Travel Blog Posts
June 22nd 2008
Rule number 1: For woman - rule number one when going out at night - dress hot, very hot, the hotter the better. Mini-mini skirts, skin tight jeans, spandex, thongs, skin tight dresses and no bras. Do guys dress hot? Umm, sorry, I was distracted, what was the question, again? Rule number 2: It’s always a safe bet to err on the side of stylish, brand name designer clothes. Dolce and Gabbana, Chanel, Gucci. The average income here is quite low. Doctors make $250 US per month. I asked Max how the women here can afford such beautiful clothes and he said either they spend all their money on clothes and going to the salon once a week, work extra shifts and hours or get a “sponsor”. Perfect nails, hair, make-up if you are going out ... read more
June 15th 2008
The Greeks originally settled this part of the Black Sea. History explains why there are no wheelchair users.... read more
June 12th 2008
Odessa is proving to be a very interesting city. In many ways I suspect it is similar to what Prague might have been 15 years ago. It is still emerging from the shadows of communism and embracing capitalism (and corruption). The city is only two hundred years old. Catherine the Great decided she wanted a port on the Black Sea so sent her army here to defeat the Turks and build a modern city. Architects and builders from Italy and France were brought in giving the old part of the town a distinctly European flavor. The old part of town is beautiful. Parts have been recently renovated, gorgeous; parts are being renovated and parts are rundown and awaiting restoration. The city is being reborn. Present day Odessa is the major seaport for Ukraine with a modern ... read more
Wheelchair adventures in Ukraine - flying to Odessa
Published: June 4th 2008Europe » Ukraine » OdessaJune 1st 2008
So we knew it wouldn't be easy. Brad bought the Lonely Planet guide to Ukraine and here is it's advice to wheelchair travelers: Disabled Travelers Even Kyiv, the best-equipped Ukranian city, is not that friendly to people with disabilities. The rest of the country is worse. Uneven pavements, steep drops off curbs, holes in the road, lack of disabled access to public transport and very few wheelchair-accessible hotel rooms mean the only way to have an enjoyable time would be to come on a tour catering specifically for the disabled travelers - and these don't exist. Good thing I don't read Lonely Planet guides - I'm having a blast! We caught the plane to Odessa today. Kiev is the capital of Ukraine but the airport does not have gates and you disembark on the tarmac. I've ... read more
May 31st 2008
Yo dudes - finally getting the blog thing going! I met up with Brad at the airport in Munich for the last leg of our respective flights that took us into Kiev at 11pm at night. Things went quite smoothly on arrival. An airport staff member assisted us through immigration and customs so we bypassed the line-up and were met by a driver from our hotel. With a small miracle we were able to squeeze 2 wheelchairs, 3 large suitcases and sundry hand language into his Renault and made our way to the hotel. I did fair bit of research trying to find a hotel with suitable rooms. Many of the hotels in the center of town are large Soviet era monstrosities with poor quality rooms, elevators that sometimes don't work and hotel staff with legendarily ... read more
Tot: 0.055s; Tpl: 0.002s; cc: 4; qc: 58; dbt: 0.0383s; 1; s:notus w:www (50.28.60.10); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.5mb
