transatlantic segments in business. This is a fare that nearly never changes in price and goes for an exorbitant ~$7,000 round trip. But was that worth a $500 premium? The AA 25,000 mile TATL bonus promo sweetened the pot but I still couldn't rationalize it. While having lunch later that day I recalled an email AA had sent months back about that unnecessary MIA>YYZ flight landing about three hours ahead of schedule. That was all the motivation I needed to call AA and cancel my IB codeshare on BA metal for no penalty! That pesky little tag flight that originally made my flight so cost effective also gave me the out I so desperately wanted, rationalizing booking the exact same flights but in business.


Original plan


Actual route

VISAS

Fortunately the visas were rather simple. Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia and Peru were visa free. That left the need for Azerbaijan, Brazil and Argentina. Hoping Argentina would remove its reciprocity fee (like Chile) I held out on forking over the $160; which would be another blessing in disguise. Brazil, also $160, was simple besides having to jump through a few silly hoops and follow their sometimes-unstated rules to a T. Thanks to a fellow FTer for arranging the courier services to the Miami consulate. Azerbaijan while not extraordinarily difficult certainly is among the more undesirable application processes. Requiring an LOI and a $140 fee I was happy my travel plans satisfied the transit visa requirements. Travisa is the required agency and charges a $20 dollar fee on top of the $40 double-entry transit visa. When I began researching the trip a single-entry version was available for $20, but not at the time of my application. All visas were returned on schedule with no issues.


Azerbaijan Visa

With visas verified, flights finalized and accommodations arranged I was all set to hit six new countries and clog my arteries with Khachapuri. Mid trip, a family matter presented itself and made it necessary to skip the South American portion of the trip. Upon arrival in TPA I headed to STL the next day rather than IGU. Avis and Airbnb were more than accommodating with a full refund, however LAN proved to be overly difficult and I just wrote the trip off. Otherwise the trip and its logistics were marvelous. Stay tuned as I share my journey across the Caucuses.

SanDiego1K

I look forward with interest as these are some countries I am considering visiting. I hope you'll include some reaction to the countries in terms of whether you enjoyed them as a tourist destination.

farbster

Looks really great! Can't wait to see this report.

Fredrik74

Looking forward to this one.

MichaelBaku

Looking forward to reading your impressions of this region.

rivlinm

Promptly at 16:59 I bid work adieu for three weeks and headed to the airport for my first longhaul flight from TPA. Having this local international departure saved me a day of work and since the clocks changed it allowed me to casually arrive and visit the BA contract lounge for the first time. Check-in was a breeze, even though the flight had switched back to its intended 3-class 777 (from a 4-class bird), so that meant no more First Class seat with Business service.

The lounge, even by BA’s standards was rather paltry. Every seat was taken with just a few barstools remaining. What little food they had on offer had been picked over and I just settled on a few nibbles and a glass of wine before giving up heading to the ironically much better AA (former US) lounge. Also, not worthy of a proper meal, it was at least a relaxing and spacious environment unlike the alternative.

Just before boarding I strolled down toward the gate and after nearly 50 wheelchair passengers (typical Tampa) were boarded, I found my way to my aisle seat.


TPA BA Check-in


BA contract lounge


First-come, first-served seating


Pre-flight dining


AA lounge


BA 777 from the lounge


Equal quality food, inferior wine (but at least I can tell my mom I had my vegetables)


BA flight 2166
Tampa, FL (TPA) to London Gatwick, UK (LGW)
Depart 19:34, Arrive 08:35(+1), Time 8:01
Boeing 777-200 (3-class), Seat 11B


Following a full day at work and knowing I had another flight ahead of me while wanting to accomplish something in Kiev before an early morning trip to Chernobyl, I was hoping for a quick meal service so I could sleep as much as possible. Well that wasn’t in the cards I suppose. The crew took their sweet time to take drink orders. And even though I started with two drinks those were both gone and after a further lengthy wait I begrudgingly pressed the call button. Two presses and five minutes later I was finally told they would be offering more drinks (from the cart) shortly. Shortly meant at least five more minutes and the salad/starter, not drinks. Eventually after asking again I was given a refill. The main course of shoe leather flavored steak was finally served followed by a simple cheese plate. Eventually water was distributed and the lights dimmed. I fortunately slept well (and through breakfast) to be awoken just before arrival. Of note, I think the next youngest business passenger may have been 25 years my senior. I always wondered how this flight operated daily with such high fares, now I know.


