Russia tour and maybe USA,,,,company may apply

[kevingrahambutler]

I've got a plan, the plan is not to have a plan, only things I need in place is visas for 2016 to enter Russia and a few other country's, I'm looking at leaving England mid June heading to Corfu, Greece, as my two brothers live there, from there head to Turkey, Georgia, Russia, Kazakhstan, russia, Mongolia, Russia, like to do road of bones, then cargo boat to Vladivostok,
This is where I'm not to sure I can ether take the train to Moscow then ride bike to England, or take a ferry to Korea then fly to anchorage with the bike, ride the bike to New York and leave the bike there with friends fly back to England, in 2017 come back and do the tat, or do the tat 2016, loads to think about,

I'm thinking the xt 600 for the job with the bigger plastic tank, I've got wolfman soft luggage, I've also got bmw adventure panniers that I can adapt the racks to fit the xt, need to think this out,

I'll be interested to know if anyone from the forum would be keen on doing this or part of this adventure with me, most of the trip across Russia will be camping, then from there I will work on things the likely hood is I will mix it up a bit if I cross the pond,
Please pm me with any questions thanks

 

[monkeyboy]

Alright Graham

I'd love to do that trip with you - not next year though

As an aside, Air Russia are flying again from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to Anchorage and at some time I had some weird translated conversation with them saying they could take cargo. Getting there looks a bit of a bitch/challenge but not impossible

Good luck anyway - hope you get to buddy up

 

[paul nicholls]

Russia.

Good luck on the Russian visa.
You are going to need a multiple entry type, Usually only for business use. It is possible but very awkward.
Also, can you now cross from Georgia into Russia? Wasn't a few years ago when I looked at it.

 

[mrsroynie]

Good luck on the Russian visa.
You are going to need a multiple entry type, Usually only for business use. It is possible but very awkward.

We have 6 month business visas, issued in Dublin. No particular issues, though I wouldn't recommend the agent we used, who was largely responsible for a series of completely unnecessary delays. Not quite sure what we paid them for, as they failed to notice that we had forgotten to put photos in with our application, failed to notice that Roynie is not employed (retired), and - best of all - failed to notice that Roynie's visa came back with his gender marked up as female!

The fundamental thing with a business visa, is that you must be 'employed'. In the end, we got round that problem by showing Roynie as an employee of my dressmaking business.

 

[kevingrahambutler]

Don't drop the soap,,eerie,,,

There's plenty of useful info on here regarding visas, thanks for that useful info I check to make sure they get my sex right.

 

[DRAIN MAN]

No trouble in getting a Russian business visa, you need to apply for a letter of invite which you can get from various visa sites, the cost is around £125 nand normally takes about 20 days. You then need to go to the Russian visa centre in London or Edingburgh and apply for the visa in person, you can fill all the paper work out on the web site before you go. If paper work is correct have your finger prints taken, pay the fee, have I think ours was £240 for a 6 month multi entry visa, if the paper work is not correct hire a computer at the centre ( £5 for 30 min ) to correct paper work. Depending on time scale paid for the visa is then sent to your home address via special delivery.

Was most impressed with the new style service, this is the third time to Russia and the most easy one so far.
We leave on Fri the 29th of May for Magadan via Europe, Turkey, Georgia, the Stans, Mongolia, once we get there we will think about how to get back !!!

 

[kevingrahambutler]

Sounds good drain man, I'm in sunderland so Edinburgh looks fav, looking forward to a nice weekend riding to go get a visa,
Enjoy your trip sounds amazing, how manys going, as a guy points out about Georgia is there any issues getting though I've not seen anything, so may be codswolp.

 

[kevingrahambutler]

I've started sorting routes and getting thing in place for next year, can't come round quick enough, camping is a must I love it, I will be traveling with soft luggage wolfman stuff, I'm on a 1985 xt600 tenere, the tank range is about 500 miles, it's the 30ltr tank, The route I've got on my garin so fare is taking me though Italy, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania, Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, ferry to Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia, Russia to Vladivostok, ferry to South Korea, then ether fly me and bike to Vancouver, or ship bike depends on how long it takes to ship bike, travel down the coast into USA to start the trans American trail. That's a rough sort of plan upto now, can anyone see any problems that I might encounter with this route.
Thanks

 

[Sgt Bilco]

travel down the coast into USA to start the trans American trail. That's a rough sort of plan upto now, can anyone see any problems that I might encounter with this route.
Thanks

Do you know the TAT is designed to be ridden East to West? Not sure if it can be done the other way but the route maps would be useless.

 

[kevingrahambutler]

I've looked at the route I can't see any problems, you right about the paper ones, I've got my hands on a Gpx file with all the options of taking different routes, easy, hard, moderate, I've uploaded on to basecamp and reversed the routes then put on micro sd card put into my Montana 650, all looks ok, I've also messaged guys that's done it both way, if I do come across any problems I'll let you know.

 

[kevingrahambutler]

Ended this post