Finally. I have arrived.
Here are pictures of my FIRST views of Ukraine from the Airplane, landing at Lviv
My journey was not for the feint at heart. I started in Toronto on Monday.
Let me take some time to explain all of the pitfalls of the last couple days
1) I THOUGHT my plane departed at 1:30, but it actually departed at 12:30! I lost an hour ad had to cut my to do list in half – a lesson in prioritizing!
2) The guy at the United Air counter was a jerk ( see previous post) and charged me an arm and a leg for my over weight suitcases (I had planned ahead and brought thank you cookies for him to be accommodating… but to no avail)
3) I got to Chicago perfectly (as described earlier) only to find out that my next flight (to warsaw) was delayed by 6 hours. This meant that my next flight to Lviv would also be delayed by 12 hours making me 24 hours late.
4) Panic hit! I had taken the time (prioritized) to cancel my cell service in Toronto so that I did not incur horrendous charges while in transit. This meant I had no way to connect with anyone to let them know these changes to my itinerary.
5) I learned you cannot make a connect call to a cell phone!
6) I learned American business are unwilling to make/give small change – this made using the payphone a horrible mess. I had to call Felix and talk in one minute intervals
7) I was stuck in Chicago for 14 hours with very little and limited access to US money, no internet connection, no communication, and no food.
8) I realized while sitting at the gate to board the plane to Warsaw that Chicago is in a different time zone, which meant that I had ANOTHER hour to wait for the plane
9) The 9 hour flight wasn’t so bad, but in the spirit of being a total complainer, I must say that airplane seats (well airplanes overall) are NOT fat friendly. If I had a single motivation for losing some weight while over here, it would be to properly fit into an airplane seat for the journey back home!!!!
10) Warsaw was a really nice stop over. LOT airlines is in my bad books though – the shuttle bus was late this morning and on account of nearly missing my plane I shared a cab with the woman I met yesterday (Oksana) and another Gentleman from Belarus (who was very confused as to why I refused to speak Russian)
11) I arrived in Lviv just a little late, and the customs officer informed me that my $220 visa was invalid and that I must contact the police after three months in Ukraine to beg permission to stay my remaining month and a half! (the baggage officer was pretty firm with me until he asked where I was from, I told him I was a Canadian student, and his demeanor totally changed: he was then totally uninterested in checking my bags. Its ok, I don’t trust Americans either!)
12) THEY LOST MY LUGGAGE!!!!!!!! One of my bags arrived, but the other one is lost in an intercontinental matrix. Everyone kept saying “ make sure you have enough packed on your carry-on luggage to get you through a couple days…” I didn’t listen. My suitcase that is full of stuff for the girls arrived, but my clothes and personal effects did not. For the next couple days, I am stuck hand washing my underpants, and wearing the same clothes.
13) I learned there are no escalators/elevators in most of Ukraine. Carrying my 80lb suitcase + back pack+ purse up and down stairs was definitely a test of my endurance. (below: pictures of the train Lviv - Ternopil)
14) I learned that I am not as good at speaking Ukrainian to Ukrainians as I am at speaking Ukrainian to my pillow….. Again, I feel like a heel speaking in MY language in other people’s country.
15) Because of my LONG journey I have burned through 2 of my novels meant to get me through the summer (please send me books!!! )
After 3 full days of travel, I have finally arrived safely, in not just a little bit exhausted, and A LOT travel weary. The journey did not happen without lessons being learned.
The most important thing that I will take from my journey is that this summer is not going to be a breeze. I think I commenced my journey with a healthy dose of cocky, which has effectively been cut off at the knees. I also learned that I deal well with difficult situations – I can keep going as long as the problem requires that I respond – just keep swimming is a wonderful motto to adopt.
With the 15 points of horrible out of the way, I am happy to be here. I am glad that I arrived, and that I am here to carry out the plan as I have dreamed about for the last year. I have worked damned hard to get this far, and I don’t intend to have a shitty 48 hours ruin that for me – I’m here in one piece, basically unscathed, and off I go on the rest of my journey.
Photo from the Museum of 4 Ukrainian symbols
*love*
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