The Ukraine Train - An Experience Like No Other

On our way home from Ukraine, we took a 15 hour train ride to Kiev to board our flight to Germany. The train experience is .... well, it's quite something. They do have a first class option, but we decided to not do first class since people had donated to help with our travel. My favorite quote from the whole trip was by Olga, talking about the train option we chose. She said that first class was nicer, but with the standard option we chose, "You will arrive alive." We DID arrive alive, and now I can say that I have experienced the Ukraine train.

There was a variety dogs hanging out at the train station.

Waiting for the train was very cold!

Kym, me, and Kate hanging out on the train.


Amanda and Karen on the train.

We did manage to sleep a little. Amanda and Kym took the top bunks.

Kate and I took the bottom bunks. When we went to sleep, Karen slept in Alex and Olga's compartment as there are only 4 bunks per compartment.

Alex and Olga in their compartment.

The hallway of the train.... with Alex's hand making an appearance.

Kym getting ready for the bathroom on the train. There is no toilet paper, so she had her toilet paper tucked in her shirt, ready. There was water (or some sort of liquid - eeek!) all over the floor of the bathroom, so Kym tucked her scrub bottoms into her socks. No sinks or soap, so she's going to tuck a germ-x wipe in the top of her shirt, ready for sanitizing herself. The wipe will also help combat the smell, which is quite .... unforgettable.

We were so proud of her preparedness!

And... here it is. At this point, the liquid in the floor wasn't as bad as it was earlier in the night.

Words just can't describe it, as you can see.

Being the slight germ-freak that I am, I didn't use the bathroom on the train. It was quite painful, but I managed. I also didn't use the pillows or the blankets on the train. I used my jacket as a pillow. I don't think ANY of us used the blankets, but a couple of us covered the pillows with pillow cases and used them. The sheets and pillowcases were packaged in plastic, which HAD to mean they had been cleaned, right? I made sure to touch nothing to the floor other than the bottom of my boots. If anything fell to the floor... it was just gone, gone forever.

So.... we survived the Ukraine train. We were safe and fairly warm, and we had a place to lay our heads. We arrived alive... better than just alive. We had experienced something that you can't find anywhere else, and we got to experience it together. It was an unforgettable part of our trip!