How to Visit Chernobyl

TOM: We filmed a lot of B-roll in Pripyat and we can't use all of them. We think we're going to get a lot of questions about how we got to the area, so we'll show a lot of cool pictures of what we did and then answer some of the questions that will come. How did you get here? PAUL: Getting here is actually very simple, it's not difficult. There's no drama. It's as simple as organizing an excursion during a normal vacation. About. There are some technical details you need to sort out, all the paperwork needs to be approved, but a company will do it for you.

There are many different levels, we did a private tour, you can also go on a bus full of people. TOM: I'm sure there's... there's an even deeper level than what we're doing now. I mean, we're not in a bad hotel here, considering we're in the middle... We're basically in the exclusion zone. Yes, I have a shower, I have a bed, I have a screen door that keeps the bugs out, PAUL: Wi-Fi? TOM: Yes, that's a point! We can upload this from here if we want. We have 5 staggered megabytes, 1 Mb above. And again, here we are in the forbidden zone.

What type of permit do you need? PAUL: Consent is not handled by us; We are not the magicians who take care of that. That's done by the travel organization and that's relatively standard paperwork TOM: Yes, the answer is that you pay the travel organization the right amount of money Um, we don't really want to recommend a travel organization Uh, because in case of We have broken the rules somewhere: we want to get the travel company in trouble and also because it will be a few months later when they see this. The company may then be in different hands.

So do your research, look at reviews, and if you can, get a recommendation from a friend. But ultimately the permission comes from them. What do you have access to? TOM: We saw a lot of abandoned buildings in Pripyat uh, of course that's something like that... PAUL: A lot of them are starting to merge into each other and... You can only go to a limited number of rooms with a few closets. , some appliances that have been stripped of all the copper you can see before it gets monotonous TOM: But you also have things like the palace of culture, the palace of culture PAUL: That was special TOM: That was the moment in which I...

I left there and entered the main square of Pripyat and there was a hotel that had been abandoned, it was overgrown with weeds and trees were breaking through the concrete. and that was the moment I thought... This used to be a city with 40,000 people. This... this used to be vibrant and this is what happens when you leave that for a while. That was that moment of, oh, okay PAUL: Its scale is also immediately clear. I mean... 40,000 people is something like that... it's a good number, but it doesn't mean much until you recognize the scale compared to a city in the UK TOM: Yeah, or wherever you live PAUL: And this was Era a young city, this was a professional city, the average age here was 26 years old.

That's where I am and... Tom is ageless. And they were people like us, they were, I mean, I'm not a physicist, but I have a reasonable understanding of science and that was the level of the people who worked here in maintenance, they had to be quite qualified to come to the city. It was very nice, for that time. It was a model city. And because of that, there's a lot of footage of the city in action, you can go back and see its heyday and when you stand there, in its current state of disrepair, it gives you a lot of information. realization TOM: Yes, yes.

It's grim Eh, I mean, the question always comes up when you do something like this because it's essentially disaster tourism. It's been 30 years... It's already been looted, destroyed, looted. There is nothing intact. Anything of value that could be taken is gone. Anything of value. The sentimental value has been taken by the original owner or has been recently vandalized. You are not walking on sacred ground. But for a moment it's not a fun "let's do things" party. PAUL: Yes. You hope to go with a smile and a thumbs up and, yes, there's more... TOM: Yes, I did it very inappropriately...

I took a selfie... You can see the Chernobyl reactor. standing about 100 meters away, in the place where tourists are allowed in, you are standing 100 meters away from the reactor that exploded. And, okay... it's... I... And I just instinctively smiled at the cameraman That... that felt bad PAUL: It feels a little bad, but we are tourists, we are on vacation and at the same time everyone Geiger counters are firing. They can't be silenced, so we're all honking loudly and smiling a little cheesily, which seems a little inappropriate, but... TOM: We went through the red forest PAUL: Oh yeah TOM: We had to go through there at speed , because even in a speeding vehicle your Geiger counter goes off. because the forest is downwind from the nuclear power plant, so it has absorbed radioactivity and is now releasing it again.