I suppose this is what BA calls a Business Class seat


Less-than-stellar IFE


Pre-departure champagne


The first 90 minutes of service


Nice salad and smoked trout with beets starter…


…revealed cart side


About as awful as it looked


Cheese plate

Upon arrival I unfortunately had to enter the Kingdom since I needed to print my BP, (the option, including 100 bonus miles, for checking in online kept erring) but after a simple transfer to the south terminal and a 15-minute wait for the Ukrainian check-in to open I was on my way through an extremely exhaustive, yet efficient, security check. The only lounge I had access to was No. 1 Gatwick. A first, I was told they were at capacity and if I didn’t have a reservation I could leave my number and they would call in about 30 minutes. After standing outside for 20 I poked my head back in to see where I stood on the list and she decided to welcome me. So much for a call. This was a strange lounge for Priority Pass. It couldn’t decide if it wanted to be an airport lounge or restaurant. On one hand it had typical lounge seating and a small buffet of mostly cold food available, but on the other there was a menu with made to order entrées (your first could be ordered from the bar and any additional requests would cost £4). I selected a bacon butty along with glass after glass of water. The lounge was rather full but offered a nice view of planes landing and departing the south terminal. I eventually saw my plane land from KBP and taxi over to the gate. Growing bored of the lounge I went for a brief stroll around the concourse before heading to the gate to board my flight with the least generous amount of legroom possible.


Checking out other flight options while waiting for Ukrainian to open check-in


Would people really pay £1 to weigh their bag in advance?


PS check-in


No. 1 Gatwick Lounge


Lounge seating


Breakfast self-serve options


Underwhelming first bacon butty experience; not sure I get the allure of bacon on bread


PS 111 landing and view of the apron from the lounge


Queen of the skies polluting the air in front of my ride to Kiev


PS flight 112
London Gatwick, UK (LGW) to Kiev, Ukraine (KBP)
Depart 13:02, Arrive 17:55, Time 2:53
Boeing 737-800, Seat 8D


Onboard Ukrainian International Airlines


Maybe I’m just spoiled with E+ and exit row seating over the years


Today’s free food and beverage options

All in all for the price and ability to have a 24+ hour ‘layover’ in KBP the flight was about what I expected. The crew did their job and fellow passengers were about on par with their stereotype. The man seated behind me sipped away at a full 750ml bottle of liquor from his paper PS cup. We arrived on time and immigration was a breeze.

Bretteee

How did you get the mistake fare?

roadwarrier

This looks like an interesting itinerary. Looking forward to see how it all pans out.

rivlinm

I had initially planned to stay at the Fairmont Grand Hotel Kiev (to satisfy a final stay credit), but as you will notice, day one in Kiev was more like part-of-an-evening one. Once I came to the realization that I really would just have a meal and maybe take a few photos around Maidan Square (where I needed to meet early the next morning) I decided it was best to not spend €150 at the Fairmont but rather a whopping ~$26 (596 UAH) at the Hotel Kozatskiy. I was very skeptical of what I had signed up for, but given my needs and the location of the hotel to the sites I wanted to see in my 6 hours in Kiev it was actually the perfect hotel. I’ll get back to the hotel in due time, but after clearing immigration I found my pre-booked driver from HappyGoTaxi and he was happy to wait while I took out 1000 UAH (~$40; way more than I would need) at the ATM before heading off for his car.

My driver, Svitosar, was beyond friendly and helpful. He spoke perfect English and explained traffic from the east side of the Dnieper River to the center of the city would be bad and suggested we avoid driving to my hotel for the moment but rather visit a few sites and parks along the way. I wasn’t going to argue with seeing a few extra sites; especially in an area I wouldn’t have time to reach without a car.

We started at what translates to ‘The National Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.’ Or WWII for short. On the grounds of the museum is also the Motherland Monument which is otherwise known as Rodina-Mat. The 62m tall monument was built in 1981 with a Soviet emblem on the shield and its upright sword was actually cut short so as not to rise above the nearby Kiev Pechersk Lavra. (An othrodox Christian Monestary know for its caves) Atop the grounds of the museum was also an eternal flame in memory of those soldiers who lost their lives during WWII. Great views of Kiev and the river below, but we were walking at a brisk pace and I didn’t have an opportunity to take any great photos.


