5000 BC. Australia
In remote corners of Australia you can still see aborigines with tattoos on their bodies and bones pierced through their nasal cartilage. They still count using fingers and toes, and mark the passage of time by the number of "dreams".
During droughts, aborigines obtain water from the core of the bottle tree, drink kangaroo blood, or prepare a drink from crushed green ants. When hunting emus, they drop a poisonous plant into a water source and catch the stupefied bird. They eat mainly plant food: tubers, seeds, leaves, roots, and pods. But aborigines consider earthworms the greatest delicacy. They throw them into hot ashes and lightly fry them - the dish tastes like sweetened scrambled eggs.
Before going to sleep, aborigines rub themselves with fat and roll in ashes for warmth. Mothers lie hugging their children, married men sleep with one of their wives, pressing their backs against each other.
How to get there: you need to fly Austrian Airlines via Vienna to Sydney for 19 hours, including 2 hours spent in Vienna. The next flight is Sydney - Kakadu National Park, another 6 hours.
1000 AD. Tunisia
Every year during the date harvest, Bedouins from all over the Sahara Desert gather near the Tunisian town of Douz.
Bedouins navigate the desert perfectly and can predict sandstorms, rain, or cold snaps. Nomads drive herds of fat-tailed sheep and sew tents from goatskins. When it rains, the skins shrink and repel moisture, and in dry weather they stretch until holes appear, letting the wind through and softening the heat.
Unlike the tent of an ordinary Bedouin, the sheikh's tent is erected not on four stakes but on six. The title of sheikh is hereditary. But Bedouins have the right to elect another person - they value neither nobility nor wealth, but judge a person only by his personal qualities - generosity, courage, love of freedom. Unlike other Muslims, a Bedouin has one wife. There is a proverb: "A man between two wives is like a neck between two sticks."
How to get there: a direct flight Kyiv - Tunis is operated by Air Ukraine. Then to Douz by scheduled bus or car.
1500 AD. Nepal
Inhabitants of the ancient kingdom still carry loads on their shoulders, leave the dead to be eaten by vultures, and do not eat the ears of stolen elephants because they believe that this causes headaches.
Kathmandu's appearance has changed little since the Middle Ages: carved facades, pillars darkened by time, and narrow winding alleys where craftsmen hand-weave carpets, make bronze utensils, and decorative ornaments.
In Nepal there are more gods than people, more temples than houses, and the number of holidays exceeds the number of days in a year. Every village has a Buddhist chapel or monastery, and at the gates stand long poles with prayer flags on which prayers are written. Almighty Shiva is the most revered god. A black goat is always tied at the entrance to his temple - a symbol of the "scapegoat." To show respect to elders, Nepalis touch the feet of their mother and father with their foreheads.
How to get there: by a direct flight Kyiv - Delhi with Austrian Airlines. The entire flight is 16 hours, including four and a half hours in Vienna. From there, by train or bus to Nepal, a 4-hour ride.
1700 AD. Israel
In the Jerusalem district of Mea Shearim, it seems like you are in the 18th century: around are black hats, long coats, knee-length stockings, huge shoes, and sidelocks.
Each of the houses has one corner left unpainted - in memory of the destroyed Temple. For the same reason, the Orthodox write the very word "Jerusalem" with a missing letter, and during the wedding ceremony the groom crushes a cup or glass with his foot: even in a happy moment one must not forget the most important shrine of Judaism.
A man must wear a beard - that is how the Creator conceived him. On his sides hang tzitzit strings - they get tangled and interfere, but they constantly remind of the commandments. It is believed that three take part in the birth of a child - husband, wife, and the Almighty. Married women go with covered heads, in long dresses without slits and without a décolletage. Particularly devout women shave their heads bald and wear wigs.
How to get there: AeroSvit operates direct flights to Tel Aviv five times a week. From there to Jerusalem. The Mea Shearim quarter is located in the center of the New City.
1850 AD. USA
In the American state of Pennsylvania lives a special religious group - the Amish. These people run their households the old-fashioned way, serve God, and till the land. The Amish reject technology; they do not use electricity and keep food in baskets with ice. The Amish plow with buffaloes, use natural fertilizers, do not recognize any chemicals, and travel on roads in horse-drawn carts.
Amish women wear long plain dresses without any little flowers. They have no jewelry and fasten their clothes not with buttons but with pins. Men wear trousers with suspenders, large straw hats, and leather gaiters.
At their markets, the Amish sell extraordinarily tasty and environmentally friendly dairy products, fresh vegetables and fruits. They do not consume or produce wine.
The Amish are law-abiding people; they even pay state school taxes, although they teach their children in their own schools. And the Amish have many children - of course, they do not use contraceptives either.
