Oy, time goes by fast…

Obviously it has been a gazillion years since I have posted, but there have certainly been plenty of things going on during that time.  The big pieces of this trip have been set for a while — what can I say? I like to get my plans in place early — and it’s just been lots of little things that have been eating up my time.  When I’m not watching television, of course.

I posted previously about my flights, which I think work out really well.  Since I won’t have a stop and layover every few hours like my last trips, I am hoping that I’ll end up sleeping most of the time on the flights and be able to better adjust my body clock to the time zone I’m heading to.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

While in Kiev, I’ll be staying in what looks to be a pretty nice apartment.  (For those keeping score, this is the second time I’ve gone the apartment route; only one for hotels/motels.)  I found it online at kievapts.com — here’s a link to it.  It looks and sounds great online, and is located near (but not right in) a key area of the city.

Let you think I’m crazy for picking an apartment online and sight unseen, I will refer you to the apartment I rented in Odessa during my first trip.  That turned out to be an awesome place, and the online pictures and description did not lie.  True, this is a different company, so it remains something of a gamble.  Still, since a lot of the economy in Kiev (and Ukraine in general) thrives on tourism, these rental companies know that a few bad reviews can put them out of business.  People may not always say it when things are good, but you can be sure they’ll speak out when things are bad.