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Hello Dan

I read your "be careful" post below and wanted to relate my experience with this.

I never rented a car for going to Ukraine, and I agree with you that it might be impossible to find anyone that will allow you drive their car there.
But I have been driving all the way from Norway to Ukraine together with my wife several times in the last two years after marrying there in the summer of 2000.
The reasons we did drive there on several occasions were because we had computers and a lot of other things for Lena’s family that we wanted to bring along. And also because we were going to visit relatives and friends in different parts of Ukraine, from the border in the north to Livov in the west, almost to Kharkov in the east and all the way to Yalta in the south.

Even though a latest model Mercedes with unknown foreign plates will attract a lot of attention from the militia, I never had any serious problems at all. No one ever touched my car or did anything else at all. Whenever possible I would park it on a guarded parking lot at night. In the summer of 2000 the militia could stop me as much as 5-6 times a day, but last year after the new rules I think the average was about once a day.

In my opinion driving in Ukraine is mostly safe and uncomplicated. There is very little traffic, especially at night, so even though the roads are in less than optimal condition you can expect to cover an average of 90-100 km (55-65 miles) an hour at night. That is considerably more than I have been able to cover in other eastern countries like Poland where the roads are better, but the traffic heavier.

The only problem is crossing the border in an out. If you don't understand who and how to bribe it might take as much as 24 hours standing in endless lines. Even with bribing in every possible way it might take from half an hour to several hours depending on the location where you are crossing and the traffic at the time.

My wife and I enjoy travelling by car and we will certainly take the car again on some of our trips there in the future.

Just a small piece of ordinary Norwegian wood for what use it might have.

Jan

... in response to Driving in Ukraine, posted by R.Danneskjold on Jan 19, 2002

It is good to know that driving is a reasonable option. Sounds like you spent most of your time driving around --smile--. Seriously, that must have been a really interesting trip - you visited, or passed through, a tremendous amount of the country.

How are you and Lena doing?? Her adjustments to life in another country coming along OK??

- Dan