Baku to Turkmenbashi Ferry I thought I'd through in my $.02 about the Baku-Turkmenbashi ferry as I've received many PM's, emails, etc. about this. The B-T ferry is a rail car ferry primarily and takes on passengers and vehicles(including trucks), space allowing. It leaves on a scheduled based on when the rail cars are loaded onto the ferry and on some occasions, can leave sometimes 2-3 times a day. Once a day is the norm though and ask the Customs guys there info about the departure times and rail car loading to best gauge things. There is a similar ferry to Aqtau(Kazakhstan) but only a couple times a week. The Azeri ferry company that runs it owns a fleet of about 5 ferries. It takes one day to cross the Caspian and docks in the harbor awaiting another one of the previously arriving ferries to unload. Once unloaded, that ferry awaits rail cargo ...Read More

Azarbaijan

Hi Salva 2 options exist for Turkmenistan; FIRST : 'official tour' which requires 'loi' and requires participation of the tour. This is the option we chose, tour & loi came via David at StanTours (who is excellent). Using this option meant we had an emailed copy of our loi and then when we arrived at Turkmenistan port of entry we were there issued with our standard tourist visa (the visa matched in length the number of days the tour lasts, which in our case was 5 days). SECOND OPTION : 'Transit Visa' Using this option avoids the 'loi' and the 'official tour' thus saving some money. But you have to specify date of entry and date of departure. I would guess you could get away with requesting 7 days for transit (doubt you'd get longer). Transit visa can be obtained in Istanbul or Ankara (Turkey). Even though you have a specified date of entry, ...Read More

Turkmenistan

As time passes, and the route becomes somewhat clear, the countries and visa requirements are determined. I'll need to have a flexible entry-exit date for each country I'm going to apply for a visa. So far, the list is as follows: United States (Greencard) United Kingdom (Visa) France (Schengen) Switzerland (Schengen) Liechtenstein (Visa) Austria (Schengen) Slovenia (Schengen) Croatia (Passport) Bosnia and Herzegovina (Passport) Montenegro (Visa) Albania (Passport) Macedonia (Passport) Greece (Schengen) Turkey (Passport) Georgia (Passport) Azerbaijan (Visa) Turkmenistan (Visa) Uzbekistan (Visa) Tajikistan (Visa) (Can be bypassed) Kyrgyzstan (Passport) Kazakhstan (Passport) Russia (Visa) Mongolia (Visa) Russia (Visa) South Korea (Passport) Read More

Countries en route