Sorry it’s taken so long to reply. Our cycling trip was an adventure of a lifetime – we’re jealous that you’re just setting off!

We didn’t actually go across Russia, but I believe that you could put your bikes on a train if you don’t want to cycle it? http://www.seat61.com is a great train website if you haven’t already discovered it. We went through Turkey, then Iran, then we had a short flight from Tehran to Dushanbe (Tajikistan) as we didn’t have enough time (or energy!) to get visas for Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. We then went to Kyrgyzstan and crossed into China over the Torugart Pass.

We struggled to get Chinese visas mainly because the Olympics were on at the time we wanted to get in. It is possible to get them when you’re on the road but I think it could involve a bit of waiting around. We both have dual nationality so we sent our UK passports back to some friends in the UK and they got our visas on our behalf, and we continued our travels on our NZ passports in the meantime. Embassies do change what they say about the regulations in different countries and you need a lot of patience! It’s good talking to other travellers you meet on the way.

Good luck! Happy travels. Get in touch if you come to NZ as we can share a few tips for here too.
Di and Rob

Just wondered if you could shed the light on a couple of things:
How did you get your bikes across Russia? Did you ship them, is it as easy as that?
How did you get visas for China without being in the UK?

Cheers

Emma

We got a bit stuck in Iran (visa nightmare for Tajikistan) and consequently cash was tight, but we found a UK travel agency run by a woman whose brother runs a branch in Tehran – we ended up booking our flights through them and paying by credit card. It was more expensive but our only option. The website is: http://www.persianvoyages.com/home.php

From memory, flights with Tajik Air leave on Tuesdays and Saturdays. We flew on a Saturday. It’s hard to find the timetables but there’s lots of travel agencies and airlines along Nejatollahi St that will be able to give you information/do the booking for you if you have enough cash.

Another tip is that we spent a whole day trawling the streets of Tehran trying to find suitable cardboard boxes to wrap our bikes in and then doing the wrapping – only to get to the airport and be told we had to get them re-wrapped there! Also they charged us for having too much weight but we found the rate was negotiable.

Good luck! Great time to be visiting Tajikistan, enjoy.

Di and Rob

I’m also doıng a bıg cycle rıde and am lookıng at gettıng the flıght from tehran to dushanbe lıke you two. Could you tell me what day ıt ıs on and where you booked the tıckets from? am havıng a lıttle trouble workıng out vısas wıthout knowıng of the flıght detaıls? Any ınfo as soon as possıble would be amazıng, thanks.

Greg

Congratulations!! Hope you guys are enjoying married life!

Your photos are amazing, you’ve had such a fantastic trip home to NZ.
Keep this fab website going!
take care
gills x:)x