Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
There's still time
Have you spent time in Russia or Ukraine?
- Thread starter steveseagull
- Start date
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
France?
_Russ_
Never not Knowingly Misunderstood
Charlie Chaplin...Fish and Chips together with "I am English student" seemed to be the common as I remember
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
And what did they reply to you?
angusmcfangus
I see no ship's, only...
Switzerland and Zimbabwe.
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
I got into a spot of bother involving a bottle of single malt with airport security in Dubai, which looked awkward for a while. Talked my way out of it, though, got them to "look after" my whisky, AND got to take it home with me when I'd finished work. That's about it on the international transgressions front.
ETA: the BA crew in front of me got into similar bother with a number of bottles of champagne. Theirs got confiscated. I think that's what happens when you talk to Arab airport police like children
ETA: the BA crew in front of me got into similar bother with a number of bottles of champagne. Theirs got confiscated. I think that's what happens when you talk to Arab airport police like children
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The39thStep
Urban critical thinker
Barred from the Magnet pub in Croft , never been back in.
Kevbad the Bad
Amiable Bowel Syndrome
I spent 9 months learning Russian at school some 50 years ago. Not long afterwards I caught the 'Yugoslav Express' from Zurich, bound for Belgrade. It turned out that this ruddy train stopped at every single piddly station on the way to pick up migrant workers returning home. After 10 hours we'd got as far as Innsbruck. Never made it to Yugoslavia.
Yossarian
Get thee behind me, Santa
Never been to either, despite a longstanding invite from a Russian friend I know from Hong Kong - would definitely like to visit Ukraine one day but after the atrocities of the last couple of weeks, I'm not sure if I'll ever go to Russia, maybe some time in the distant future when the deputinification process is complete.
StoneRoad
heckling from the back!
I've not been to either, sadly, as I liked travelling in the before times. although I never managed to do as much as I wanted.
My late father, bless his cotton socks, went on the Transiberian Railway [at least twice, for the full trip], also to Moscow, and various places behind the line of the Iron Curtain, & China ...
These trips were all to the annual International Esperanto Congress [held in various places between the late 1980s and 2009]. After most events, he would stay with one or two of his Esperanto friends for anything up to another week - sometimes in another country - and then make his way home again - usually by another route.
My parents were able to afford to send my little bro on one of the educational "land cruise" trips, which included Moscow in, I think, late 1970s, or maybe 1980 ? [Sadly, I missed out on the chance of going on Devonia to the Med, probably, it was too expensive and I wasn't in the 'good' books at school]
My late father, bless his cotton socks, went on the Transiberian Railway [at least twice, for the full trip], also to Moscow, and various places behind the line of the Iron Curtain, & China ...
These trips were all to the annual International Esperanto Congress [held in various places between the late 1980s and 2009]. After most events, he would stay with one or two of his Esperanto friends for anything up to another week - sometimes in another country - and then make his way home again - usually by another route.
My parents were able to afford to send my little bro on one of the educational "land cruise" trips, which included Moscow in, I think, late 1970s, or maybe 1980 ? [Sadly, I missed out on the chance of going on Devonia to the Med, probably, it was too expensive and I wasn't in the 'good' books at school]
bellaozzydog
rolling turds in glitter
I lived and worked in Siberia for 18 months working on a 500km ice road made to construct a permanent raised road to an oil field. Salym
Amazing people, freezing in winter wet and soggy in summer
ALL the women have gold teeth and workplace equality is the best I’ve seen
Bit of a stereotype….but ….Had to 100% breath test the work force daily as scoffing vodka seemed fairly routine. No one got sacked just told they were too drunk to drive come back tomorrow drink less at night
Amazing people, freezing in winter wet and soggy in summer
ALL the women have gold teeth and workplace equality is the best I’ve seen
Bit of a stereotype….but ….Had to 100% breath test the work force daily as scoffing vodka seemed fairly routine. No one got sacked just told they were too drunk to drive come back tomorrow drink less at night
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Serge Forward
Just enjoyin' my coffee.
UEA-kongresoj or SAT-kongresoj? I was at the SAT kongresoj in Nagykanisza (2001) and Bratislava (2004). So if he was at those I would have met him.
