From Stockholm via Warsaw and Kovel back to Kyiv

Before the Orks attacked us on February 24, 2022, a trip home to Kyiv would have involved a two-hour flight to Boryspil plus a 30-minute drive home; currently, it takes us at least three days. But to our consolation, also the ruZZians are now sometimes stuck at airports for days, as their airports are increasingly closed due to our drones, and therefore flights to and from airports in the 4th Reich are often delayed or even canceled altogether. In addition, emergency landings are becoming increasingly common on flights operated by ruZZian airlines, as some of them are kept in operation by counterfeit spare parts.

We had a very early flight from ARN, so we were able to avoid changing from UBER to the express train at the station, instead boarded our UBER – unfortunately, a TESLA – at 5:00 AM directly in front of the hotel, heading directly to the airport.

Stockholm bid us farewell with a beautiful rainbow, while at ARN we were greeted by the – bankrupt – 'Jumbo Hostel,' a decommissioned Boeing 747.

We were the first at LOT's Gold Check-In, waited for the staff, dropped off our luggage, and received our boarding passes, this time without a neighbouring passenger, as it was an Embraer with 2-2 seating in Economy.

We were told that, despite having a Lufthansa SENATOR card, we weren't allowed to use the Lufthansa Contract Lounge and would have to go to the LOT Lounge in the old terminal.

After the security check, we discovered that this lounge was quite a distance away, the old terminal now mostly being used for LCC departures. But we had plenty of time and were also hungry.

So we walked over, found the entrance, went up a flight of stairs, and found ourselves in front of a locked door with the sign 'Open from 6:30.'

We waited a few minutes in the stuffy stairwell, knocked on the door at 6:30, and were let in by a very friendly lady.

To our surprise, the lounge was very nicely furnished, everything was in good condition, and very bright thanks to the many windows overlooking the apron. The food selection also far surpassed that of a typical Lufthansa FTL/Business Class lounge; we had no problem getting our fill with a quick breakfast.

At 7:20, we were back in the new terminal and found ourselves at the departure gate, where boarding hadn't yet begun.

Shortly after, we headed to the bus, which shuttled us from the new terminal past the old terminal and countless privacy fences to the far end of the airport, where LOT's Embraer 195 was waiting for us in an outside position.

At least this paid return flight earned us 20 Qualifying Points, which brought my total balance to 39,002. This means I'm still exactly 998 qualifying points short of achieving Lifetime SENATOR status with Lufthansa Group.

At Warsaw Airport, we were given, miraculously, an outside position again, so including a free apron tour.

We passed countless Polish government aircrafts, as well as a US government Boeing 737NG.

Baggage claim at WAW Airport was, as usual, very slow. Around 10:30, we left at the departures level, and the shuttle to our long-term parking spot was already waiting.

We quickly loaded everything into our car and drove to downtown Warsaw, where I had reserved a room at MOXY Warsaw Center for the night.

We drove directly into the underground parking garage, went to the reception desk with our luggage, and at 11:20 I wanted to ask politely if a room would be available earlier than 3 pm.

But I never even got to that point. The employee immediately asked me if I wanted to check out, to which I said 'no'. She then retorted, "Check-in from 3:00 PM!!!"

I politely informed the lady that I knew the check-in times and just wanted to politely inquire if a room might be available a little earlier, and pointed out my Titanium Preferred status. The short and to the point answer was, "Only against payment of 50% of the room rate."

I found this a bit cheeky, since I hadn't requested a room "here and now," but simply wanted to know if a room was available before 3 p.m. Therefore, I pointed out to the lady that I had never encountered such behavior in my well over 1,500 overnight stays with Starwood Bonvoy and asked to speak to her supervisor.

As it turned out, her supervisor was sitting at the neighboring check-in desk and simply told her in Polish, "You can give him room 129 immediately, without payment, if he escalates." It didn't occur to them that I understand Polish very well due to my Russian and Ukrainian skills, so I immediately said, "We'll take 129." We also received the two US$10 vouchers as well as two vouchers for coffee or cocktail.

I like MOXY hotels, the style of the lobbies, and the rooms themselves. What surprised about the MOXY Warsaw Center was that the bathroom was larger than in any MOXY I've stayed at before.

We caught up on some of the sleep we'd missed earlier that morning, then walked a good 2 kilometers to 'Ceviche Bar', which got awarded with a Bib Award of the Michelin Guide.

The interior was modern, but the food was disappointing across the board. If only we'd gone to our favorite restaurant.

