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  • Day 5

    Kyiv to Kropvnytskyi

    August 1, 2019 in Ukraine ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    Travel Day! Today we travelled from Kyiv to Kropynytskyi and that meant pack everything up and load up the bus. We woke up, showered, and packed up our suitcases, then went down for a quick breakfast to make bus call for 9:00 AM. We were early by 10 minutes but the overall group was delayed. Partially because of the 3 small elevators bottlenecking everyone with their luggage but also because some people aren't making the largest effort to be on time for bus call. My overall opinion is that the call time needs to be taken a bit more seriously.

    The busses departed away and we got settled in. Played some bus games together and then it seemed like we were barely 45 minutes out and we made a stop at a gas station so the driver could have a smoke break. Gonna be a long day. Most people loaded off the bus to use the bathroom / grab a snack and it was probably a 20 minute wait. Then we were back on the road. Next the guys started up the traditional game of Kaiser on a dance bus trip. We made a makeshift table from a cardboard box from the hotel. Showed the game to one our of Ukrainian guides, Andrei, and he caught on quickly. However he couldn't believe how long it was taking which is the point since there is not much else to do. The game was up and down but Joren and I eventually beat Jordan and Alex!

    After another 1.5 hours, we stopped at the Taras Shevchenko memorial site. Check out our other post for a detailed description.

    After the excursion we boarded the bus and drove 10 minutes for our lunch stop. Our guides were hurrying us along because we were running late (hmmmmmm, I wonder why?). Lunch was at a restaurant and we had salad, borscht, and fish. I was still a bit peckish, but luckily was talking to the younger girls who had barely ate anything and was able to get another two bowls of borscht. Then it was time to head out, but had to let everyone have a bathroom break, through two stalls for 60 people. That takes a while. I passed some time with some of the guys by tossing a large bouncy ball around in the parking lot. Departed around 3:30pm.

    The next leg was probably going to take another 4 hours. Part of the reason for the long lengths is that the roads and highways in Ukraine are vary quite a bit in terms of quality. There are lots of potholes in the road and the bus has to slow down to a crawl sometimes to get through them. Some of the highways feel like backcountry dirt roads for what we are used to. To give you and idea, Google Maps says the entire length for today's trip was about 350km

    During the afternoon portion of the drive, the guys revved up our engines and busted out the Mario Kart 7, which is starting to become another dance bus trip tradition! It was a blast and we were having a hoot in the back of the bus. Probably played the entire rest of the drive. There was also another bathroom break at a gas station where we had to shuttle 60 people through 2 or 3 stalls. Oh and Brooke didn't have much to report from the afternoon trip since she was napping the whole way.

    We finally got to Kropvnytskyi around 8:00pm and unloaded the bus. Check in process took awhile and then we had the Great Costume Unpacking session. Opened up all of the costume suitcases and was distributing all of the costumes to everyone. I had a slight concern when I couldn't find a couple of pieces, but eventually they turned up.

    Brooke and I made the smart/but not smart decision to iron our costumes before going downstairs to the restaurant. Partially because there were a ton of people there already. Smart because we got the annoying work out of the way, not-smart because by the time we got downstairs we had issues with ordering food. Brooke had checked what time they were taking orders until and we were told we had 5 minutes. So quickly decided and then found out they weren't taking orders anymore and all we could have was a couple of cold clubhouse sandwiches that they had screwed up on someone elses order and a cup of soup (this was even with our friend Audrey helping to translate for us). Suffice to say we weren't too happy, but I guess things could always be worse.

    Anyways, it's been a long day and tomorrow is actually our first full show, so we need to get some rest.

    Tyler
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