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Originally Posted by rory_gibson
Hello.
My girlfriend (US passport) and I (UK passport) are planning a trip East from London. Ideally we want to get into India and then onto SE Asia. However, current conflicts / our differing nationalities are making that challenging as:
- We don’t want to travel from Tajikistan to Pakistan through Afghanistan, as this seems dangerous (even if only travelling through the Afghan panhandle).
- She cannot get through Iran into Pakistan, as US nationals cannot travel solo through Iran.
- We would also need a guide to travel through China, and understand this is prohibitively expensive.
Does anyone know of any potential solutions?
Are there any trains that the motorbikes can go on in Asia to allow passage through China? Or is there a low cost flight solution?
Welcome any ideas?
Thanks
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I think you've comprehensively ruled out your possibilities of getting to India overland.
Going through Afghanistan (FYI there is no road from Afghanistan to Pakistan in the Wakhan Corridor ('panhandle') area, nowhere near, so you would need to go through Kabul) is a great trip but not without risks (Jalalabad seems quite unsafe these days).
US (and I believe also UK) passport holders cannot drive through Iran, even with a guide, so as you know, that's off.
China land borders are closed and their 'Zero Covid' policy shows no end in sight. There are no trains crossing China (where would they go? Kazakhstan to Thailand??).
If you think the couple of thousand for crossing China to Pakistan with a guide is prohibitive, don't ask about air freight between obscure destinations...
So unless you find people to ride your bikes through Iran for you, risk Afghanistan or have a huge budget, this is not going to happen, sorry. Try a loop of Siberia and Central Asia, lots of fun there. Or ship to the Subcontinent.
If you do chose to go through Afghanistan, cross from Uzbekistan at Termiz / Heyratan, not from Tajikistan as you will end up entering the dangerous area around Kunduz, and make sure you have a Pakistani visa and a CdP ready.
EO
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EurasiaOverland a memoir of one quarter of a million kilometres by road through all of the Former USSR, Western and Southern Asia.
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