Europe to the Stans to Mongolia
 

If I get Russian visa, will buy bike in UK or Europe Spring '23 and ride to St Petersburg then Tbilisi, Baku ferry to Turkmenbashi hopefully, then Samarkand, Dushanbe, Osh, Bishkek, Almaty, and Ulaanbaatar. Then either sell or ship bike in UB or on to Vladivostok to ship.
Main places on my bucket list are St Petersburg, the Stans, and Mongolia, but am very flexible. Can skip St P if no Russian visa. Wouldn't mind going via Turkey.

that sounds epic trip, not sure about russian visa,
was hoping one day to travel across russia not looking good now
and i am not getting any younger,

Be aware that currently Azerbaijan land borders are closed for entry to tourists and Turkmenistan is completely closed. Things might change in 2023. Or they might not.

Here's info on russian visa.. seams it would be easier to get one soon:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-...a-r...igners/2689055

A couple remarks:
- St Petersburg in spring is cold. I was there in June.. it was cold.
- as of now land border x-ings to Azerbaijan are closed. You can fly in and ship but no land border x-ing.
- ferry is PITA. In pre-pandemic times you had to wait 3-5 days.. let me know if you need a contact at the port to get paperwork done in advance.
- Tirkestan visa is hard. The easiest way is to get transit visa through.

St Petersburg is much better in July according to historical weather on weatherspark.com

You'll need a Russian visa if you're going to Mongolia or Vladivostok. Double entry at least as you have to enter Russia to go between MN and KZ.

Apparently Russia is simplifying visa processing and going to eVisa so this won't be an issue.. link on article posted above.

However the fact that credit/debit cards don't work due to sanctions is a problem. I crossed russia twice this summer and even budgeting a 6 day trip was problematic..

Details of visa free scheme to be announced around the end of this year I believe.

Shouldn't be too hard to budget a short trip (north of the Caspian for example), certainly a bigger challenge for longer.

The other annoying issue was that you couldn't get compulsory insurance because insurance companies stopped issuing them so it will be a ₽500 fine if you get stopped.

At least it seems that police racketeering in russia is the thing of the past they will just write you a ticket just like in Georgia.. but watch out in Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

Biggest surprise was that my international phone plan still worked.

I just read the other day, that armed robberies have gone up 600% in Russia. Russia might be going back to the 90's Russia with street gangs and corrupt police.

So it is still 2.4 times lower than here in states? Good to know!