Tue 28 Jul, Entering Ukraine

The Schengen computer didn’t have my fingerprints, so it took a whole 20 minutes to leave Romania. I strolled over the sleepy bridge. Only five minutes to enter Ukraine. The customs woman was sweet. After she’d checked my luggage she called me back and wrote in Google translate “It’s very nice here.” I struggled to imagine a British border guard welcoming anyone. 

No one checked my insurance. No one checked I had the means to support myself while in the country. No one checked I’d installed an air alert app. I walked up the hill to Solotvino. The first people I saw were Jehovah’s Witnesses, but they left me alone. God only checks timesheets, not KPIs. My first welcome was from a cat – always a good sign when animals have learnt to expect humans to be kind.

I spoke my first Ukrainian inside the bank: “Good day. Please, I want hrivnia. ATM not possible.” She took me past the monolingual paying-in machine to the actual ATM, cunningly hidden around the corner, then changed my large notes into shop-friendly denominations the size of a small paperback. The SIM card was surprisingly easy. A taxi wanted £100 for 60 miles. I took a marshrutka (minibus) for £5, but had to sit on the floor for the first two hours – an authentic Ukrainian experience at least. The road hugged the river – the border. A 2m coil of barbed wire protected the river from young men wanting to “Go West (life is peaceful there.)” My shoulders were killing me so I got a cheap massage.

I heard an almighty explosion, but no one batted an eyelid. Someone later said it was just another sonic boom from the air force. My phone woke me twice in the night with air raid alerts. I threw my clothes on and grabbed my phone… then realised the hostel hadn’t shared the emergency plan. Both times, a woman in the next room heard me on the corridor and came out to reassure me. She turned off the offending wrong locations on my app. After the adrenaline faded, I still felt totally safe (I’m told Vorokhta has never had an alert) but they were valuable experiences.