12 April 2015 - Kyiv, Ukraine - Part 1

It has been a bucket-list item of mine for about 10 years to pay a visit to Chernobyl. Furthermore, I wanted to visit the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster. Honestly, I had felt both excited to finally get the opportunity to visit and nervous because I had never traveled past the western side of Europe. I was a child of the 80s and 90s so I got to see the effects of the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union. But, having never been there, I only had the American side of the story.

In 2007 I had the pleasure of playing a PC Game called S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: The Shadow of Chernobyl, a first-person shooter based on a fictional representation of the Zone, an area surrounding the original power plant. Here is a trailer to get a feeling for it.

This trip came about because I had another journey to the UK and simply piggy-backed this one. Using Delta airlines I had to fly to Amsterdam, then I switched to Ukrainian airlines.

I was strangely reminded of my first trip to Japan. In this new country, I did not know the language and would also be illiterate to the Cyrillic characters used. Kyiv was my first destination. Upon arrival, I took a taxi to my hotel. I am pretty sure I paid too much for the fare but was thankful to make it safely. The city was my first view of the building style of the previous communist government (called Krushchyovka) clashing with a buildup of more modern buildings. 

Tomorrow, I will go exploring near my hotel to get a feel for the main part of the city and to learn the mass transit system. In a few days, I will take a tour of Chernobyl, 134km to the north. To be continued...