BY PLANE TO UKRAINE

1st June 2018

Short of anywhere else to go at the moment, bored and thoroughly pissed off by our pathetic government's feeble efforts to get us out of the ghastly EU plus the equally ghastly weather, I thought I would pop over to The Ukraine for a quick visit. Is it 'Ukraine' or 'The Ukraine'. Why 'The'? I believe the word 'Ukraine' means 'Borderland', or somesuch, presumably in Ukrainian which they speak, apparently, alongside Rooshan. Maybe its like 'The United Kingdom', but not 'The Great Britain' or 'The France' but similar to 'The Gambia' and 'The USA'. I will make the effort to find out.

Arrived at Boryspil (Kyiv...that's how it's spelt here) International 6.00pm local time (2 hours ahead of UK) via the scrum at Gatport Airwick courtesy of Ukraine Airlines; 3½ flight.
Word of advice here; make sure you print out your boarding pass from the UA website before checking in...otherwise Ukraine Airlines charge £9 for the privilege of doing it for you.

Met by our guide, Vladimir, who seems a personable young man and a further 5 people on the 'tour'.  Two more to join later. More about them later, I expect. I am not usually one for guided tours, but on this occasion it was necessary as a planned visit to that great holiday resort of Chernobyl requires it. Mini-bus for the 32km ride into Kyiv proper and to our hotel, the Rus, just south of the old town. Not a bad place at all and had a rather good supper. A 'guided tour' of the city tomorrow........stand-by for more.........

Just found out an explanation for the terms 'The Ukraine' and just 'Ukraine'. It seems to make sense.

"The Ukraine" was once the usual form in English,^[26] but since the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine, "the Ukraine" has become much less common in the English-speaking world, and style-guides largely recommend not using the definite article.^[15][27] "The Ukraine" now implies disregard for the country's sovereignty, according to U.S. ambassador William Taylor.^[28] The Ukrainian position is that the usage of "'The Ukraine' is incorrect both grammatically and politically."^[

So it's 'Ukraine' from now on.

For future reference, the currency in Ukraine is the Hryvnia (UAH). 32.5 to the £ as things stand.

^{So it's ]}