So frustrated...stuck in Ukraine?
Place: Lviv, Ukraine
So I had no way to make it to Romania from Ukraine.
My original plan is: after getting to Lviv (the largest city in Western Ukraine, near Polish border) and stay there for 2 days, I would take train from Lviv into Northeastern Romania. The main stop is Suceava, where there are several (again UNESCO-assigned) medieval painted monasteries in the region. Checking from several European train schedule sites (the most reliable one is the one from German Railway/Deutsch Bahn, www.bahn.de). I knew I might need to change train at Chernivtsi, to transfer to a train traveling from Moscow to Sofia (which traverses eastern part of Romania, including Suceava and Bucharest). What I did not realize was, how hard it is just to inquire train information in Ukraine, let alone buying the ticket I wanted!
No, this is not Poland, or even the Baltics, where many people in hospitality industry speak at least passable English.
Many things in Ukraine remain the old Soviet style: confusing and inefficient. First, the advance ticket in Ukraine is not sold in the train station, but in some office rather far away from the station. After I got to the office, I found it was hot and crowded. All the signs are only in Ukrainian, which is in Cyrillic alphabet. I do know most of the alphabet (though I don't speak either Ukrainian or Russian) but it took much longer to figure out which train goes where (the Cyrillic form of Krakow literally transfers into "Krakiv"?). Also, I could not figure out which window to go to either. What about the multi-lingual ticket vending machine? Sorry, this is not Germany. After waiting at Window 8 for 20 minutes, I was told to go to Window 1 for international ticket. This was practically done through the help of a young woman helping to translate because the sale clerk cannot speak any English. Then at Window 1, again I had some communication problems with the sale clerk. Fortunately, a Ukrainian speaking Canadian woman was there helping her friend to buy ticket and helped to translate for me. That was when the bad news came out: all the ticket from Lviv to Chernivtsi was sold out for the next day. Also, due to the limitation of their computer system, even after I make it to Chernivtsi, the ticket clerk cannot find out if there is seat on the train between Chernivtsi and Suceava, Romania. I have to buy that leg of the trip at Chernivtsi station. Sounds complicated, isn't it? And these were all communicated through a interpreter. The sale clerk said I can try to take a bus to Chernivtsi and find if there is seat on the train onward to Suceava. But she seemed very concerned how I can find my way there since I do not understand any Ukrainian or Russian...
Well, Lviv supposed to be the most westernized city and quite educated place in Ukraine. If I cannot even buy a ticket by myself here (have to rely on the kindness of strangers for interpretation), how can I buy a train or bus ticket in Chernivtsi, a town I did not even hear of before this week? Do I expect that there will be some nice English speaking and helpful fellow happens to be in the same queue as me?
That was the moment that I realized I really overestimated my ability to travel alone and independently in a former Eastern Bloc country like Ukraine, where most people do not speak any Western language at all and their alphabet is not even that readable. For a country like Ukraine, I should have joined a package tour group (like the way I traveled to Russia) instead of doing it all by myself.
Now I feel stuck.
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