From Vladivostok, Russia to Sakaiminato, Japan - October, 2014

Very well handled process from Yuri and Svetlana. There was also a French family with a 12 tonne camper van who went to Korea, dealt with by Links, Ltd at the same time.

I met a cyclist in the hostel and I'll detail his costs too, along with those of the camper.

This is the sequence of events.

I went to their office Monday morning, hoping to get onto the ferry on Wednesday. No problems with that.

On Tuesday I arrived at their office, with the bike, at 09.30, as requested. I followed them to the port, as did the French camper.

The vehicles were put into a secure compound to be loaded onto the boat later that evening. At this point it was necessary to sort out what you wanted to take from/leave with the vehicle as access is generally not available after that.

Into the terminal now to go to the freight office where they dealt with the paperwork. They need the Carnet de Passage (CDP) to fax a copy to the Japanese Automobile Federation. Their role will be to validate the Carnet once you get there. I paid them the $500 freight charge at this point. You will also need to pay for two day's storage and the loading charge. This will be paid in Rubles and in cash, approx $40.

Next we went to the customs office where the customs document given to me upon entry into Russia was handed over and dealt with.

I was then dropped back to the terminal where I bought my personal ferry ticket. This cost me $176, which included a 50% discount because I was the rider/driver of a vehicle that was on the ferry. I believe that only the driver/rider gets this discount. When I actually boarded the ferry there was a boarding fee of RU560 ($14) to pay.

Finally I paid Links Ltd their $150. I paid dollars, they would take rubles, but only cash. They would have been happy to take me from the terminal to somewhere in the city if I had asked.

So, to summarise my costs for one bike and one rider: Freight $500; Storage/loading/boarding charge $54; Ticket $176; Links Ltd $150.

The whole process was smooth and easy and was handled faultlessly by Yuri and Svetlana. It took until about 1pm but would obviously take longer for bigger groups.

Once in Japan, this is what happened.

I was met off the ferry by Tatiana, who works for DBS Ferries. I was with another biker who had come from Korea. We completed some paperwork relating to road insurance and then went to the nearby town of Matsue, which is where the nearest JAF office lies. Leaving about 11.45, we went in a car with a couple of DBS employees but that cost us 7,000 yen (3,500 each). It can easily be done by train as the JAF office is near the station.

JAF authenticated the carnets for free and if you're a member of your country's Automobile Club then you can get some freebies from them, such as maps.

On the way back to the port we called in at the customs office where the carnets were recorded and stamped. I'm assuming that if we had gone to Matsue under our own steam DBS would still have taken us to customs. After that we were back to the DBS office and waited a short while for customs to release our bikes. We paid Tatiana the fee of Yen 9,160 (cash), about $90, and were free to ride away. DBS have a tame insurance agent who will come to the port with an insurance certificate, created from the details that Tatiana will take from you when you first arrive. This is optional. Customs do not ask to see insurance or driving licence before releasing the vehicle. My companion couldn't get insurance at the port because he had a Mongolian registered bike, but this didn't affect the CDP. We were all done and dusted by about 15.30.

The French camper went to Korea and it cost them $1,000 for freight. Other charges at Vlad were higher too.

The cyclist took his bike on board the ferry with him, where it spent the journey in a storage area. It cost him $70.

One thing to note. If you want to go to Korea you must have an International Driving Permit (IDP). The ferry companies won't even load your vehicle without one.

The ferry is OK. Clean and comfortable. Travel 2nd class rather than economy and you'll get a bed in an 8 person cabin.  Economy gets you a sleeping mat on the floor of a room with 16 people in it. There is a bar where you can also get food too. They will not let you eat your own food in there and although there are some tables and chairs dotted around the boat, there aren't many. They serve dinner and breakfast in the restaurant, $10 and $7 respectively. There is no wi-fi on board.

The leg to Korea takes 22 hours (14.00 to 10.00, plus two hours because the clocks go back). You have to disembark, go through immigration and customs, then re-embark about 6 hours later.  There is good wi-fi in the Korean terminal. The leg to Japan takes 15 hours (18.00 to 09.00).

I think that's about it.