RD2003
Got a really fucking shitty attitude
An organised tour to European Russia with Thompson's Holidays in 1988 and then, on the strength of a redundancy payout, several extended stays between 1990 and 1993, living in a 'Khruskovka' flat in the far north-east of Moscow, two Metro changes and a bus away from the city centre.
It was there, in my mid-late '20s, that I learned for sure that in life, more or less everybody uses everybody else; something that was especially pronounced over there in the conditions of the time. I used the local knowledge and connections of Russians and others living there to make life easier, and they made use of my, albeit limited, access to western currency, goods and visas etc. It was an unspoken understanding, and it didn't prevent genuine friendships, but everything was contingent.
Also, you soon find out that you had (still have?) to drop all western preconceptions. Nothing worked the way you expected. Just as a small example: you would buy a ticket for an inter-city train only to find that when you arrived at the station there was no sign of it and no indication as to why. Officialdom wouldn't want to know. It would either turn up as and when, or you'd end up having to re-arrange your journey, at great inconvenience and usually at the cost of a bribe.
The Metro and bus services were phenomenally efficient.
A startling number of Russians I met, my age or younger, have been dead and buried for a long time.
Being there long-term, you would meet Russians and foreigners alike whom, upon later reflection, it was probably unwise to associate yourself with.
The weekly English speakers' night at a certain western embassy were an eye-opener to say the least...
Went to western Ukraine. It was exactly the same.
It was there, in my mid-late '20s, that I learned for sure that in life, more or less everybody uses everybody else; something that was especially pronounced over there in the conditions of the time. I used the local knowledge and connections of Russians and others living there to make life easier, and they made use of my, albeit limited, access to western currency, goods and visas etc. It was an unspoken understanding, and it didn't prevent genuine friendships, but everything was contingent.
Also, you soon find out that you had (still have?) to drop all western preconceptions. Nothing worked the way you expected. Just as a small example: you would buy a ticket for an inter-city train only to find that when you arrived at the station there was no sign of it and no indication as to why. Officialdom wouldn't want to know. It would either turn up as and when, or you'd end up having to re-arrange your journey, at great inconvenience and usually at the cost of a bribe.
The Metro and bus services were phenomenally efficient.
A startling number of Russians I met, my age or younger, have been dead and buried for a long time.
Being there long-term, you would meet Russians and foreigners alike whom, upon later reflection, it was probably unwise to associate yourself with.
The weekly English speakers' night at a certain western embassy were an eye-opener to say the least...
Went to western Ukraine. It was exactly the same.
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_Russ_
Never not Knowingly Misunderstood
Re:
USA apart, most attention I've had was entering Cuba, 4 bloomin hours they kept me though partly my fault I suppose as id just cut all me dreads off due catching nits so looked fuck all like my passport pic (and for some reason where extremely suspicious that I had brought a Bicycle with me
chilango
Hypothetical Wanker
Did you get taken into one the interrogation rooms with all the pliers etc. on display on the walls?
Spent a couple of hours in one of those myself. I did get to practice my Spanish at least.
_Russ_
Never not Knowingly Misunderstood
I did not see any implements of destruction, but the Questioners (I wouldn't really call them interrogators but I guess semantics) had really well developed hard stares and smiles were very much absent)
I did sweat a bit but I think facing the other 40 odd people waiting 4 hours on a coach that wouldn't leave till I got let out was worse (no smiles there either)
I did sweat a bit but I think facing the other 40 odd people waiting 4 hours on a coach that wouldn't leave till I got let out was worse (no smiles there either)
StoneRoad
heckling from the back!
UEA mostly - although he did visit for other events, and as his politics were decidedly left-wing, he may well have been in SAT as well as UEA and BEA ...
not-bono-ever
meh
Both Ukr and Russia ( as difficult as it is to generalise about Russia) are fascinating places, politik aside. You don’t have to go very far from the congested grey cities to see people still living off the land and providing for themselves as they have been doing for centuries.
JimW
支那暗杀团
I was in a night club in Beijing when a fight broke about between some Russian gangsters and their local peers, one Chinese lad went outside with a bleeding head and returned brandishing a pistol, which was the point I made for the exit. Only time I've seen a gun pulled in anger I can recall.
