Caravanistan

Hey LukasT3, how was the journey? We will have to do the same now going the other direction, from Atyrau to Tashkent. How were the road conditions and the weather conditions? Adding to LukasT3's response, wanted to say that the Uzbek route/road from Beyneu to Tashkent via Nukus is also high quality...

Seems like it went into effect in Jan 11, 2025 ( https://www.fragomen.com/insights/russiabelarus-mutual-visa-recognition.html ). I realize this means someone with a Russian or Belarusian paper visa can now cross the land border, but does this mean you can enter via Belarus and exit via Russia (and v...

Drove the toll road over the entire length this winter, and this was our experience. Overall definitely worth it over other roads (and in many areas it's the ONLY viable road), so don't hesitate to take it just because of payment uncertainty. Overall, we used the Qiwi option since it seemed the best...

How is the tunnel in winter?? The tunnel isn't bad at all in the winter (at least if going by car - sorry can't comment on how it is on bicycle). We went in January, and the tunnel honestly wasn't any worse than some other tunnels we had been in. At this point I think the only "bad" thing about it ...

Wanted to provide some updates on road conditions from my recent trip from Europe to Kazakh border with China. As a note, I did this all in a normal Toyota FWD sedan. (Russian sections just in case) Vladikavkaz-Gudermes: divided 2x2 highway, top speed only depends on traffic Gudermes-Kizlyar: nice c...

You understand the Penjikent border is closed, right? Bukhara to Khiva is the only road still under construction, all others are well-maintained tarmac - 70 km/h. Hey @steven and other forum folks, wanted to provide an update to the road situation in western Uzbekistan, despite this being an old th...

I crossed this border in late 2022 from Iran to Iraqi Kurdistan. Honestly despite a couple hiccups, it was a pretty straightforward border. I had some issues on the Iraqi side, but that was stuff mainly unique to me (because I was switching from a Peruvian to a USA passport at the border), and don't...

Didn't visit too recently (visited in late 2022), but even back then things felt very calm. I backpacked all around the Iraqi Kurdistan region, entering via Iran and taking a shared taxi first to Suleymaniyah and then to Erbil. I then rented a car In Erbil and spent time exploring the areas between ...

Crossed this border by car in January 2025, and can confirm with @defender above that they can be a bit tedious on documents (while at the same time not really knowing what to look for at the same time). While their issues were on the Georgian side, I experienced similar stuff on the Turkey side: I ...

Wanted to share our experience buying Armenian car insurance online about a year ago. Thank you to all for the aswa.am tip, but wanted to provide a bit more clarity on how the website works. We technically bought it online with Ingoarmenia as the insurer, but the process is sort of wacky. You can't ...