Michele and Teresa needed to get to the airport for an 8.40am Belavia flight to Vilnius, Lithuania. For some annoying reason, the wifi did not work in our Minsk apartment this morning. That meant that we could not use the taxi app to order a cab to the airport.

Michele and Teresa left Scott sleeping since his flight was later in the day and made our way to the Macdonald’s down the road near the Gates of Minsk in the hopes of getting some wifi…. but it was not open at 6am.

We went to the central station hoping to get some wifi but could not connect here either. So we determined that there should be a cab rank close by. We approached one and tried to negotiate a price. The language barrier was making things a bit vague but we decided to trust him and he got us to the airport in one piece, albeit we did pay the premium price (which we think was a mixture the time of day it was and also that we were tourists who were easily taken advantage of).

One thing we did notice was the fact that there are not always seat belts available for use and the drivers barely use them (we noticed this in Kiev too). Yet here in Minsk the roads are so wide and efficient that you do feel safe enough.

The check in process was fuss free but the border check, even with leaving the country was very thorough and took longer than entering the country. There were duty free shops in the departure area but we did not want to add to our suitcases just yet!

The Belavia flight was very comfortable with decent sized seats and leg room.

Our experience in Minsk was all positive and we are so pleased that we spent the time here. We would absolutely recommend this beautiful country as a must see to anyone interested. We have already commented that we will be comparing every city that we are yet to see to Minsk.

Arriving back into the EU is heaven as far as border security is concerned. We just go to the passport scanners and pop through!

Vilnius is an hour behind Belarus so we landed before we took off.

Uber was operational from the airport and took us to the hotel Involita within 15mins for €8. This hotel is located in the heart of the old town and finally has a lift! The room is basic but comfortable and includes breakfast.

We dropped our bags off but could not check in until after midday, so we set off in search of breakfast and a hairdresser. The cafe that we found was attached to a jewellers and was adorned in pink flowers and furniture. We ordered coffees, breakfast and mimosas.

After breakfast we walked around the old town and finally found our blow dries! We waited for our appointments at another very modern cafe that had swings for chairs!

Salon-ready once again, we looked for a place to eat lunch. We thought that eating at 2:30-3pm would avoid the lunch at rush but it seemed that everyone wanted to dine at that time too. One restaurant turned us away before we squeezed into a table for two at another. Two chicken Kievs and some dark beers were ordered and we were not disappointed.

By the time we left the restaurant it was dark so we did a bit more exploring, got some supplies and then settled in for a relatively early night, it had been quite a big day. The Australian fires were the main story on the BBC news, they still look devastating.

There is a music channel that was playing 80’s hits and we realised that Wham’s Last Christmas has been the song we have heard the most of throughout Europe. But look at what they played today!

Labos nakties!