Used to be loads of people here buying cheap sports clothes etc for petty trading back in the day, don't get downtown much now so not sure if that's still going on, was quite a Russian quarter in 1990s.
Used to be loads of people here buying cheap sports clothes etc for petty trading back in the day, don't get downtown much now so not sure if that's still going on, was quite a Russian quarter in 1990s.
danny la rouge
I have a cheese grater in the dishwasher.
Me too.
2hats
Dust.
Yes. Both, several times. Mainly N, W and central Ukraine. Points N/S/E/W in Russia, cities (Moscow & St. P obviously, some closed industrial), towns and villages. Also most of the ex-SSRs/former client states.
A few years ago I visited a major Russian metals mining complex and the shift access gates to the winding gear were serious theme park type turnstiles which you had to breath into in order to pass (we were advised to lay off the booze the night before).
dylanredefined
Not a house elf a tiger
Did an exercise in Ukraine in 2002 . Utterly corrupt and poor and rundown. Most of the young soldiers could have been models. If you live on 3 bowls of soup and hunk of rye bread and a sausage you will have a six pack too.
Life was cheap ,health and safety non exsistentant. People were friendly and they were optimistic for the future.
Life was cheap ,health and safety non exsistentant. People were friendly and they were optimistic for the future.
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
No wonder, then, that they're fighting like tigers not to go back to that....
RD2003
Got a really fucking shitty attitude
If they lose, they're not going back to anything; they're going forward into the unknown along with the rest of us.
I was in Ukraine a couple of years back. I like to take a cheap holiday in January and Ryanair had a return flight to Lviv for a tenner all in so it seemed rude not to. Ended up being a great trip, met lots of friendly people and saw a lot of interesting stuff. The centre of Lviv was getting tidied up and it felt like it was being geared up as a new Prague style destination. I think Ryanair had just done a big deal with the local gov.
The Pravda beer hall, a live band playing just above the bar - these are the guys that were in the news making the nicely branded Molotov cocktails lately. A very slick operation all round.
I went to Kyiv for a few days - on the train out which was quite old, the tea in the buffet cart was served in these amazing mugs - the train back was a more modern affair.
When in Rome
A tribute to soldiers who had been killed in Crimea/Donbas. I met a very very troubled American bloke at a place I stayed who was trying to get down there to fight. I'm sure he'd have been a massive liability and I made my excuses when he was trying to make me watch war-snuff videos on his laptop.
I think this may have been to do with the protests a few years back, there were some people in the main square keen to talk about it in positive terms. I should probably do some reading on it as I'm largely ignorant.
The fact I went there on a cheap Ryanair flight makes it feel much closer to home and relatable than other wars - while I know there's lots of dodgy language being thrown around and it's become a bit of a meme to point out the difference between the reaction to the victims vs other wars I can sort of understand it from a selfish point of view.
I was on my own and met a lot of people who were keen to chat on the trains, in cafes etc and I really hope they're not too fucked.
The Pravda beer hall, a live band playing just above the bar - these are the guys that were in the news making the nicely branded Molotov cocktails lately. A very slick operation all round.
I went to Kyiv for a few days - on the train out which was quite old, the tea in the buffet cart was served in these amazing mugs - the train back was a more modern affair.
When in Rome
A tribute to soldiers who had been killed in Crimea/Donbas. I met a very very troubled American bloke at a place I stayed who was trying to get down there to fight. I'm sure he'd have been a massive liability and I made my excuses when he was trying to make me watch war-snuff videos on his laptop.
I think this may have been to do with the protests a few years back, there were some people in the main square keen to talk about it in positive terms. I should probably do some reading on it as I'm largely ignorant.
The fact I went there on a cheap Ryanair flight makes it feel much closer to home and relatable than other wars - while I know there's lots of dodgy language being thrown around and it's become a bit of a meme to point out the difference between the reaction to the victims vs other wars I can sort of understand it from a selfish point of view.
I was on my own and met a lot of people who were keen to chat on the trains, in cafes etc and I really hope they're not too fucked.
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