the trip was dangerous and scary

Even though the trip was dangerous and scary, my time in Ivano-Frankivsk, Western Ukraine, was wonderful! 

After the war began, our daughter, her husband, and their three children fled, first to Slovakia, then to Germany, and finally to England. They eventually returned to Ukraine and settled in Ivano-Frankivsk in the western part of the country.

Our three teenage grandchildren invited Mark and me to visit them during their week-long school holiday. Mark thought it would be best for me to travel alone. The first leg of my journey was a three-hour bus ride from our city of Mykolaiv to Odessa. The price of a bus ticket has increased by 25% since last year. This did not surprise me, as prices have gone up for everything.

After a two-hour layover, I found my wagon (carriage) and boarded the train. Two minutes before departure, just as I was getting comfortable, an air raid alert was announced, and we were told there was a direct threat along our route. All passengers were evacuated to a bomb shelter. After an hour, I was exhausted from standing, unable to walk or sit down, so I went outside. There I saw many people who had no place in the bomb shelter. There were even more of them now, because new passengers had arrived on two other trains, as scheduled.

Another hour passed, and suddenly, not far from us, there was an explosion. It was so loud, and the ground trembled beneath my feet. People began running in every direction. At first, I was terrified and jumped up and ran. I thought, “Where can I go?” The bomb shelter was already full of people.

I started praying loudly, calling on Jesus Christ for my protection and for everyone there. Thank God, everything ended well, and after another hour, our train finally began its 15-hour journey, following a three-hour delay.

At four in the morning, the train stopped in the middle of a field. All the passengers had to get off because an air raid alert had begun. We didn’t take any luggage with us, only the essentials. People stood in the cold for more than an hour. We were freezing.

The Train Ride Home

I knew that the Russians also bombed railway trains. It was only when I returned home and read descriptions of what such an attack could look like that I realized how terrifying it really was. The burning temperature of a passenger car is about 1472℉. This photo is from the Internet. It shows an incident that happened on January 27, 2026.

Some people were monitoring the situation through an app on their phones. Several Shahed drones had been shot down by the Ukrainian military, but some were still flying. Then we heard a drone approaching. Everyone ran to the train, and there was a brief moment of panic. Later, we were told to go outside again, but many others and I chose to stay in the train wagon. I prayed and fell asleep with peace in my heart. The threat to our lives lasted for three hours. The trip was uneventful after that, and I finally arrived home safely with my beloved husband, Mark.

Even though the trip was dangerous and scary, my time in Ivano-Frankivsk, Western Ukraine, was wonderful! With my three grandchildren and teenagers from their church, we went on a day trip to the Carpathian Mountains. How beautiful! How wonderful to spend a day among children, to see their excitement and enjoyment of this trip! I was a teenager for a day! For a short while, I forgot about the war.