This was just what I needed: a daytrip vacation to Kiev, solo style. And the memories started right away.
I left my site right after my classes finished on Friday and headed to Chisinau. My first step was to find the bus station that sold the tickets I needed. I had never been to this station before, so I asked a friend how to get there. Even though it’s walking distance, she suggested that I take a rutiera since I didn’t know where it was. But it was a nice day, and I decided a walk would be nice. Silly Maggie.
I walked to where I thought it was, and didn’t see it. So of course I doubted myself and changed directions. And then I walked a ways and decided to go a different way. I stupidly decided to embrace this new direction and walked quite a bit. Eventually, I stop and asked someone for directions, and she basically told me to head back towards the direction I had originally been.
So I started back tracking, and I decided that I should just be safe and take the rutiera. I found one marked for the bus station and got on. After about 10 minutes, I questioned why someone would say this bus station was within walking distance. And another 10 minutes later, I saw a Chisinau sign, which marked the city’s boarder.
I now realized I missed the stop for the bus station. I figured the rutiera ran on a loop, so I would just wait and it would go back. After 10 minutes, it was clear we were no longer in Chisinau. So I asked the driver about the bus station. He said we passed it, and it would be awhile before we were back.
So he stopped the next rutiera he saw going in the opposite direction. I jumped off this one and hopped on the other, not before confirming with the new drive that he would pass the bus station. I then asked him to please let me know when we get to the stop for the bus station.
When we got to the bus station, the driver yelled nice and loud for me to hear, even though I was sitting right behind him. And low and behold, it was the first place I had tried and sort of looked at the very beginning; I just hadn’t walked quite far enough. So walked the extra 100 feet I should have gone, and I was finally able to buy my bus ticket. Phew. Step one was complete.
I left my site right after my classes finished on Friday and headed to Chisinau. My first step was to find the bus station that sold the tickets I needed. I had never been to this station before, so I asked a friend how to get there. Even though it’s walking distance, she suggested that I take a rutiera since I didn’t know where it was. But it was a nice day, and I decided a walk would be nice. Silly Maggie.
I walked to where I thought it was, and didn’t see it. So of course I doubted myself and changed directions. And then I walked a ways and decided to go a different way. I stupidly decided to embrace this new direction and walked quite a bit. Eventually, I stop and asked someone for directions, and she basically told me to head back towards the direction I had originally been.
So I started back tracking, and I decided that I should just be safe and take the rutiera. I found one marked for the bus station and got on. After about 10 minutes, I questioned why someone would say this bus station was within walking distance. And another 10 minutes later, I saw a Chisinau sign, which marked the city’s boarder.
I now realized I missed the stop for the bus station. I figured the rutiera ran on a loop, so I would just wait and it would go back. After 10 minutes, it was clear we were no longer in Chisinau. So I asked the driver about the bus station. He said we passed it, and it would be awhile before we were back.
So he stopped the next rutiera he saw going in the opposite direction. I jumped off this one and hopped on the other, not before confirming with the new drive that he would pass the bus station. I then asked him to please let me know when we get to the stop for the bus station.
When we got to the bus station, the driver yelled nice and loud for me to hear, even though I was sitting right behind him. And low and behold, it was the first place I had tried and sort of looked at the very beginning; I just hadn’t walked quite far enough. So walked the extra 100 feet I should have gone, and I was finally able to buy my bus ticket. Phew. Step one was complete.
I took an overnight bus. Not the
best night’s sleep, but it got me to Kiev Saturday morning so I would have all
day to explore. The day started out cold and rainy/foggy, so my morning
pictures weren’t great. Good news was the rain stopped by about 10am. The bad
news was my pants, shoes, and socks were already soaked by then, leaving me
rather cold for the rest of the day. Besides being cold and damp, I had good
time explore the city. It was nice to do exactly what I wanted. At the end of
the day, I took another overnight bus back to Moldova, getting back in cold and
exhausted Sunday morning.
Despite its size, this trip was a
big trip for me. It was the first time I had traveled by myself to another
country. I was stepping way out of my comfort zone, and I mean way out of my
comfort zone; like into another country (hehe). And I’m so proud of myself doing
this because now I know I can travel someplace if I would like. And I can do it
when it’s cold and rainy and still have a good time. This time, one day in
Kiev; next trip, one week Africa? Probably not, but I’m no longer closed off to
the idea.
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