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Azerabijan / Kazakh / Russian Border Crossing Date Flexibility?
My name is Tom, I live in Sydney, Australia. in late April/May 2013 I wish to cross from Georgia to Azerbaijan and then onward to Aktau, up to Astrakhan. The duration of my Kazakh stay will only be a few days, but I will need a Visa long enough to cover any mishaps and such.
My main concern is I've read that the ferry from Baku is quite unpredictable, thus making it hard to nominate an entry date to Aktau, and therefor Russia. Is there a flexible period around a nominated entry date once you've applied for a visa? |
For Kazahk and Russia visa they just have a start and end date and can be quite long.
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It as been recomended to me by somebody who has made this trip twice to overlap visas by a few days in case of unforseen circumstances, you can leave a couple of days early without a problem, it is when you are a couple of days late they get upset.
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Leave out the ferry due to the hassle caused. We will be there about the same time in our 4x4 beer and decided on the Rus border over the ferry due to time, cost and hassle. G |
Turkey/Georgia then Russia via new kazbegi bordergate and interesting military road as a start to stans is a highly preferred route..Also you can include Armenia which is a non discovered and very friendly natura country...
A few tips.... facebook is most popular on this part of the world for faster communication and gas is most expensive in Turkey but İstanbul is the last point where all spare parts and tyres are available for all types of vehicles before heading to east. All questions about Turkey by vehicle always welcome.. Wish you all the best. mehmet zeki avar https://www.facebook.com/mehmet.avar.12 |
2nd the military highway (and Armenia) we did both earlier this year and had some really gorgeous riding, especially up one of the lovely valleys in northern Georgia. That highway is in poor shape up to Russia but who cares! The views are just stunning.
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Sounds very interesting mate. Where are you ultimately heading? I'm going to st Pete, so I was going to head the furthest east first then back north west. Also my (Russian) history lecturer at uni told me I'd never be seen again if I went thru Caucasus but it may be a local stereotype. PM me if you'd like to discuss timing and routes, I'm not sure my pm's send, but can reply. Cheers Tom |
i think the standard visas are for set periods only- meaning that they usually last for a month - so it doesn't matter how short your visit is, as long as it doesn't go over the expiration date, and so will cost you the same whatever. And that's good because then you don't have to worry about mishaps en route delaying your departure from the country. But be warned - the roads in kaz are appalling, even main highways which just stop, turn to gravel, open into craters etc without warning, so your plan of just a few days there might not work. Err on the side of having a few days in hand then exiting earlier, rather than the other way around. I fell off and broke my arm in mid kaz which really slowed us up because i could only ride slowly after that and tired quickly- but we had sufficient visa time to get out. We did get arrested for not getting our visas reiterated though, so make sure you get them stamped even if you have to visit a hotel or tourist office to do so.
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Good day Mehmet, How long would you allow to follow the Black Sea Coastline, then head down to Mt Ararat? I want to ride constantly, but explore along the way. Thanks for your advice, Hope to see you in April Tom |
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Thanks for the reply. I will allow an extra few days for sure. I've read that the road from Aktau to Atyrau was (partially) resurfaced to allow for the oil industry traffic, guess I'll wait to see! Thanks again Tom |
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