Driving to Russia

you better check carefully for all FSU countries. i think you need the carnets.

I am pretty sure that you are ok getting through europe, If you are hiring a car you need to tell the hire company that you intend to cross boarders. Often you can do a oneway relocation rental deal that works out cheaper. If you are buying a car then you will have very little trouble within europe, but when you get to russia you will need a carnet, make sure you have all the owners docs, roadworthy certificates etc… make lots of photocopies of them. A mate did a similar trip not so long ago, (uk to russia) and it was not really that much of a hassle. If you are going from Romania i am not too sure on the rules though. Should be fun, roadtrips are great!

Paul

green card is good throughout europe including romania, bulgaria, poland, even baltic states. the problem starts with the Ukraine and of course Russia. even in the remotest part of the balkans or mitteleuropa nobody bothers you with a faraway license plate — however this all changes in the FSU — russian police are notorious for hassling foreign drivers.
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i don’t think you’re going to get any romanian rental car company allowing you to take their car to the FSU without a hefty surcharge! i think mr. georgiou must have his own, romanian registered, green carded, car.
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and unlike everywhere in mitteleuropa where the mechanics fix VW, fiat, peugeot, renault, opel, skoda, etc. in the FSU you may have problems getting parts especially for older foreign cars. certainly nobody in Omsk will fix your 1989 Dacia!
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that being said if an ’89 Dacia breaks down in Omsk you should probably just scrap it anyway (!)
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I am driving from Istanbul, with a english right hand drive car and a Turkish plate. The rest of europe is fine, including Romania and Ukraine, just not sure about Russia. George

GG
As I have remember you need a green card
Will try to check with some friends and inform you.
Cheers

I dont know if this is off the subject but when I was traveling into Russia from the Ukraine a band of unreconstructed Marxists hogs attacked me and demanded that I sing the cantos of Pablo Neruda naked. Just thought I should warn you.

You got off lightly. I was made to recite whole chapters of Ulysses by James Joyce (they thought I was speaking jive). I suggested Beckett too, but they said they didn’t have the patience to wait for me to remember the epilogue.

Between LS and Lonely Planet???? Dude, that’s insulting. Go to Lonely planet if you want to get lost, kidnapped or killed.
Good luck, and stick with lightstalkers for (mostly) solid info.

be carefull at polish-belorussian border when receiving 10-15 papers to fill, check all the time if u have all of them becouse laydies in windows can “accidently” loose some. At russian-belorussian border you will probably loose few hours to fill next heap of papers, but in general its ok…depends where you plan to go, couse farther east you go less you can count on asphalt roads :) good luck, russia is beautiful!

If you entry by Latvia or Lituania, not many problems. Always with a box of vodka and a chess. If the russians find something rare they will stop you for a few hours. Dnt worry. Vodka and make friends. Russians border guards are humans as all. But take care driving, this is more improtant. I never saw crazy people driving…

best trip
delmi

Thanks for the tips, booze is always a good idea, I will be entering Russia from Ukraine to Rostov on Don.

Hi everybody -I’m russian – reading your replies – i’m imaging myself leaving on another planet dangerous to enter – RElax – the only thing you have to do – learn your rights and don’t allow russian policemne to take much money from you – and i assure you every of them will try to trimm you

as for the route through Ukraine – the roads are a tragedy, especially near the Polish border
the closer to Kiev, the better they become