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About Me
My name is Mark, and I have a passion for Kiev (Kyiv) Ukraine. That's me below in the picture!
Your probably wondering why I decided to do this. Well I guess you weren't paying attention when you hit the homepage so here's a gentle refresher. Kyiv and Ukraine is misunderstood by most. All you see on the news is the bad stuff about a war in one small area of a huge country. I'm on a mission to let you know what your missing out on and how you can discover Europe's best short break tourist destination for yourself.
Anyway! This is the "About" page so let me tell you a bit more about my story.
I started my working life at 18 as a trainee retail manager, dreaming one day to achieve my goal of managing large retail stores. By the time I was 21 I had my first store in Kensington High Street, London. Seems I had a talent for creating and inspiring highly motivated teams to drive for success. Somehow by the time I had reached my late 20's I was managing my first store on the world's most famous shopping destination, Oxford Street in London.
Well at this stage you might be thinking I am some sort of retail genius. Fair to say that I had an unconventional approach to management which did lead to a great deal of success. But the truth is I was just enjoying myself and I happened to be in the right place at the right time. Of course that can also work in the other direction, like the time I was mistakenly arrested in Kiev (Kyiv Ukrainian spelling) … but that is another story )))
All sounds good, right!
But sometimes by achieving what you set out to do you are left with few challenges to drive yourself forward.
By the time I reached my late thirties I realised everything was too comfortable. For me that was the time for a CTRL ALT DELETE moment, time to start again so I quit my job.
Fortunately for me it was around this time that I met my future wife.
Now this is the bit where fate deals it's hand. A Ukrainian girl on a business trip notices a sign outside a pub that says "Dish of the day - Chicken Kiev". Intrigued by the sign she enters the pub and takes a seat at the bar. The pub is called The Barley Mow just off of Oxford street in London, and it just happened to be my local after work drinking hole. Well you can sort of guess the rest, and before I knew it I was making regular trips over to Kyiv in Ukraine.
That was about 19 years ago, since then I have made countless trips to Kyiv, it is like my second home. I have grown up a strong network of acquaintances, close friends and family.
I have organised stag do's, romantic short- breaks, health tourism trips, sightseeing and culture trips and many other activities. Each trip has been unique but one thing they have all had in common is that everyone who has visited Kiev wants to return.
I have travelled around the world extensively and enjoyed great food and drink. I got older, in fact nowadays I refuse to walk into antique shops in case they try to sell me )))
But I can honestly say Kiev in Ukraine is a unique and special place that few other European cities can match.
I hope you will get the chance to visit Ukraine and see for yourself what a great city Kyiv is.