An American woman traveled alone from Georgia to Mongolia through Russia and Kazakhstan.
Edition CNN Travel published a story by American journalist and traveler Brianna Wilson. She traveled alone in an old Toyota Land Cruiser jeep from Georgia to Mongolia through Kazakhstan and Russia, and then described her impressions.
Photo: IStock
When I first came up with the idea of traveling from Tbilisi, Georgia to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, through Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia, the world was a different place.
Countries were just beginning to recover from the global pandemic. Just a few weeks after my plan officially went into effect, when I bought a 1978 Toyota Land Cruiser, the war began in Ukraine. (The author is referring to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russia's hybrid war against Ukraine has been going on since 2014. – Note. transl.)
“No problem,” I thought then, since I had no intention of going through Ukraine.
However, I would have to go through Russia. And I was going to do it alone: an American woman in a vintage Land Cruiser that would stand out among the other cars.
It soon became clear that this would not be the exciting overland expedition that I had originally imagined.
As the war quickly flared up, they had to put their plans on hold until the situation improved.
And only a year later, in April 2023, I finally felt the strength to try again to bring my plans to life.
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Step one: get a Russian tourist visa
There was still one major hurdle to overcome before I could set off: I would have to apply for a Russian visa, which is notoriously difficult to do as an American citizen, war or not. Let me remind you: then the US State Department announced a level 4 warning for Russia - “do not travel.”
Applying was fairly straightforward. I found a Russian travel agency that provided me with an invitation letter and itinerary, purchased Russian health insurance, and found a visa center in Tbilisi where I could apply in person.
I doubted that my three-year tourist visa would be approved, especially after several conversations with other travelers who had recently received refusals.
To my great relief and surprise, the visa was approved. Whether this was because I submitted an application to Tbilisi, or for some other reason unknown to me, I don’t know. But at that moment my trip was officially approved, and there was no turning back.
Planning a road trip
After receiving my Russian visa, I had to plan my route and pack my things.
It was an unusual road trip. I was traveling from Tbilisi to Ulaanbaatar, where I was supposed to work as a freelance journalist and write about travel. Therefore, my whole life had to fit into one car.
Sitting in front of the computer and looking at Google Maps, I realized that the trip would be about 7000 kilometers in total - 90 hours if you take the short route without stops or delays.
Immediately I ran into two problems. Firstly, during the pandemic, the land border between Georgia and Azerbaijan was closed (it is still not open).
I would have to take a route north of Tbilisi, crossing the border with Russia at the Georgian city of Kazbegi. The route would pass through the corridor between troubled Chechnya and Dagestan on one side and Ukraine on the other. The Ukrainian cities of Mariupol and Donetsk are only 600 kilometers from me.
Meanwhile, sanctions against Russia have attracted a lot of attention to this route. Russian citizens began to enter Georgia to buy what they could not buy in their homeland, and went back. Many people bought vehicles, and this tightened border controls.
I (an American who does not speak Russian) had to cross the border in a large SUV. This made me even more nervous. So, with a week left before my scheduled departure from Tbilisi, I made the priceless decision to change my plans. Instead of entering Russia from Georgia myself, I was going to send my car to Azerbaijan.
I finally had a route and plan that suited me. I loaded my Land Cruiser onto a truck in Tbilisi and booked a flight to Baku, the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan.
Nine days later, my freight forwarder picked me up from my hotel in Baku to help speed up customs clearance. I then had to drive an hour to the port in Alyat, spend the night in a car at a loading dock, and take an early morning ferry to cross the Caspian Sea.
The crossing only takes about 24 hours, but delays at the port have doubled that time. Luckily, I had a private cabin with an ensuite, as well as friendly travel companions, including a couple who were sailing from Europe to Japan and also transporting their vehicle.
The ship's cook noticed the unusual passengers and tried to feed us his best dishes. Meals on board the boat were included in the price of the ticket, and although the food was modest and the ferry itself not particularly comfortable, the kindness of the cook made the trip unforgettable. We disembarked in the Kazakh port city of Kuryk, and I got into my Land Cruiser.
Now I had to travel all over Kazakhstan, famous for its harsh mountain landscapes. This would shorten the journey across Russia to just a thousand kilometers or so. We had to go through the Altai Territory.
From there I could enter western Mongolia near the city of Tsagaannuur in Bayan-Ulgii aimag and travel three days to Ulaanbaatar.
During the trip, I relied on the help resources of iOverlander and Caravanistan as up-to-date sources for tips on crossing the border, planning a route, and finding parking and gas stations along the way.
Troubling days
The journey turned out to be difficult.
