Chapter 21: Arrival in Russia

UPDATE below.

We are currently approaching the territory of the Russian Federation and are still assuming that we will be granted entry. However, since there is no free data roaming there, the blog will pause until we find a free internet connection.

We reached the border at noon. The necessary paperwork turned out to be more complicated and time-consuming than expected. Another hurdle was the poor English skills of the border officials. However, they made up for this deficiency with their friendliness. It took about an hour and a half for all formalities to be completed. The actual vehicle check was done within a minute, as the inspector did not want to climb onto our roof and simply waved us through.

Finding a place to sleep was not as easy as in the past few days. Although the federal highway often led directly to very bumpy dirt roads, after a few meters there was usually a barbed wire fence or a guard booth with Cyrillic signs. After several failed attempts, we returned to a rest area and found a secluded corner there. In the evening, a friendly Russian man knocked unexpectedly on our window and then explained to us through Google Translate that we still had to pay 150 rubles, which is about 2€, for the overnight stay.