Blue &Yellow: Politics and Economics in Ukraine

The good news is that Budapest’s Ferihegy terminal is clean and modern. The bad news is that the rail link—just a five minute walk from Terminal 1—is a disgrace. Dirty, dilapidated, and hard to find, with graffiti everywhere and broken lifts and ticket machines, it looks like something out of a poor eastern block country in the early 1980s.

A burly man accosts me and tries to get me to take a taxi to the city centre. I politely say that I am going by train. The taxi is quicker, he says. And the train is a long way. I’m used to dealing with these people but his persistence annoys me. He starts telling fairy stories: the train is not running today and it's "inconvenient". In a well-run airport the taxi drivers wait outside in an orderly queue, rather than hassling the passengers.

From Eastern Approaches, a short post on how an airport and transport from/to an airport can reveal something about the country your in. With that in mind, Boryspil  airport in Ukraine isn't that bad, its relatively clean and modern. Transport to the airport is okay as long as you take a bus rather than a taxi (they'll gouge you good unless its from a reputable taxi service). However, the domestic airports are a different manner.