Lots of tanks outside the WWII museum


Motherland Monument


Eternal flame


Looking back (east) across the Dnieper River


One of many freezes paying tribute to the war’s heroes

Back in the car we drove a bit more toward the city and much like the last stop, just parked where we pleased, on the sidewalk along the road. Our next free tour stop would be home to a museum and memorial recognizing three major famines suffered by the citizens of the Ukranian SSR in the 20th century by the government and now classified as genocide (officially in 2006). The largest of the three famines, The Holodomor of 1932-1933, is estimated to have claimed the lives of between 2.4 and 7.5 million. The entrance of the memorial recognizes the years of the famine with an Angel of Sorrow on each side. At the base of the monument is a statue known as Bitter Memory of Childhood.


Angel of Sorrow


Child grasping a few strands of wheat in Bitter Memory of Childhood


Genocide Memorial with Kiev Pecherska Lavra Belltower in the background

On the same grounds lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and another eternal flame. This eternal flame has sparked two recent political fires (sorry, it was too easy) when artists and activists were jailed for an extended period for frying eggs over the flame. In the same park as the famine memorial to boot. We continued our drive and reached Maidan Square in just a few minutes after passing the Kiev History museum and Parliament.


Tomb of the Unknown Soldier


Parliament

In the square we again parked where we pleased, but this time my driver was very concerned and was constantly looking back at his car while I checked in the Hotel Kozatskiy. A step down from the Fairmont, but the location was perfect. I quickly dropped my bag and Svitosar offered to show me around the area and point out a great cantina for sampling Ukrainian cuisine. It’s almost as if he didn’t want to leave me, and if not for his car being illegally parked, I think he may have stayed the whole night. We walked under Maidan Square to cross the street and he suggested I start with Puzata Hata, or Fat House. I can certainly see why this would make you fat, great food for less than $4. I hadn’t eaten since my early morning bacon butty, so I was pretty hungry at this point.


Hotel Kozatskiy


Lobby


Third floor atrium led to a maze of rooms sure to be any fireman’s worst nightmare


The best that $26 gets


Soviet bathroom; a step up from Iran’s common ‘hole in the ground’ accommodations


Dinner at Fat House


Cafeteria style


Lots of folks lingering in the relaxing dinning room


Serving borscht


<$4 in damage: Borscht, Chicken Kiev, Perogies and some other stuff…

Sufficiently stuffed I wandered back underground in search of some Putin swag (maybe a roll of TP) but most of the shops were already closed and unfortunately wouldn’t be open by the time I left for Chernobyl tomorrow morning. Just a short stroll from the square was St. Michael’s Golden Domed Monastery. Like many historic buildings in Ukraine the building was demolished by the Soviets, but rebuilt in 1999 after Ukrainian independence. First constructed in the Middle Ages it underwent many renovations especially in the 18th century. I didn’t make it inside but its Byzantine inside differed from its Baroque exterior. Further uphill was St. Andrew’s Church, another Baroque design. It was build on a hill later named Andriyivska Hill and currently has many structural problems due to a settling foundation. Without my tripod I decided to head back to the square and take some better photos there.


Kiev underground


St. Michael’s Golden Domed Monastery Belltower


St. Michael’s Golden Domed Monastery


St. Andrew’s Church perched atop Andriyivska Hill


St. Andrew’s Church, not Cathedral

Back at Maidan Square, or Independence Square, I went exploring from my hotel in the northwest to the Hotel Ukraine in the southeast. This historic square and de facto center of the city has held a variety of names over the centuries including October Revolution Square and Soviet Square. Maidan is the Ukrainian word for square and comes from a mix of Persian and Arabic. It has played host to the city government and the ruling elite over the years. Most notably however, it is recognized for hosting Ukraine’s most recent political revolution in 2014, the Euromaidan. Previously was the Orange Revolution in 2004. The Trade Union Building on the northeastern side of the square, home to the main clock tower, is covered with banners claiming ‘Glory to Ukraine’ since the damage has not been repaired. This is the same building many assumed housed snipers who intended to provoke and escalate the situation by shooting both police and opposition forces. The square is split by Khreschatyk Street and is lined with fountains, public art exhibits and statues such as ‘Founders of Kiev.’ I roamed the square for quite sometime watching locals enjoy their beers and being asked for donations for the wounded soldiers many times. Beneath the square are a number of stalls for shops in addition to a variety of higher end shops, much like a shopping mall, named Hlobus. Eventually I began to get cold and stopped by a supermarket for some beers before heading back to the hotel to get some sleep before my early morning Chernobyl trip.


Maidan Square looking toward the Hotel Kozatskiy


Glory to Ukraine!