In Kazakhstan, I had difficulty finding a hotel in Astana, because the World Chess Championship was taking place there, and all the hotels were full. Due to a burnt-out rear brake light, I was behind schedule and unable to leave the city before dark (I had a rule not to drive after dark). And since the temperature in the evenings quickly dropped to minus 14 Celsius, I needed to find accommodation for the night.
When I finally found a hotel room, I forgot that diesel fuel freezes at this temperature. I woke up in a panic in the middle of the night and breathed a sigh of relief in the morning when the car started. But the car only drove about two kilometers before it completely stalled when I pulled up to a gas station. My fuel actually froze the night before.
After manually filling the engine with new diesel fuel, I was able to quickly get back on the road. The crisis was averted, I found the coordinates of the city of Semey, where I was going to spend two nights and a whole day to rest before the big border crossing.
At this point, the driver's fatigue began to take its toll. Driving a 2,5-tonne fully loaded manual car for 12 hours is bound to get tiring - no matter how exciting the ride.
When I arrived in Semey, far behind schedule after the morning setbacks, I thought that it was a city like any other in this part of the world.
I didn’t even suspect that in Soviet times Semipalatinsk (as it was called then) was a “closed city”. Living in it required special permission, it was not marked on maps, and what happened inside was a mystery to most.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the reason was revealed - it was the closest city to the main Soviet nuclear test site. It was reported that between 1949 and 1989, 456 nuclear tests were carried out there, including 340 underground and 116 atmospheric explosions.
Even today it is an unattractive city, devoid of amenities and comfort.
After a short rest, the hour came that I was most looking forward to - crossing the border with Russia.
After talking with a friend on the phone and receiving the necessary instructions from him, I left Kazakhstan without any problems. But the moment I gave my passport to the immigration agent at the Russian border, difficulties began.
I understand why they were suspicious. An American girl traveling alone said she was traveling to Mongolia in a car with Georgian license plates. This comes just weeks after American journalist Evan Gershkovitch was arrested and charged with espionage.
They didn't seem to know what to do with me. Since we each spoke a different language, I was eventually told to sit down and wait. Another 45 minutes passed before an agent came to pick me up and took me to another building where I had to wait again. I suspected that this was a special tactic to make me nervous.
Eventually, the English-speaking agent pulled me into the back room.
I think anyone in such a situation would be nervous, and I was no exception. Remaining as calm as possible, the agent and I talked for more than an hour about everything: where I live in Georgia, why I was going to Mongolia, about my marital status (he was confused by the fact that a woman of 37 was not married). He was interested in what college I went to, who my relatives are, what I do at work.
The plainclothes agent was stern but patient. I learned that he was into photography (after it became clear that his counterpart had been poring over my Instagram) and we started talking about the incredible landscapes of his home country, which luckily lifted his spirits.
Eventually, my passport was stamped, my car was thoroughly searched again, and I was on my way through Siberia. The entire process of inspection and interviews at the border took about six hours. I was afraid that in two days I would have to go through the same thing again on the Russian-Mongolian border.
As it turns out, I was right. After a long trip along the Chuysky tract (this is one of the most beautiful roads I have ever driven on), I realized: I had lost the necessary document for the car.
At the border, I was again dragged into a back room for interrogation. This time, the less pleasant, formally dressed agent analyzed my answers in much more detail. Again there were questions about my marital status and how “strange” it was for someone “your age” to not be married and not have children. The agent said that it was unsafe to travel alone (but not in Russia, of course), and how strange it was that someone even wanted to live in Mongolia.
He flipped through the pages of my passport over and over again. Eventually he ran out of questions and I was able to leave. He even walked me to the car - I think more out of interest in seeing the Land Cruiser. I wouldn't say he was impressed when he finally saw it, but he was definitely curious.
Leaving Russia in the rearview mirror, I made it to Mongolia.
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Mongolia
I crossed the border into Mongolia at Tsagaannuur in Bayan-Ulgii, the country's westernmost province. I felt relief and joy from having crossed three countries - Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia.
However, in Mongolia I encountered several more problems, including a two-day delay due to snow in Ulgii, as well as the dire consequences of filling up my car with bad diesel fuel in Kazakhstan. (Luckily, I had spare fuel filters with me).
But it was the difficulties that made me proud of myself. Am I a mechanical expert? No. Have I had much experience traveling by car? Hell no. Did having a “can-do” attitude and being kind and respectful with strangers help me? Yes.
In the end, exactly three weeks after leaving Georgia, my car reached Ulaanbaatar - shabby, but intact. The car was cleaned up at the local Toyota Top Motors workshop. A summer of travel around Mongolia and a new life in Ulaanbaatar awaited me.
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