[Closed] Anyone been to Chernobyl?

I haven't, but I know a couple of folk who have. Could possibly put you in touch if no response on here?

again, no, but I have a friend who has (he's a bit bonkers like that; always holidaying in weird places. North Korea twice, yurt in the Gobi desert etc etc)

Any questions, I can relay etc

I could count on one hand the 17 times I've been to Chernobyl.

I have - cost me an arm and a leg.

Why wait til post Covid? Don’t imagine there’ll be much of it about there...

Again, not me but a friend has been, from his pictures it looked like he went on holiday to Call Of Duty 4.

I could count on one hand the 17 times I’ve been to Chernobyl.

Actually sprayed a bit off coffee on my laptop there!😂

Went last year. It was an excellent trip. Well worth it. The most dangerous part was the bus ride there and back.

One of my photos...

I liked Kiev too. You can eat Chicken Kiev in a restaurant called Chicken Kiev.

Bit of an odd holiday destination. Its a very bleak area even without radiation effects.

A colleague has been there with his Russian wife (because her family lives vaguely in the same region) he said it was interesting to be there, but he certainly wouldnt have travelled especially for that purpose.

If you want to get a similar experience, just go to Cyprus and head to no mans land, just dont get shot

Blimey - lockdown hasn't been kind to the London Eye has it........

If you're going in summer don't be tempted to wear short shorts.

Because Chernobyl fallout

..Try the veal...

Looking at those pics, just go to Barrow in Furness and tag the photos as Chernobyl..who's going to know?

It's an eerie place.

...bob - rumbled.

Blimey – lockdown hasn’t been kind to the London Eye has it……..

It's been a tough few months for tourist attractions.

You're having us on, that's Park Hill flats.

@thestabiliser, beat me to it!

Yes.
Ive been twice.
Amazing place to see and as above Kiev is a nice city to explore for a couple of days too.
If you want a recommendation. Gamma travel are great
some of my pics here. https://www.flickr.com/photos/mhampshire/albums/72157643964846173
Any questions. fire me a message

It's one of the places on my bucket list as I am fascinated by the whole urbex and disaster side of it all. Doesn't really matter that it's been photographed to death, I still want to go there and see it first-hand so following his thread with interest. Maybe I should look into combining it with a trip to Auschwitz as per a previous thread, would be a good way to avoid the hoardes in the more touristy places for a while.

Just watch "The Chernobyl Diaries"....

sofaking - Amazing photos, thanks for the link. Eerie put compulsive viewing.

I've not been but have wanted to go for years..

Yes, summer 2018.

Was planning a trip back until lockdown intervened!
As sofaking says, spend a few days in Kiev too. So much to see.
Fwiw we went with soloEast tours.

Would recommend doing at least the 2 day tour so you stay overnight and get to see more e.g. the "woodpecker" receiver antenna (wow), talk to some of the oldsters who stayed etc. Also this tends to be a more reflective crowd rather than the one day tours.

Old enough to remember when it happened so meant a lot to me. One of my schoolfriends did a Russian degree and spent a year out in Kiev, a pal of theirs from that time had been a liquidator and died a couple of years later.

You'll need longsleeved tops and trousers for the trip into the zone, a) because if contaminants get on them you just take them off (can't do that with skin!)
b) big hungry mozzies!

Bring dog treats (or indeed chocolate wafers!) to feed the stray dogs and the tame fox. And lots of cameras and batteries. Sturdy shoes as there's a lot of broken glass.

If you are a runner, they have a not-parkrun in Kiev https://runday.org/en/run/kyiv/tru/ though whether it will still be there in the After Times who knows.

Happy to answer questions!

PS personally wouldn't combine with Auschwitz - YMMV but the mood is very different. Chernobyl wasn't on purpose and there is a lot of emphasis on the (often involuntary) heroism of the firefighters and "liquidators" and the engineering efforts to put the new sarcophagus in place.
Certainly in summer the zone is very very beautiful (yer untrammeled yet irradiated Nature).

I'd say at least make sure Kiev etc is *second*...!

I still want to go but does anyone else feel like the new safe confinement dome's almost spoiled it a bit? I mean, that's obviously a ridiculous thing to complain about considering, but a lot of the iconic view of the reactor's changed.

Still love to see the wider zone though. Even if I am a bit worried about snorks.

Battleship Island is another option if you're into the post-apocalyptic tourism thing.

https://japancheapo.com/travel/visit-gunkanjima-battleship-island/

I still want to go but does anyone else feel like the new safe confinement dome’s almost spoiled it a bit? I mean, that’s obviously a ridiculous thing to complain about considering, but a lot of the iconic view of the reactor’s changed.

Still love to see the wider zone though. Even if I am a bit worried about snorks.

you can go inside the safe confinement if you pay

Thanks Solarider

Just watch “The Chernobyl Diaries”

which was shot in Serbia and Hungary 🙂

No, but the staff bogs when I was working in Elizabeth House, Waterloo were almost as hazardous.

If you want to get a similar experience, just go to Cyprus and head to no mans land, just dont get shot

If you like your trips a bit post-apocalyptic, then a green zone tour in Cyprus is worth a visit. This is an underground garage full of brand-new Toyotas in Nicosia, delivered on the day the whole place was locked-down in 1975. There's a couple of lovely Celica body shells in there - everything else has been stripped.

Not been to Chernobyl but have been a tourist at another nuclear site - weather's a bit warmer there too

sofaking
Free Member

you can go inside the safe confinement if you pay

Ohhhhh. Didn't realise that! Thanks!

Mrs WF went there back in 1993 as part of a Uni field study trip. Think they all wore haz suits and carried radiation patches and went round one of the outer abandoned villages. They weren't able to get any closer back then. I fell like I have been there after spending far to much time playing COD Modern Warfare 😁