No, we are not in the US. We are in Georgia, the small country in the Caucasus at the intersection of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. Georgia borders Turkey, Armenia and Azerbeidzjan in the south and Russia in the north.
Exiting Central Asia
Due to covid restrictions, borders remained closed much longer than we expected. Last summer our travels were limited to Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Also this summer, while mostly traveling in Kazakhstan, we almost lost hope of getting the Land Cruiser out of Central Asia.
It’s been a confusing period of changing plans, of not knowing what was possible, of opportunities crossing our path only to be dissolved a couple of days later…
To cut a long story short, at last we managed to get a visa for Russia, transit to the border and cross into Georgia. A huge thanks to Jochem and Nelke, who were the ones who figured out, after driving thousands of kilometers, where to get the visa and thus being able to exit the region. And thank you, once more, Rusreis.nl for taking care of the required paperwork!
Check it out: the Landcruising Adventure Baseball Cap Collection
Read More: Stories about Central Asia
Georgia – First Impressions
Just south of the border we camped in a parking lot next to a lovely little church, which was a good start of our new adventure. Next to us stood a Dutch overland vehicle and it was good to share some time with kindred spirits. Thanks Brenda & Patrick for the nice evening together.
Travel Guidebooks for Georgia
(click on the images to look inside)
Products from Amazon
To Tblisi
We have never been so unprepared for a country; Georgia was on our list only for next summer. We drove to the capital to buy sim cards, withdraw money, hopefully buy a guidebook (didn’t succeed on the latter). The city is inviting with on first sight an interesting mix of old and new, of quiet parks and modern coffeeshops and restaurants.
We’ll be back to explore properly!
Check out this book: 24 Off-road Routes in Georgia
Meeting Kindred Spirits
But we were tired and ready for a rest. We were lucky. Overlanders Grant & Sarah had decided to buy some property in Georgia and have opened Overland Haven for overlanders to camp and share some good dinners & stories. Together with overlanders Chris and Gabs we’ve shared some good times already.
Grant & Sarah, Thanks for having us!
Read More: The Stupidest Things Overlanders Brought on their Journey (and the Smartest)
The weather in Georgia is still super pleasant, warm even. Shorts and t-shirts. It’s wine harvest season and hopefully we’ll get to see something from it. For the time being we are processing the past couple of weeks, including getting lots of work done while being camped here.
What’s Next?
We have looked forward to traveling in the Caucasus countries for quite some time, not just for overlanding but also for long-distance hiking. For one, the Transcaucasian hiking trail is being constructed as we speak and our plan for next summer is to do some hiking there, that much we do know.
But first there is winter… No fixed plans but a number of ideas. We’ll keep you updated. Stay tuned.
best,
Karin-Marijke & Coen
Check it out: the Classic Landcruising Adventure T-shirt Collection
Sign Up for Our Newsletter
Sign up for our newsletter and receive occasional emails with news, updates, and the best bits from the blog.
No spam – just updates that are infrequent enough so as not to annoy you, and it’s easy to unsubscribe.
Hi Karin-Marijke, jammer dat we jullie net gemist hebben in Georgië! Wat de Transcaucasian betreft, neem even contact op met Bart en Annelouc (insta @carfullofdreams). Zij hebben m net gelopen.
Geniet van Georgië! Zoveel te zien.
Liefs, Marijke
Zeker jammer. Ik had begrepen dat Bart en Annelouc Armenië hadden ge.open, maar zullen zeker nog eens contact met ze hebben.
Interesting as all your blogs. As I am planing an Overland trip to Central Asia, I will like to get more details regarding borders passing as I understand from your blog that most are closed by Oct. 2022.
No, border crossings don’t get closed due to climate. The only complication right now is politics. Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan’s land borders are still closed and nobody knows when they will open again. Another border crossing to check regularly is Tajikistan – Kyrgyzstan because they sometimes close that border temporarily because of local tensions. They only way to then get to Tajikistan is via Uzbekistan.
Hope that helps!
Thanks, another issue that I would like your experience is connected to diesel fuel. My planed route is to cross Uzbekistan from the Caspiam see to Tajykistan and I got from Google maps that very few stations offer diesel. How real is that situation ?
Changing very rapidly. Diesel stations (as well as ATMs) are growing. But yes, you do have a long stretch of desert in western Uzbekistan, but towns like Nukus/Khiva as well as Bukhara will have gas stations selling diesel. enjoy the trip!