From Moscow we continued to St. Petersburg and could stay again in a house of friends. The last night in the beautiful metropolis was also our last night in Russia even though we almost had to stay longer.
We arrived with a good mood at the border because it was supposed to be the last border-crossing with a check point and there wasn’t a long queue at all! I gave our passports to the officer; he checked them and asked for the paper from the customs. When you cross international borders with a car you always have to be sure to get a stamp in your passport and fill out the customs paper for the car. But somehow I forgot it, when we entered from Kazakhstan (later I found out, that there is a transit-union and I should kept the paper from the first country I entered into this union: Kyrgyzstan). So I was without this paper and there were the following options. Drive back to the border I entered Russia (+3.000 KM one way) or pay a huge fine which amount can be higher of the value of the car. We had to wait more than one hour and the officer came once in a while to ask further questions. But then he came, returned our passports and said “Du fahren nach Hause” (in German: You driving home now). Puhhh that was close! I was very happy and could hug the officer for these words! And with this shocking moment we entered the European Union.
Hallo Matthias,
toller Blog! Ich bin gerade auf ihn gestoßen, da ich auch über den Landweg nach Asien möchte. Zwar ist dein beitrag aus 2016 etwas veraltet, aber vieles scheint doch noch schwierig befahrbar oder gar als Reisender ohne eigenes Auto nicht möglich zu sein. Wäre schäde..
Ich stöbere nun mal ein wenig bei dir rum und vielleicht finde ich ja ein paar Antworten auf meine Fragen. Wenn nicht, könnte ich dir denn schreiben?
Wenn du dich noch einmal auf den Weg machst; ich bin dabei! 😉
Schöner Schreibstil übrigens (:
Liebste Grüße
Lu ♥