Travel to Kharkiv, Kharkiv, Ukraine

[Brian&Larissa 73]

You don't need any special vaccinations when traveling to Ukraine. If you are in the city, don't worry about the water or just drink bottled water. I have drank straight from the tap...brushed my teeth from the tap...never had a problem. I have been to many cities inside Ukraine. You are way over thinking what you are wanting to do. You don't have to register anywhere....this is not Russia! The only place to avoid is Crimea. However, if you read the State Department Travel Advisory Notices you will see that Kharkov is one of the cites that US citizens are warned about. In fact, most of eastern Ukraine is a warning from the State Department. This because, eastern Ukraine are where most former-Russians live. This because, Russia has amassed upwards of 40,000 troops along the eastern border.

[Loving_girl 38]

Any prescription meds to take in case of bad diarrhea. I have read about travelers getting this.

"Levometsitin" - helps in cases of diarhea, is sold in any pharmacy as a LOT OF ANY OTHER MEDS without prescription.

P.S. Ukraine is not in Africa, you can eat and drink without any problems (unless you have health issues with particular products, than you simply avoid them as you do in the US).

[vbtwo 54]

As for bribes.........WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT???? Never in my life gave a signle bribe at KBP to anyone, so did my fiance, i assume people who "according to them gave bribes" had some issues like being nervous or something....donno....never heard anyone saying he/she gave a bribe at the airport.....plus take into account now in Ukraine new government is fighting any kind of bribes and stuff like that so i bet not a single soul will make even a slight hint for a bribe.

Yes, no problems with bribes at KBP at all. It's only a problem in regional airports where they will shake you down for a bribe for any reason they can. Heard of it happening in Odessa, and it happened to me in Dnipropetrovsk. They were pretty open about what they wanted too, not hiding it at all.

It won't be a problem if you fly in via KBP as you will pass passport control and customs at KBP and then it's a domestic flight to anywhere, so there isn't anybody there to shake you down for a bribe. Just get your luggage and get out of there as fast as possible without stopping and gawking at anything and do not look too closely at any police officers so they won't get any ideas to stop you for something.

There is no need to register in Ukraine, and when you fly in, do not fill out any immigration forms that they have at the airport. You do not need them. I don't know who they're for even though it says on them that you must fill them out if you're a foreign citizen, but just ignore them and go straight to passport control and nobody will ask you anything.

[Loving_girl 38]

Yes, no problems with bribes at KBP at all. It's only a problem in regional airports where they will shake you down for a bribe for any reason they can. Heard of it happening in Odessa, and it happened to me in Dnipropetrovsk. They were pretty open about what they wanted too, not hiding it at all.

It won't be a problem if you fly in via KBP as you will pass passport control and customs at KBP and then it's a domestic flight to anywhere, so there isn't anybody there to shake you down for a bribe. Just get your luggage and get out of there as fast as possible without stopping and gawking at anything and do not look too closely at any police officers so they won't get any ideas to stop you for something.

There is no need to register in Ukraine, and when you fly in, do not fill out any immigration forms that they have at the airport. You do not need them. I don't know who they're for even though it says on them that you must fill them out if you're a foreign citizen, but just ignore them and go straight to passport control and nobody will ask you anything.

All i know about smaller airports like Odessa and Dnepr is that they are nasty and slow, again have plenty of friends travelling in and out from EU to Ukraine, never heard them giving money etc.... maybe they had a good luck over there hahahaha ..... but still there are plenty of changes so i am hoping that bribes will be in past....

And completely agree with you about KBP, all is smooth (since i travel till present time), noone asks you anything at the border..... i mean nothing difficult.... One thing that is annoying is taxi drivers rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr keep on chasing you untill you find a drive

P/S. But still, Ukraine is a nice place to be and very interesting, loveee it!!!!!!

[MikeAndIryna 0]

You might want to llok at LOT (Polish) airlines as another option. They are pretty cheap and you change planes in Warsaw. That being said, I took LOT my first trip 10 years ago, and my wie took LOT last year to see her family. Both lights were late leaving Chicago and we missed the plane in Warsaw to Kiev - but they do put you up in the Hilton at the airport in Poland. Sucks that you lose a day. Not sure if the schedule and departures are more on time out of JFK, but might want to look into it.

And like the other post had, remove all tags. I used to take like a portable CD player as a gift. So I would remove the CD player and put them in my carry-on, and the carefully opened package in my checlk-in luggage, so I could re-package. And bringing in a diamond ring is a likely duty item they will notice. I brought a tennis bracelet once and got hit with duties. A friend of mine who went a couple years later had a receipt he did on Photoshop showing it was a cubic zirconia and only $35.00. Not advocating trying to fool thier Customs Agents, but the last thing you want to do is get detained over a gift/ring. I ended up buying an engagement type ring and matching wedding bands in Ukraine. Granted the engagement ring is a lot different looking there, since they really don't use them, but it was cool & symbolic of her country that we bought the rings there and been wearing them almost 10 years now.