Rode Russia 2014
 

I and several friends went from Korea to Vladivostok, then rode to Latvia in Europe. Roughly 6500 miles in Russia. I am in Poland now. Here, off the top of my head, is all the basic advice and information I can think of for people contemplating doing this trip. 1) For US citizens getting visas is easier than ever. The standard one is a 3 year multiple entry visa. Your supposed to wait to apply till less than 90 days before you arrive. Given that we had to make non refundable financial commitments we applied for visas about 4-5 months before the trip but fibbed about our expected arrival date. This caused no problem. We used Russian Visa Full Service and Support. Russian Visa Online | Russian Embassy - Get travel (tourist visa), business visa to russia. Go to Russia Travel. Get visa for Russia in Russian Embassy and Russian Consulate in London,San Francisco, New York (NY to run the paperwork through the counsel. I think they were worth it. For Canadians, your government is having a pissing contest with Russian customs over illegal Russian immigration. You can only get a single entry visa. 2) We flew ourselves and the bikes from Vancouver, CA to Korea. The bikes were packed by Pacific Motorsports which is the local BMW dealer. If you use them I strongly recommend contacting them well before your departure, and arranging/insisting on they putting the bike on a pallet not a BMW shipping crate.

We used Lightheart Enterprises International as our freight broker. We recommend them. The freight persons at the Korean and Russian end were Wendy Choi and Yuri Melnik. They get almost all the bikes into their countries. I strongly recommend your using these people rather than trying to get the bikes out of customs yourself. The LEI people can give you their e-mails. We got the bikes on time. A Japanese 4WD club on the same ferry was still trying to get to their vehicles out of customs when we left Vladivostok 4 days later. All I can say is getting help for Korea and the Russian Far East is NOT like the help crossing from El Salvador to Honduras. Also bear this in mind. Seoul Korea and suburbs have a population of 25 million. They have one of the bast subway systems in the world and the worst traffic in the world. Consider having the bike come in 3 days after you. Use the subway including the excellent express train from the airport to see things in Seoul and then go get the bike and go somewhere else.

We got two insurance coverages for Russia. This sounds wasteful but I think it was worth it. We got "green card" insurance from Motorcycle Express. That also covers you in Europe but the green card is written in English. For about US 90 we got Russian only insurance from Yuri Melnik which included a Russian proof of insurance document. Imagine trying to explain to a cop in Siberia who does not speak English that the green card coverage is good in Russia. For your info there is no theft insurance anywhere for Russia. If your bike gets stolen its going to be on your nickel.

The only boat these days from Korea to Russia is the ferry from Donghae to Vladivostok. Reserve early. Supposedly it sells out every trip in the summer. Bring some food and drinking water with you. The food in the coffee shop is awful and the water tastes like there is rust in it. The Buffet is only a bit better in terms of food quality than the coffee shop. Items locked in your saddle bags seem to be secure even though you have to leave the key on the bike. There is a security locker at the info booth on the boat for your documents and money. Your bunk wont have a locking container. But Koreans are very honest so don't worry about theft.

The "Trans Siberian" is paved all the way. We got 91 octane gas all the way except one station that was sold out. There we settled for 87. (E.G. RON 92) Gas pumps are not certified so try to use the newer pumps that are more likely to dispense what you ordered. Using the self service gas stations is an adventure you can discover by yourself. There was quite a bit of construction going on the upgrade the road. Sometimes paving in the construction zones was of poor quality, but we did not have a problem.

Everyone says do not even think of camping. We did not even bring camping equipment. Russians say it's unsafe to camp. They don't camp at all. The only people we met who were camping were a couple of french bicyclists who were camping by hiding out. The problem with camping was explained to me as a national prejudice against gypsies. If your camping the locals think your a gypsy who they feel free to harass. I don't know if the explanation is accurate, but no one camps. There are lots of truck stops and you see people sleeping in their locked cars. We had no difficulty finding places to stay even if they were just truck stop hotels, or locally owned hotels advertised on Booking dot com.

Our costs for gas, food, and hotels averaged between 80-$100 per day. I think you could do a little bit better than this but might sacrifice location - i.e. stay out of towns you might want to see things in. The problem is there is no Motel6 in Russia. Food is inexpensive. Try to learn Russian words for food to order or get someone to write out basic food groups. There is also an excellent translation program for your Samsung phone that will translate menus. There is cell service even in the boonies on the trans Siberian. None of us got even slightly sick from food. You cant drink tap water in St. Petersburg, but it seems to be fine everywhere else. We did bring some insect repellant and recommend you do as well. I think we were two nights without WIFI.

It rains a lot in Russia especially in June or July. So we crossed into Russia from Korea in late August. It got kinda cold in late September. But I think the idea of crossing from Korea to Russia in August was a good one. Maybe do the trip earlier in August. That means most of the road construction will be in an advanced state when you come to construction zones. Also it is really hot and humid in Korea all summer.

Camaraderie amongst Russian Motorcyclists is legendary. If you have a problem, see if you can find a motorcyclist to help you. They really go out of their way. Everyone we met in Russia was nice to us except for some drunk right wing wackos who were entertainingly offensive.

We had no problems with cops. Generally we kept near the speed limit. I.E. we rode at about 65 mph. I think problems with cops was in the old days.

Realize it's a long way on a flat road. The view does not change that much over the 6500 miles. I hope you like riding through a birch forest. Your going to do that for about 5000 miles. The Steppes for a thousand and the rest misc.

You don't need an original title to get your bike into Russia. But you need the original - actual title - to get the bike out. Remember this.

All I can think of for now. Dave

First I want to thank you for all the info and being organized in one post also I am rephrasing my question and apologizing for the last one.
Could you breakdown the expenses as I donot ride that many miles per day so the gas would be lower but overall the days to complete higher , being on a fixed pension only want to dip into the reserve when needed.IE ferries,shipping.
Thanks again for the great write up.

yokesman. There has been about a 20% devaluation of the ruble so prices are lower than for us. I think the absolute minimum is $60 per day. Gas at about 3.75 per gallon is not the problem and you can eat like a king for $10-15 bucks except Moscow or St. Pete. The problem is lodging. I should have made notes. But a room in a truck stop is about $30. But your out of town on the highway. Why go if your not going to see the cities. That goes to $60 or more in town including breakfast. Moscow is as expensive as places like Hong Kong. We were averaging about 65 MPH riding. It would be a really boring trip if you ride slower. Picture yourself in a birch Forrest on a two lane road. Are you really going slower. In Siberia you often go 200 miles between the only towns so you have to go fairly far just to get to civilization. I am not extravagant but Russia does not work to well as a low budget destination. Now Eastern Europe is great for a low budget traveler. And the distances between places is not far either. Maybe make that your destination. Dave