Donetsk, Ukraine (CNN) -- It was 4am when, still half asleep, we bundled ourselves into a van and headed to the southern Ukraine city of Kherson. We had spent the night in Odessa, famous for its giant stairway featured in Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 silent film, "Battleship Potemkin." And while we hadn't awoken before the sparrows just to go sightseeing, our diligent fixers unexpectedly took us on a tour of the apparent back streets of Odessa. They assured us it was the quickest way out of town, but I was anxious because we had just three and a half hours to reach Kherson where we'd be joining the 43 observers from the Organization For Security and Cooperation (OSCE) international observer team as they attempted to cross into Crimea.
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CNN team joins international observers trying to get into Crimea from Ukraine
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They are turned away at a checkpoint but the CNN team later makes it over the border
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After five days, they have to decide the safest way to get back again -- and decide on the train
For two hours, the @placeholder officials repeatedly pressed their case, insisting they had a right to enter Crimea, but eventually they decided their efforts were futile.