Chris Dyson's Travel Blog

I had the hostel room I was staying in until 11am, so I made the most of it an just relaxing editing photos and sorting them into albums to save myself time when I got home. The transfer I had booked back to Boryspil airport wasn't until 11:30am so after I had checked out I attempted to make a quick timelapse and just played a few games on my phone to pass the time. The driver that picked me up was the same person who brought me here so he knew where to find me and what I looked like which helped. When I arrived at the airport I dropped off my suitcase and passed security and got some food whilst waiting for boarding to start. The flight time was just over 3 hours back to London and departed with no delays. Upon landing we taxied and disembarked with no delays again and everything went smoothly. I used the e-passport lane to get back into the UK for the first time so I didn't even need to talk to anybody. I collected my suitcase, bought another £6 single fare journey to Zone ...

Before starting my journey to Kiev I had planned a route on google maps for me to walk. As I have mentioned in a previous post before I also used maps.me and turn my GPS location on if I do take a wrong turn finding myself somewhere unfamiliar. The first stop I took was St. Volodymyr's Cathedral. Wikipedia describes this as ' mother cathedral of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church' St. Volodymyr's cathedral A short walk around the corner took me to the Golden gate. This is a replica of an 11th century medieval gate to the city of Kiev.  Golden Gate replica Another brief walk and I found myself at Saint Sophia's Cathedral. This is one of Kiev's best known landmarks and one of the first to be a UNESCO heritage site in all of Ukraine. On the day that I visited there was lots of hand painted Easter eggs outside.  Saint Sophia's Cathedral from the outside In the distance I could see St Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery so that is where i went nex...

We got the train back into the exclusion zone from the overnight stay in Chernihiv , this took around 40 minutes. Before eating breakfast we went to the close up viewpoint of reactor 4 to take a photo of the new sarcophagus. This was paid for by many European countries at a cost of €2billion. We then ate breakfast which was at the same place we had eaten lunch yesterday.  Reactor 4 sarcophagus We would then head to the city of Pripyat where upon arriving we would take a photo of the welcoming sign. This is on the edge what is known as the red forest, which is the 10km radius zone that surrounds the reactor. It gets the name red forest from the colour of dead pine trees as a result of the accident. We then had an extended period of time out of the minibus seeing the growth of nature in the area of Pripyat and viewing some of the cities important buildings that crumbled and decayed over time.  Pripyat sign During the morning we would see:  Pripyat Hospital(H...

Today I would be joining a 2-Day tour of Chernobyl. I left my suitcase at the hostel as I would checking back in again in 36 hours. I had to use Google's translate app to communicate with the Ukrainian lady but it wasn't a problem. You can download language packs for offline use for any language before you travel this can be really handy. With just a backpack and 1 change of clothes i walked around the corner to the pickup point for the tour near the station. Remains of a house with a rusted car We would be using a minibus and there was around 15 of us in total including the guide. We started the drive north of Kiev to Chernobyl which would take the better part of 2 hours with a toilet break. Upon arriving we had a quick passport check at the checkpoint before we were allowed through. The Chernobyl exclusion zone approximately covers a 30km radius. We were first taken to see a theatre and the houses that surrounded it, to see the houses of the people that used to live her...

It was that time again, with my suitcase packed I left for the station and was London bound. I had a free complimentary return journey down to Kings Cross due to a train in the past that was over 90 minutes late. It was a direct train with no stops so i arrived in just under 2 hours. I then went into the underground an bought a single fare journey to zone 6 for £6. I would be staying overnight near Heathrow's terminal 5 as my flight in the morning was 08:20am. There was a free shuttle bus to the Heathrow Lodge I was staying at, and this was less than 10 minutes on the bus and a short walk from the first stop. The room was very small but it was what I needed for £36 with a shared bathroom upstairs and a sink in the room. Waking up early and getting the shuttle bus back to Terminal 5 I dropped my suitcase off and cleared security fast before the queues started to build for the early flights out of London. Boarding was quick and with no delays we departed for Kiev, Ukraine. This was...

It has been a long 5.5 months since I last travelled but its finally time to get back to it again. Checking ahead for the weather both in the UK and Ukraine and it is supposed to be warm. Around 20 degrees Celsius would be ideal as I obviously can't wear shorts on the Chernobyl tour. I have tried to budget how much money I need to withdraw from an ATM once I land in Ukraine as I can't convert any in Britain ahead of travelling. Hopefully the person picking me up to transfer me into the city won't mind waiting a few moments while I get some cash. Everything is packed apart from a few things which I need to use the night prior, pretty standard stuff really. I will only be taking a day bag with me to Chernobyl and a few spare clothes for the overnight stay and radiation check on exiting the exclusion zone. My suitcase will stay at the hostel for the 36 hours while im out of Kiev. I made sure that all of my apps are up to date for offline use, such as google maps, maps.me...