Sleeping in Airports

Airport Adventures: Dnipropetrovsk Airport

by a traveller

After staring into my document for more than 10 minutes he softly hinted that the staff is preparing to shut down the airport but if I would pay a bit they would let me in.

“I had a horrible experience in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine airport in the summer of 1999. Arrived from Tel Aviv with a midnight flight and I had no one to take me out from this hell. Right from the start taxi drivers, hungry for work, tried to offer me a trip to Kirovohrad (the city I was traveling to) for just 100 dollars when the regular bus ticket was worth just 3 dollars. They are not polite and do everything they can to get you inside their taxi.

I went into the nearby hotel where I found two sleepy fat ladies and a few old broken sofas. I agreed to the price the hostess proposed and then it took her around 30 minutes to fill all the needed documents just like it was the Soviet era. After that she asked me to pay a price which was 10 times bigger then the original she has mentioned prior. I refused to pay and was virtually thrown out of the hotel while hearing her screams and insults towards me. I was shocked and embarrassed.

Since I had no place to go (the airport is quite far away from the city centre) I returned to the airport where the policeman on duty stopped me and asked to see my passport. After staring into my document for more than 10 minutes he softly hinted that the staff is preparing to shut down the airport but if I would pay a bit they would let me in. I was so angry. this barbarian proposition was not an option for me so I decided to pretend I didn’t really understand him. After two hours of this game he agreed to be awarded with an Orange juice which was bought at the kiosk inside the airport. At least I could sleep now on the hard bucket seats next to my bags. It wasn’t that comfortable.

At 6 AM a bus came in and I finally drew towards the city.

It was a horrible, quite dangerous and embarrassing experience which I would never agree to repeat. Stay as far as you can from Dnipropetrovsk. Traveling Ukraine is always a pleasure, its not a third world like some have stated but a developing European beautiful country with so many places to see and visit. Service, prices and availability are not the strong side of Ukrainian tourism yet but I would definitely suggest you to go for a visit there. Just try to make your flight through ANY other than Dnipropetrovsk airport and spend more time in Kyiv and Western part of the country. East is east everywhere.”

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