Hotel Ukraine


Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine


Khreschatyk Street


Globe monument in Maidan Square


Founders of Kiev


Base of the victory column and Hotel Ukraine

Maidan Square victory column commemorating independence from the USSR


Looking up


Overlooking the square


Lights out Kiev


Hlobus; Beneath Maidan Square


Instagram Machine


American Russian beer


Large selection of Bud in the store and many empties around town

benberg2013

WOW! Really amazing start to your report!! I have been to Kiev, so enjoyed looking at these sights again.

Can I ask which camera did you use? The quality is really amazing, especially at night!

Looking forward to the rest!

rivlinm

I am sharing just a portion of my photos from Chernobyl (and the entire trip for that matter), but if you wish to see additional shots and my out of focus work, simply click one of the images and it will link to my Flickr Photostream; no cheating and looking ahead though.

After just a few hours of sleep I woke up early so I could have a quick breakfast in the hotel and try and see the square under daylight before I had to meet up for my ride to Chernobyl with SoloEast Tours. The only way to visit Chernobyl is with an organized tour, either public or private. I had expected due to my 19:50 flight I would require a private tour to ensure I could get back to KBP in time, but they offered a private ride back for slightly higher cost. Much better than spending nearly $400 for a private tour. Breakfast was a strange collection of fish, meats and other nameless dishes.


Kozatskiy breakfast room


Breakfast


Maidan Square


Looking north


No border between Crimea and the mainland


Last night’s empties


October Palace; performing arts center


Memorials for the Heavenly Hundred; those who lost their lives during Euromaidan


St. Sophia’s Cathedral bell tower overlooking the Square

Today there was a massive group ready to see Chernobyl and I needed to be back at the airport around 18:30 so we were split in two groups. The majority joined a coach bus and a select few (read: young/able bodied) of us were put in a van. By being in a small group with more physically able passengers we were actually able to see more. Not to mention a much faster drive. One of our passengers must have had a late night and after waiting 10 minutes we gave up and decided to meet him along the road out of Kiev. When we finally found him, he didn’t have his passport and the look on his face was priceless. Luckily his friends had it so we were eventually on our way. He made up for being late by sleeping on my shoulder the entire ride while holding his GoPro, which was usually pointed erroneously around the vehicle. Should make for a fun 8 hours to relive. Eventually, 2 hours later we arrived at our first checkpoint (30 km) where a guard closely examined everyone’s documents. We were handed the rules of entry and continued down the road toward Chernobyl and its entry sign.


Welcome to the 30km zone


The rules


Chernobyl Town

Originally home to nearly 15,000, just a select few still live in Chernobyl (grandfathered) along with many of the crew working on the new sarcophagus, who work two week shifts. According to Wikipedia it now totals 550 inhabitants. Also within the city limits is a church, which is still active and the preacher enters the exclusion zone each Sunday for services.


Church

Along the road were many dilapidated buildings in varying states of disrepair. Many of the wooden structures had mostly collapsed after 29+ years of neglect while the stone or brick constructions simply looked very unkempt and overgrown with foliage. The rain had started to pick up a bit at this point, but we stopped for our first of the must-see attractions and did our first Geiger counter readings outside the kindergarten. In Maidan Square the Geiger counter indicated .12 micro Sievert (μSv) of radiation and even within the exclusion zone it read just .16 μSv in the air, however near the soil jumped to 12.18 μSv.


Total disrepair


Perfect haunted house material


Chernobyl kindergarten


Don’t eat the soil


White picket fence


Forty hours later an evacuation was called and nearly everything was left behind


Book shelf


Lots of shots have been posed over the years


Clearly the structures are failing and becoming mildly unsafe


Dark hallway


Doll on bed


Pillaged cubby holes


Somewhere out there someone is missing a slipper

Our next stop was as close as we would get to Reactor Four and the nearby sarcophagus being built to cover the original 1986 structure containing the radiation. The initial containment was intended to last at most 30 years while the new sarcophagus has seen delay after delay with a current completion date pushed to 2017. At the time of the explosion on April 26, 1986, reactors 1-4 were in use and 5-6 were being built. The construction equipment, including cranes, was left as is over the unfinished reactors. Just 200-300 meters away the radiation count was only 2.57 μSv.



Geiger counter near Reactor Four


Chernobyl memorial overlooking Reactor Four


New sarcophagus construction to be slid over existing structure when complete


Reactor Four

Even with low levels of radiation onsite, we spent at most five minutes before heading off to explore Pripyat. Pre-catastrophe, the town of nearly 50,000, served as the residence for most of the workers at the nuclear plant. It was home to many apartment blocks, schools, health & recreation facilities and even an amusement park, which was set to open just five days later to celebrate May Day. We snaked our way around the town visiting the movie theater, gymnasium, amusement park, pool and school. The majority of the buildings appear to be completely ransacked as a result of salvaging certain equipment and scrap metal. For example as the metal window frames were removed, the glass was simply smashed and left to crumble. Same for book shelves explaining why books are littered throughout the school.