The next morning, we packed the car at 9:30 a.m., exchanged the $10 vouchers for snacks at the hotel bar, and headed for the highway toward Chelm.

Unfortunately, this border crossing into Ukraine, the easiest to reach from Warsaw, is presently closed to cars and open only for trucks. After 160 kilometers of very fast motorway travel, we had to turn onto the completely overcrowded federal street heading south, then cover another 100 kilometers to another border crossing.

The journey was more like a Nintendo game; we constantly had to try to get past slow-moving convoys. It's recommended to set the automatic transmission to SPORT+ to get past faster.

The last 30 kilometers were over rather broken country roads before we joined the queue at the Polish border station at 2:20 p.m.

Fortunately, we made good progress; after an hour, we had left Poland behind and drove across the Bug River to the Ukrainian checkpoint, which, as usual, was completed within 30 minutes. However, due to the time difference, we had lost another hour, which meant it was now already 5 p.m.

A few kilometers after the border, we stopped at the first branded gas station and filled up the car before driving the remaining 60 kilometers northeast to Kovel on the P15 federal highway.

Kovel has a very eventful history. Ironworking was already taking place in the area in the 12th to 14th centuries, the first public school was founded in the 16th century, and the city only fell to the Russian Empire in 1795. Between the two world wars, it belonged to Poland again.
In 1939, the Jewish population was 17,000, or 50%. In October 1942, the Jews who had not yet been murdered by the Nazi-Germans were locked in the Great Synagogue, which was then set on fire. The inscriptions carved into the walls by the dying Jews were preserved for posterity after the war.

But back to present: 'mira mar Hotel' in the medium-sized city of Kovel was a truly pleasant surprise: very modern, well-equipped, and, of course, air-conditioned.

This hotel, however, is well-known throughout Ukraine among young footballers; my wife's youngest brother had even stayed here for a youth football tournament. From our window, we had a great view of the football field, with a VIP box for coaches and talent scouts.

Since we had only eaten the snacks we'd bought at MOXY, we were very hungry. We consulted Google and decided on an Italian restaurant with the unusual name 'OTTO' at the city's central square.

The food was another surprise: pizza from a wood-fired oven, homemade pasta with a generous portion of chanterelle mushrooms. We paid US$14.50 for our meal, including two bottles of mineral water, and returned to the hotel, full and happy, where we rounded off the day with a game of UNO.

We slept excellently and at around 9:00 a.m. we had our breakfast, which was included in the hotel room price: very, very decent Sirniki with sour cream and jam, along with a coffee.

We had to cover the remaining 448 kilometers home on a regular federal highway, initially in relatively poor condition, but later resurfaced. Unfortunately, the speed limit on such roads is a maximum of 90 km/h, but you often have to drive through towns where the speed limit is either 30 or 50 km/h.

On the way, you pass Soviet monuments, long fields and large forests, and you can also see the Rivne nuclear power plant in the distance.

Once, I ran into a police car traveling at 180 km/h, but luckily I was just able to slow down. I thought, 'Damn it, now I'll have to crawl behind them at 100 km/h,' after all, they were already driving 10 km/h above the speed limit. But the friendly police officers made way almost immediately, waved me to pass, signed, "GOOOOO !!!!"

Despite a gas stop, we reached Kyiv Oblast quickly; I had averaged 131 km/h on a 350-kilometer stretch with a maximum speed limit of 90 km/h.

However, the kangaroo was back; at 100 km/h, it was so bad that our Coke bottles almost flew out of the cup holder in the center console.

But we were almost there. At the Borodyanka roundabout, we pass a multi-story apartment building destroyed by a Russian rocket. In this act of terror by the Russian Nazis in March 2022, approximately 50 civilians, including children, were killed in their homes. Remember the history of Novel ? As you see history repeats.

Shortly before 3:00 PM, we reached the city limits of Kyiv. At 3:12 PM, we turned into our street and, after almost three weeks, we were back home, finally reunited with our girl.

The next day, I sent my driver to the tire shop. They told me that the third tire on this trip had given up, this time the front right.

Even now, as I'm finishing this travelogue, there's an air raid raid going on. About 200 kamikaze drones are on their way to Kyiv. Furthermore, TU-95 bombers equipped with X-101 cruise missiles have taken off from the Russian military airfield near Murmansk and are on their way to the launch zone over the Caspian Sea. So, we're expecting another long and nerve-wracking night.