My name is Olena Goncharuk. I am a qualified tourist guide, based in Kyiv, Ukraine. I’ve been working for the tourism industry for 20 years. After getting an MA degree in History in 2002 at the university, I started to find a job. I liked history very much but it was impossible to find a job as a historian with a salary enough to survive in a big city. I already had some experience in tourism and I liked it.

First I worked as a travel manager in the office and then studied at the courses of tourist guides. My knowledge of history was very useful in my job. I wanted to tell people a lot of interesting things and prove that history is not so boring as some people think. Tourism is much bigger than history or economy. It is a mixture of many economical and humanitarian sectors as well as emotions, food&drink, relationships and diplomacy, adventure, sport, and happiness.

I love my profession of tourist guide because it allows exchanging knowledge and emotions. It’s not only me who tells information about Ukraine. Tourists also give some other points of view and understanding of different historical and modern situations. Mutual communication is a good way to understand the world, life, country, and self.

During my work many times I’ve heard that visitors were impressed by Ukraine and Ukrainian culture. But they cannot find enough information about Ukraine, its culture, and lifestyle in English. For a long time, Ukraine was separated between other countries and got independence only in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Just 15 or 20 years ago many people didn’t know where Ukraine was located on the map. Usually, they answered: “Ukraine? This was somewhere in Russia”.

Now the situation has changed. People know that Ukraine is an independent country but very often they think that Ukrainian and Russian people have almost the same culture and language. But it is not true. As one tourist said: “Just two hours by airplane, and we can see a completely different world in the center of Europe. I’ve never thought it’s so amazing ”.
The idea of this travel blog appeared some years ago but it was realized only in 2020. I would like to share my knowledge with other people, tell stories about my loved country, and get feedback.

You can also find some information about my traveling to other countries. I’ve visited 19 countries but I would love to travel much more and to share my knowledge with others. The most pleasant thing happened when I’ve met some Ukrainians abroad. We have quite numerous Ukrainian diaspora, up to 13 million people all over the world. In addition, more than 3 million Ukrainians work in other countries. So we can meet native people everywhere.

Let’s discover Ukraine together. Hope you’ll love my country as I do.

Cooperation
I’m open to cooperation in the tourism industry for those people and companies that share the ideas of responsible and sustainable tourism. Its main concept is visiting somewhere as a tourist and making a positive impact on the culture, society, environment, and economy.
Please, pay attention that I don’t write about video games, night clubs, or casinos so I don’t cooperate with companies which are engage in such kind of business.
Contact e-mail: guide.kiev.ukraine@gmail.com
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