The Best Things To Do in Winter in Ukraine
Dark, freezing, dismal — these might be the words some people associate with Eastern European winter, and on one hand they’re not wrong. It can be all those things. But it can also be breath-taking(ly beautiful), exciting,…
27 Lessons from a 5 Year Expat
Five years an expat! A milestone, perhaps. The sapphire anniversary. A longer commitment than any job, city, or relationship has ever gotten out of me. And yet it feels…. Normal. Perhaps that’s what I should have expected,…
How To Get to Ukraine’s Pink Lake in Henichesk
Visiting a pink lake in Ukraine has been high on my bucket list for years, but the limited amount of information about how to actually do it made crossing this item off seem very unlikely. Then came…
South Ukraine Itinerary: 1 Month (Give or Take)
In the summer of 2020, when Everything Was Cancelled, I had the unique opportunity to explore my adopted country. Well, it was my only opportunity to explore anything, so I went ahead and took it. Being a…
Things to Do in Western Ukraine
For a country that’s about the same size as Texas, Ukraine is constantly surprising me with the depth of adventure it offers. In over two years of living here, my ‘to do’ list has grown, not shrunk,…
Unique Ukraine Hotels: Fortresses, Bungalows, and Campsites
I may have lived here for years, but it wasn’t until I began planning my quarantine summer that I started wondering if I could find any unique Ukraine hotels. Bali has its villas, Scandinavia its eco-friendly bubbles,…
Kyiv Cocktail Delivery in 2020
I miss going out for a drink. I miss watching cocktails get made and pretending like I know anything at all about drinks. I miss my bartenders. With the COVID quarantine, bars in Kyiv have been shut…
Alternative Places to Learn Russian
After my long rant about why people should stop asking about learning Russian in Kyiv and instead just make their plans to go to the Motherland, you might find it odd that I’m encouraging you to think…
The Only Thing I’ve Learned This Year
It’s my expat anniversary! Three years ago, I boarded a plane headed for Tokyo, where I’d spend a night before going on to Singapore. I don’t remember which airline I flew, though it was definitely not United…
How to Choose Your Next Expat Home
The snow pants were presenting a problem. As was my Little Red Riding Hood pea coat, my cozy and fluffy sweater shawl, and my snow boots. Leaving Kyiv and moving to Tbilisi in the middle of winter meant…