Vladivostok at last!

From our little detour to the pacific coast it was only a short hop down south to Vladivostok!


We had planned to ship our car from here, but weren't sure where to when we left home. The boys tried to convince us to share a container with their Land Cruiser and ship it back to Rotterdam. But we had other plans, Africa! 😎

At the Pacific Ocean

First glimpse of the Pacific Ocean

After a day and night of city life it was time to hit the road again. Having caught up with the boys we did reduce our pace and decided to take a little detour to the coast, the Pacific coast 😎

Driving around China

Stopover in Ulan-Ude

After saying goodbye to Tony and Andi we picked up the pace to catch up with the boys in the Land Cruiser. From our spot at lake Baikal it is around 3600km to Vladivostok, a bit more when venturing out to the Pacific Ocean. All this because it isn't possible to drive in China without an assigned driver/guide 🙄

Baikal - Part Two

With no hurry to leave the area yet we drove south along the coast of lake Baikal for some more relaxing days and nights. At least that was our plan, didn't work out entirely 😆

At lake Baikal

Back in the USSR

Leaving Mongolia we crossed our fourth time into Russia, which was a bit of a hassle as they wanted every document filled out twice. I guess to safe on photocopier costs? 🤷‍♂️

In the Altai mountains and into Mongolia

Our third time entering Russia went uneventful, knowing by now which forms to fill in and how the procedure works 😆

Car troubles!

Leaving Yekaterinburg in the pouring rain we continued east. About 200km later there was a bang and then some grinding noises when the left front wheel turned!

West of the Ural Mountains

Next destination was Kazan where we wanted to get some seals replaced on the front axle.

St. Petersburg & Moscow

After a cumbersome border procedure we were again in Russia!

Along the Baltic Sea (01.06.2019 - 17.06.2019)

After some hectic last minute packing and handing over the keys to our flat to the subtenants we drove off on the first of June.

On the first day we barely made it across the German border but kept heading north the day afterwards. This time crossing the old West/East German border continuing north all the way to Usedom at the Baltic Sea. Here we relaxed a bit and slowed down the pace by enjoying the beach, the famous sun chairs and the sea. Traveling along the coast we entered Poland and then Gdansk which we had skipped the summer before. Exploring the old Hanseatic city and enjoying its many bars and restaurants before driving east to visit the UNESCO World Heritage site at Malbork castle of the Teutonic Order.
Then it was time to cross into Russia, into Kaliningrad to be precise. Armed with our visa and speaking no Russian the crossing was no hassle at all and we reached the old city of Königsberg in due time. This exclave which is surrounded by Poland in the south and the Baltic sea in the west ist connected over the tiny strip of the Curonian Spit to Lithuania in the north-west. Over this land bridge we left Russia again without any problems.
Hugging the coast we drove up to Latvia with a short stop over in Riga, having visited the city a year ago. To the east of it we visited Leg&Go, a Latvian startup producing cool wooden balance bikes for kids. It can "grow" with the child and has multiple add-ons, even pedals. We bought one for my nephew, he seems to like it as he immediately started gnawing on the handle bar 😂
Close by are many lakes and woods where we relaxed a bit and enjoyed the scenery. Even tried my luck with fishing, alas no catch 😟
Next we headed north to Estonia and stayed again on the Baltic coast, meeting up with some fellow Swiss overlanders. We got our gear in order, swapped stories and relaxed by the sea before entering Russia again.