Welcome to Pripyat


Polissya Hotel


Unused May Day signage


Endless broken glass


Movie theater lobby


Gymnasium entrance


Gymnasium


Iconic ferris wheel shot from the gymnasium


Leaky pipe


Pripyat Flyer or Pripyat Eye just doesn’t roll off the tongue


Ferris wheel car


One of the few disorderly things that just made sense


Bumper cars


Two steering wheels


Have to dodge trees


Spinning bench ride


Basketball court with torn up floor


Swimming pool


Full of everything but water


Starting blocks


Apparently was used as recently as 1996 (ten years after) by the liquidators


Time for school


’Gas mask’ school


Remnant of the Cold War


Again, clearly posed


Coursework


Watching paint peel


One of the few ‘intact’ classrooms


School courtyard


Science class


All sorts of science equipment left out, and some light fixtures


Wednesday, April 23, 1986


Doesn’t look like they followed the Dewey Decimal system


Might have to wait a bit for the next bus since scientists claim Pripyat won’t be livable for >20,000 years

The day was drawing to a close and before a much-needed lunch and visiting the Russian Woodpecker our guide offered one last (prohibited) surprise. The other bus certainly didn’t get to do this. He led us to an apartment block and suggested we climb (since the elevator wasn’t functioning) to the top for a view over Pripyat. The rain was getting heavier, but it was still a nice view over this once thriving town, which now is nothing more than a Soviet open-air museum. I’m not sure I had ever climbed 18 flights of stairs before and was a bit winded by the time we made it, but lunch in the cantina was just a quick drive away where I recovered with another hearty Ukrainian cafeteria-style lunch.


Time to climb


Giving this elevator a pass


Made it!


Pripyat River in the rain


Pripyat apartment blocks


Downtown Pripyat


Someone made themselves at home


Cantina line


Chernobyl lunch

Following lunch we headed down a very bumpy road toward what is known as the Russian Woodpecker, an over the horizon radar detector used as a ballistic early-warning system. One of three in the Soviet Union, it went operational in 1976 and earned its named from the quick tapping sound made when interfering with other shortwave frequencies. It was quickly outdated and by the early 1980’s was seldom used (satellite systems were also becoming more effective) and with the Cold War coming to an end, it was never used after 1989. Climbing (although prohibited) would take quite some time but between the rain and need to get back to Kiev I didn’t have the opportunity. I got mixed signals when I asked if it was allowed.


Headed down the makeshift road toward the Russian Woodpecker


Driver didn’t even check once for pedestrians in the cross walk


NATO nicknamed ‘Steel Yard’


Should have swapped to the 16mm lens after lunch, it’s massive


Doesn’t it just scream: “climb me?”

Before we could head back to Kiev and eventually the airport for me, we had to clear a few radiation checks where you cannot pass to the other side of the gated room until the machine detects minimal levels of radiation. Our guide mentioned he had a tourist who failed to mention he was undergoing radiation and kept failing the check and wasn’t allowed to leave until the confusion was cleared up. Once everyone passed the test we were on our way with just a quick pit stop for gas and snacks. After dropping off the rest of the group at Maidan Square, I was taken to the airport with plenty of time to spare.


Radiation detector


Ukrainians must love Lufthansa First Class

rivlinm

Of course, I loved all 4, but I'll be sure to describe my thoughts when I get to the conclusions chapter. If you can wait

I'll try and hurry! I try and do one chapter a day.

I wonder which country in particular

Which mistake fare? Not sure any of them were a mistake.

I'm sure you got to see much more than I did, but it was fun to get a taste.

I used Canon 5D III along with more lenses than my body would have preferred. (16-35/24-70/70-200 all @ f/2.8)

Thanks, most were long exposures locked down on a tripod at ISO100

DanielW

Awesome photo's of Chernobyl, Matthew. The leafless trees and grey skies really add to the desolation too.

The Kozatskiy Hotel breakfast and its mystery meats looks not too bad too.

arlflyer

Agreed. I know I am in a bit of a minority here but I love food from that part of the world, and all of your meals look absolutely fantastic. I would eat that canteen/milk-bar food every day!