This was sitting in my desk drawer for almost a year:
I began to realize that the only way I was going to offload it was by actually returning to Belarus and using the rubles to essentially defray the cost of the trip itself. If the purpose of obscuring the location of the currency exchange at MSQ was to either force people to eat their lost rubles or return to spend them, well played.
Assuming I'd need another "Go Trip" in January, I planned to head back over the long Martin Luther King weekend.
PLANNING
While I initially figured I'd do another one nighter in Minsk, my desire to burn only a few vacation days made me look into just staying in Minsk for 4 days. I know what you're saying, "He's a government worker, why doesn't he just use his sick days for vacation like everyone else?" For your information, I'm saving them for the inevitable breakdown that requires involuntary admission to a mental health facility.
Or rehab.
I debated buying a revenue ticket in Y, which would come in at around $900 out of EWR, but when LO scheduled their 787 on the WAW-ORD route in for January I decided to splurge on an award ticket in C, settling on a routing of PHL-FRA-MSQ-WAW-ORD-PHL. First two legs on LH, next two on LO, final leg on UA. It included an overnight in WAW and, while I've been to Poland before, I've never been in Warsaw other than to fly in/out of WAW.
That left the planning of where to stay and what to do in Minsk. Like any of us would do, I launched into a thorough search and, through multiple mediums and sources, found that
this was the most legit place to start.
Now, whatever fun I may poke at Andrei's expense throughout the report, I must begin by saying that I would wholeheartedly recommend him to anyone either looking to spend time in Belarus or anyone who is forced to be there. But we'll get to him later.
I asked for recommendation about lodging, not wanting to pay the $200ish for the Hotel Minsk or any of the other classier establishments near the center of town. Andrei has worked entensively with
this company, and recommended I go for an apartment instead as "I would save a relative fortune."
Their site looks amateurish and did raise a few red flags in my mind, but I wasn't using them for anything other than an airport transfer and 4 nights in an apartment. I picked a one bedroom apartment, prepaid a few hundred dollars through PayPal, and rolled the dice that Yuriy would be there at the airport to pick me up.