Dear Planeteers!

Kindest greetings from Odesssa at the Black Sea, a really wonderful city I discover together with a wonderful woman.

Merry Xmas Martin looks like you are having a great time.

Keith

Jep!

Looks amazing if a trifle ❄️

Looking great sir!

Looks like you are managing to enjoy yourself Odessa looks very nice. That long flight of steps rings a bell with me historically??

Phil

Jep! That's the famous Stairways from the Eisenstein movie!

Since that it is called "Potemkin Stairways"...

Cheers

Thanks for showing all those nice pictures

Something for my collection bought:

An Ukrainian Cossack Papakha!

Very cheap here, only 460 Griwna. (For the price in Euros you must divide the price through 35!)



BTW: Weather is exactely like in Bremen: 4 degrees, cloudy, some wind...

Cheers

May I introduce...:

The new Herman of the Ukraine...:

Herman the Hetman! Love it!!

Stay safe Martin

Phil

Odessa ist soooooo nice...!

It certainly looks like it Martin

Phil

So - I'm back at home, a little later than planned ...

And it came like this:

In the "Corona times", traveling through foreign countries mutates more and more into an almost incalculable adventure, as every European country develops and implements its own strategies to combat pandemics.

No trace of a "common Europe".

Actually, I had booked my return flight for January 5th - and had all the necessary papers together. I thought!

While we were having a farewell dinner with Tanja and her daughters in a beautiful Ukrainian restaurant, at exactly 8:01 p.m. I received an email from the KLM airline, with which I wanted to fly back to Bremen via Kiev and Amstardam.

The Dutch had introduced a new rule overnight, so to speak:

For the transit (!!!) in Amsterdam / Schiphol, a new, maximum 72 hours old, negative "Corona test" was required, without which I was not allowed to land in Holland!

In addition, a "ban on carriage" had been issued for the airline for all people who could not show this test when boarding in Kiev!

My flight was supposed to start at 7 a.m. - so it's completely out of the question to meet this requirement in time, at least by legal means!

Even in the restaurant, compassionate friends hung on the phone and almost forced me to take a fake test with my name on it and the appropriate date. Wouldn't even have been expensive! (You can buy EVERYTHING in Ukraine, as long as the price is right!)

I preferred not to go into that.

So rebook the flight. Tanja and I literally knocked each other out the night! To make matters worse, the flight is handled by KLM, but operated by the Ukrainian state line UIA.

In other words: You have to parley in English with the Dutch - and in parallel with the Ukrainians in Russian.

When Tanja and I fell half dead in bed at half past seven in the morning, we actually managed to rebook the Odessa-Kiev, Kiev-Amsterdam and Amsterdam-Bremen flights to January 8th!

But with that I always did not have the required "Corona" test!

The Dutch of course don't give a shit how this new edition, devised by some politician brains, is fulfilled, but unfortunately not the Ukrainians, because on January 6th and 7th the Orthodox Christmas is celebrated there, the second most important festival of the year (after the Orthodox Easter )!

There are three state test centers in the city of Odessa, I walked through them one after the other (almost 13 kilometers) - all of them were closed! "Njet rabotem segodnja!" ("We're not working today") was everything I was told there - on different levels of courtesy.

The fourth test center is private and works 24 hours a day - but it's at Odessa airport. And that's far. 40 minutes by taxi - or more - depending on traffic. So go for the test!

There, however, the test does not cost 1,100 hryvnia, as with the state, but 1,800 hryvnia. But you also get two nice stamps underneath!

As many stamps as possible under one propusk regardless of the provenance are important in Ukraine - a legacy of the Soviet era.

By the way: 1,800 hryvnia are € 51.40, so manageable!

And in Ukraine absolutely every car is a potential taxi! If you see a car with an owner parked somewhere, all you have to do is knock on the window, state your destination and regulate the price.

Everyone in Ukraine needs money and is using absolutely every opportunity to get it! I paid 120 hryvnia to the airport and 150 hryvnia back (€ 3.40 and € 4.20). But the "more expensive" driver was also a funny guy ...

(It's only better not to try this taxi system at night! There is then a special taxi number 838, which is particularly popular with women: You order a car (taxi or private car) by phone to a certain meeting point - and they will call you back and tell you the vehicle type, car number and the name of the driver. A fine, secure system that unfortunately the Germans have not yet come up with ...)

In the meantime, the Germans have made a negative "Corona" test a prerequisite for entry in addition to the "digital entry declaration" - but while the Dutch pass on paper form (in Dutch / English), the Germans (we are a modern country) the whole thing digital.

While you can get by with a simple passport in normal times, in "Corona times" I needed a total of two additional files on my mobile phone, plus eight pages of paper in two languages, and another special insurance for any treatment costs "Corona" infection in English, Russian / Ukrainian, without which I couldn't move a step in Ukraine (32 pages with lots of beautiful stamps).

Oh yes: I needed the "Dutch" Corona test, which was carefully checked in Kiev and Amsterdam, for the way through a loooong empty corridor that connects the "Non-Schengen Terminal" in Schiphol with the "Schengen Terminal" of the same Airport (exactly 1,747 steps, I counted them.)

The good thing about the whole campaign: I was given three more unexpected days with my wonderful Tanjusha. And THAT was definitely worth it ...

Now I am sitting at home in state-mandated quarantine - and (what else?) have to have the next "corona test" done in five days.

I can soon wallpaper my apartment with the fucking things ...

Oh yes, I also have a funny incident to report:

On the way to the gate in Kiev, a soldier in a spotted combat suit, an incredibly big belly and a pretty good number of stars on the shoulder pieces asked me in German whether I would carry more than 10,000 euros with me.

Because this guy looked so unmilitary with his belly, I had to laugh spontaneously - and then answered him in German that he could search me, and if he really found 10,000 euros on me, we could do half-half!

(Only after this stupid saying came the shock that I might not have got myself into a lot of trouble with my big mouth ...)

But the man turned out to be a very nice and real major general of the "Ukrainian Armed Forces", who had seen my passport at the security check, had grown up in Germany and just wanted to chat a little German again ...

We had some coffee together and he talked a lot about his wife and three children who live in Essen, Germany. And of course a lot of photos were shown. He wrote down the address, I should send my regards ..

Sometimes life writes nice stories that make you forget the shit virus for a few moments ...


Cheers

Welcome back..the hassles of travel likely permanent..it’s a different world...

Oh, those Dutch ...

Oh, those allthefuckingones!

Welcome back Martin . Your story, although frustrating, is as good a read as the day by day stuff you usually post.

Phil