Welcome to my blog!

Hello!
Greetings to everyone who is reading my blog.
My name is Olga Tkachenko, I was born and have always lived in Novosibirsk, Western Siberia. It is the third largest city in Russia and a commercial, cultural, scientific center of Siberia, vibrant and young. Due to its favorable location on the Trans-Siberian Railway the city attracts more and more visitors. And I am here to help you design your travel to my beautiful city and the rest of Siberia.
Guten Tag!
Ich begrüsse alle meine Leser!
Ich heisse Olga Tkachenko. Ich bin in Nowosibirsk geboren und gewachsen Nowosibirsk liegt in der Mitte Russlands und das ist die drittgrösste Stadt des Landes.

I am a freelance translator, interpreter, tour guide and fixer in Novosibirsk and other destinations in Western Siberia like Tomsk, Barnaul, and Altai Mountains. I started tour guiding in 2007 by chance (a lucky one), but very soon I realized that my hometown and Siberia in general are not very popular travel destinations. There are many reasons to that, like cold and long winters when travelers mostly stay indoors, long distance from Moscow and other well-visited and popular places in Russia, high (relatively) prices of Siberian tours, and so on. But the basic reason of a very limited number of guests coming to our region is scarce and frequently untrustworthy or simply false information about Siberia, especially in English.

Ich bin Freelancer, arbeite als Dolmetscherin, Übersetzerin und Reiseleiterin in Nowosibirsk, Sibirien, sowie begleite ich die Reisenden überall in Sibirien. Meine Stadt und Sibirien im Ganzen sind nicht sehr populär als Reiserziele. Das Wetter ist hier ziemlich kalt im Winter, es ist weit von der Landeshauptstadt Moskau und von den anderen bekannten Russischen Reiserzielen. Und noch dazu gibt es viel zu wenig Informationen über Sibirien allgemein, besonders in Fremdsprachen wie Englisch, und noch weniger in Deutsch und den anderen.

Tomsk

Tomsk is one of the oldest cities in the Western Siberia, located about 250 km to the north of Novosibirsk. Among western travelers Tomsk is very well known and often preferred to Novosibirsk. I read in many forums and discussion boards that Novosibirsk should be skipped in favor of Tomsk, and the only reason to come to Novosibirsk is to catch a bus/train to Tomsk. Though I don’t agree with this statement and definitely think there’s a lot to see in Novosibirsk, I can’t help loving Tomsk. As a Novosibirsk-based tour guide, I offer tours to Tomsk.

What travelers say about Novosibirsk and what of it is true in a local’s view

The travel season 2015 approaching, I have been considering and reconsidering my activities as a tour guide. I thought it might be useful to know what travelers think and say about Novosibirsk, especially those who visited it on their own, without a guide’s assistance. I studied several reviews and here’s what I found out.

To Siberia in winter. But of course!

Novosibirsk and Siberia in general is considered to be a cold destination, so most tourists who dare and come here prefer doing so in summer. But it is winter and snow, which make Siberia Siberia, and recently I'm having more and more tourists who understand it and who come here during the coldest season. Remarkably, they are mostly people from the countries where snow never happens or is an extremely rare occasion.

Novosibirsk is getting vegetarian-friendly!

Though I cannot call myself a true, absolute vegetarian (I sometimes eat seafood and I still eat eggs and add them to cakes and cookies I bake), I have been trying to follow the lactovegetarian lifestyle for slightly more than a year now and I thought I can try and write a post for those who is a vegetarian, a vegan, even a raw-food eater, and likes travelling around Russia and happens to come to Novosibirsk or visits my home city on business. In no case is this post meant to provoke any kind of argument, because I know that the topic is disputable. My goal is to give a couple of hints to vegetarians and those who are curious about that, who plan to visit Novosibirsk.

Transsiberian Railway; Abridged Version

In September this year I visited Translation Forum Russia, a great event organized by professional translators and interpreters for professional translations and interpreters. The event is something special in itself, and a lot of reviews have already been written about it both by Russian and foreign participants. I’m definitely going to write my own review, too, and the next year I’m going to visit it again and perhaps make a report. The forum is a travelling one, i.e. each time it takes place in a different city. This year Kazan, an old Russian city where Moslems have always lived, welcomed the Forum. However, in this post I’d like to write about my travel there, and one of the coming posts will be about the event itself.

Interpreting at the metal-recycling factory

The majority of the posts in this blog are about various sights of Siberia, in cieites, towns and about wonders of nature.
But I am also an interpreter, and I have still not written anything about places where I worked as an interpreter, though many of them are amazing, and I would never go there without a sound reason to do that. But interpreting, which I love as deeply as I love tour guiding, gives me endless opportunities to visit many interesting enterprises, institutions and events.

German National District in Siberia

I suppose this post can be more interesting for my German readers, but I hope everyone will find it informative.

Not long ago I had a chance to travel to the German National District. If you think that I had to make a long journey, you are mistaken.

Kolyvan, a historical town next to Novosibirsk

The settlement Kolyvan is one of the most interesting places in Novosibirsk Region and one of the oldest settlements in the region as well. Located only 30 km to the north of Novosibirsk and close to the river Ob, this settlement was founded much earlier than the Siberian capital, and it is definitely worth visiting if you are interested in Russian history and the history of Siberia in particular.

City tours in Novosibirsk for groups of up to 17 people

Dear visitors of Novosibirsk!
This spring and I started cooperating with a company offering transportation by minibuses (http://www.sibirturist.ru/). Currently this company offers Mercedes Sprinter (for 17 people) and Istana (14 people), perfectly equipped with everything tourists need. The seats are comfortable, you can take a half-lying position. All seats are equipped with belts for you to feel safe. There is a microphone for a tour guide so that every tourist could hear well. There is an air conditioner so that you could feel well in every season. The drivers are professionals with a lot of driving experience and you can be sure you will be safe during your tour.
The advantage of a minibus is its small size. It is much easier to find a parking place and make a turn, so that tourists can be brought to virtually any place.

With these minibuses your Novosibirsk city tour will be as comfortable as it can be.

Welcome to Novosibirsk!


 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Dear readers! I know it's been again a long time since I last wrote. The end of a year is usually a pretty busy time, seems like everyone is trying to complete all the tasks one hasn't managed to fulfill during a year.
So I had a lot of translation, and it is mostly translation I do in winter. No guided tours since October. But I hope the Christmas week may be different. A year ago, for example, I had two city tours, on the 3rd and on the 7th of January, though it was about -30 on both days!

But this post is a Merry Christmas wish to everyone who happens to read my blog. I am very happy to see each of you here, as I see that I tend to have more readers and this year was special, as I started to receive comments to my posts. I would like to wish all of you Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
May God bless you, your family and your friends!
May your business, should you have some, grow, and may all your dreams come true!

I promise to write a post about this year winter decorations in my city. A lot of snow and ice figures are under construction now, and I try to take my camera with me every time I leave my house.

Who visits Novosibirsk?

There will be no pictures in this post, but I hope my readers will find it interesting.
The tourist season is over now, and I expect very few tourists in winter. I guided only three tours the previous winter, and it was luck, because many colleagues didn't have any at all.
But the season 2011 was very good for me, so I'd like to summarize it, analyze it and make some forecast for the next season.
My friends and family often ask me if I am honest to say that I have a lot of work with tourists. They cannot believe that Novosibirsk may be attractive for guests. I am convinced, however, that the number of tourists will be increasing, and the last summer can confirm it.
So, who visits Novosibirsk, where are these people from and why they come to the city?