PAUL: Yeah, for some reason they haven't cleaned that up. Maybe it just wasn't useful for continuing operations, but uh... TOM: Because they continued, that's the important thing, the city wasn't abandoned immediately. The other reactors have approximately another decade of operation left. PAUL: Yeah, mid-90s, if I remember correctly. TOM: It's an interesting place. There's a lot to see, although much of it is just "here's another abandoned building." If that's your thing, that would be great. Can you get into it? PAUL: Technically yes, but... TOM: No PAUL: Most of what you'll see online is exaggerated because it's a good story and I'm not going to deny it, so it's a good story if someone claims they broke in.

Wow, great area! And they'll give you the photos, they'll have a brilliant story, but then they start giving the obvious information and then you know they were on a tour because there are certain things they have to point out to you, there would be no way. you would be in certain details within the zone, unless you had a guide TOM: Yes, and it is mandatory to have a zone guide, for example, there is no other way to pass all the checkpoints. for that you have to go through some radioactive forests PAUL: And for the center of Pripyat you have to go through 3?

TOM: You would have to pass or avoid three different checkpoints. You would have to avoid the patrolling police. And you would have to find the way. Yes, it is theoretically possible. In practice, no. I don't think many people broke in. It is dangerous ? TOM: If you follow your guide, if you don't do anything stupid, no, it's not particularly dangerous. You will not go to a high radiation area. You'll get a Geiger counter just in case. There really isn't much that's dangerous there. That said, the rules about what you can and can't do seem to change regularly and aren't always followed by different guides and different groups PAUL: Yeah, so on this trip, for example, the official guidelines from mid-2012 were 'no It allows you to enter buildings.' ' and TOM: Everyone was in the buildings PAUL: Everyone was in the buildings.

It's the most interesting thing. You go into the buildings, of course. We climbed to the top of a TOM: Yes, indeed. 16 Floors Up And, again, the non-dangerous Guides knew it. We went up PAUL: Don't get me wrong. The health and safety advice here is "don't get hurt." The roof did not have a good railing. There were some railings on your shins to make sure you didn't fall, but you could, if you wanted to be stupid. you could hurt yourself. The elevator shafts in that 16-story building were open TOM: They were open and there was a cordon across the street, in front of a PAUL: Yeah, just in case...

TOM: Just in case you go crazy, yeah... PAUL: Perfect TOM: Don't drink tap water I can't say you're going to have bad diarrhea somewhere where there are no toilets In an accident in a nuclear zone But I wouldn't drink it if I were you Bottled water is cheap Everything is cheap here. How much did beer cost here? PAUL: I just enjoyed 2 pints for £1 TOM: Yeah, um. Cigarettes, if someone is a smoker, cost around 20 or 30p a pack. It's surprisingly cheap here. How long it will last is another question. Is it haunted? TOM: I was going to say no PAUL: I'm going to say yes TOM: What's your reasoning?

PABLO: There is from time to time, and it happened in the tower we climbed. We turned a corner... A dark hallway... Some mailboxes, a kind of locker with colors... A gust of wind passed and it suddenly creaked and I thought I saw something at the end of the hallway. Kind of like a horror movie situation TOM: Ok, maybe I just wasn't in a situation where that would happen PAUL: Seconds later, absolutely fine. TOM: Because, I don't know. In the middle of winter, in the middle of the night When it's cold and gloomy and dark and raining Yeah, I get it.

But we were here in the middle of summer. It's a very strange place, but I wouldn't say it's creepy. PAUL: No, there is definitely a gravitational pull that we have alluded to TOM: You will have noticed that the parts are amplified. There have been many photographers and some of them are not so... They are not so careful when they leave. things intact PAUL: No, there is not a single original recording that we can make here and we do not intend to claim that there is. I mean, let's try and try. We have a drone, which is great, but even that is already done.

TOM: Kat! Cat! Cat! There's a cat TOM: Really... PAUL: The worried cat is back TOM: The real Chernobyl cat. Hello cat! greet people