How to get there: take a direct flight with AeroSvit to New York. Then by car to the state of Pennsylvania.
1989 AD. Cuba
Today's Cuba is the end of our eighties. The beginning of perestroika, everything is mixed up. Discos belong to the Union of Communist Youth, party members get their goods in special shops. Ordinary people are on ration cards. Shoes, clothes, appliances are issued according to regulations. Food in stores is cheap, but you can't find it for love or money. Electricity is turned off for an hour and a half to two hours daily - the economy must be economical. However, the population can open private restaurants - socialism with a human face.
The fashionable cabaret 'Tropicana' is something like Moscow's 'Metla' of twenty years ago. Only instead of 'Modern Talking' they play Ricky Martin, and instead of breakdancing they dance salsa, rumba, and habanera. However, rum, the tropical moon, hot music, and erotic mulatto women allow socialism for now to maintain its positions in a single country.
How to get there: by a regular Aeroflot flight Kyiv - Havana via Moscow.
2003. Russia
The most subjective category of time is the 'present'. For us, a symbol of the present time could be the shopping center on Manezhnaya Square. Around it are garish fountains with bears, horses, and fine young men. Inside - pompous luxury of expensive boutiques, the smell of fast food, the chime of slot machines, and glass elevators. Above - the swollen hemispheres of Turkish baths and St. George the Victorious slaying the serpent.
People like all this. In one go, you can get acquainted with art, touch fashionable items, eat pizza, and roll bowling balls. Even if the gilding is fake and the goods are beyond one's means, it's still great.
How to get there: by regular daily Air Ukraine flights Kyiv - Moscow. Then by metro to the station 'Revolution Square' or 'Teatralnaya'.
2010. Japan
Today in Japan, bulky computers are put out on the street as useless junk - they have been replaced by flat monitors and mini-processors. Crowds of people walk along the neon-lit streets of Tokyo with tiny devices that open like colorful makeup sets. Such phones provide access to the Internet and viewing graphic images. In addition, by swiping the display of such a 'toy' over a sensor on a station turnstile, you can enter the station. A magnetic card for riding in a carriage is no longer needed.
Computer-controlled trains run along multi-level railway tracks that cross residential areas. Urbanization has reached its limit; millions of Tokyoites are forced to spend several hours commuting from home to work. To save time, many spend the night in hotels with cell-like rooms. It's a bit cramped to squeeze into a space of two cubic meters, but it's economical in terms of money and time. And there are some amenities - air conditioning, a TV, a shelf with fresh newspapers, and a vase with an artificial rose. And you can visit your family once a week, on a day off.
How to get there: Turkish Airlines operates two regular flights a week via Istanbul. From Narita Airport to central Tokyo is an hour's train ride.
2030. Germany
On Berlin's Potsdamer Platz, a grandiose architectural performance is unfolding. Ten years ago, Daimler-Benz and Sony launched the most impressive construction of the 20th century here. The world's best urban planners have made the ensemble not 'boring madness' but 'cheerful order.' However, what kind of ensemble is it? A mix, a collage, a vinaigrette: buildings from different countries and different eras - La Défense, Imperial style, Chicago of the thirties, London high-tech of the eighties. The space is constantly changing; with every step, a new perspective: transparent facades crossed by dry walls, and the classic brickwork reflected in a curved mirror base.
Sony Center by American German Helmut Jahn resembles a glass 'do-it-yourself' construction set. The oval 'Forum' is separated from the city streets by neither doors nor walls. Hans Kollhoff's skyscraper is a three-dimensional Tetris with parallelepipeds; nearby, Renzo Piano's glass 'herring' glitters in the sun. We think that by exactly 2030, such a landscape will become quite familiar to earthlings.
How to get there: by one of the three direct weekly flights of Ukraine International Airlines, by train from the Central Railway Station, or by bus.
2045. United Kingdom
In a London Underground carriage, all races, peoples, and nations are mixed; Africans and Arabs, Chinese and Latinos, Indians and Turks ride in it. White people are in the minority here - it gives the impression that 'colored' people make up the bulk of the city's residents. Of course, this is not so. It's just that native Londoners prefer to get around by car and go down into the subway less often than visitors.
In the middle of the last century, Britain opened its doors to citizens of its former colonies. Over time, immigration laws became stricter, but representatives of the 'Third World' had already managed to settle in Europe. Their numbers are growing at a furious pace every year. According to demographers' forecasts, in the near future the share of black Britons alone will increase from the current seven percent to twenty.
What kind of civilization will result is hard to say. But even now you can check how we will feel in forty years or so. To do this, you only need to take a ride in a London Underground carriage.
How to get there: by one of the five weekly regular flights of Ukraine International Airlines or British Airways.