Marital status: married

Occupation: journalist

Driving experience: 18 years

Age: 36 years old

Dream car: Toyota Land Cruiser

Ugliest car: OKA

Maximum speed: 170 km/h

Ideal man: husband

First personal car: Mazda with pop-up headlights

Where you can most often find it: in a car

The desire for adventure comes from childhood

When I was little, my parents and I often traveled by car. I'm from Kaliningrad region, so I’ve almost never been to Russia. Simply because it was much cheaper to go, for example, to Poland. I'm used to traveling this way and don't really like planes, although, of course, I fly. We experience the most thrill in a car: a thermos into which you pour tea, stops in unfamiliar places where you explore every nook and cranny.

My husband and I both love to travel. At first we went with only our sons. Then they adopted three girls. And in August we went on a trip to Sochi and Abkhazia. In three weeks we traveled all over the place. All the mountains, all the abandoned cities. We traveled in a seven-seater Land Rover. Previously used Toyota Highlander- I’ll be honest, I like him better. I’m a Toyota fan – now I want to sell Land Rover and buy a Highlander again; I feel safer when traveling with this car.

"Oh, these kids"

Do you know what's surprising? The children behave perfectly during the trip. My boys have been traveling for a very long time: my first trip with Arseny by car was when he was 4 months old. My husband came home and said: “It’s impossible to find good tomatoes in Moscow!” And after a couple of days we jumped into the car and went to the south of our country for delicious vegetables and fruits. We got to Sochi, did some shopping and headed back. And we celebrated Arseny’s 6th month in Switzerland, where we naturally got there in a Toyota Rav 4.

There is nothing difficult at all about traveling by car. Once I traveled alone with my children from Moscow to Italy, my husband couldn’t because he was working, and I already wanted to leave somewhere.

Pleasant with useful

We are not worried about their studies at school; despite constant travel, they study well. I believe that children need to be shown more in this life, to be given emotions. Plus, we teach them life lessons while traveling. We learn to help each other and help others. For example, when we come to the sea, we take bags and collect garbage every time, 2-3 bags a day. I don’t need to force the children, they do it themselves with pleasure, because we set the right example for them! And most importantly, they come to understand that littering is not allowed. Last time we vacationed there almost alone on the local Abkhazian beach and cleaned it daily. You know what else is nice? People passing by joined in our work. We can say that we introduced a fashion for this in Abkhazia.

Child navigator?

It often happens that our children choose the route themselves. In August we went to Europe. First we got to the Czech Republic, where our parents have a house. From there we went to Germany, where the purpose of the trip was to get to Neuschwanstein Castle. When we got there, it seemed to us that this was not enough. As I remember now. Evening. We are sitting somewhere on the border with Germany and Lera asks: “We took swimsuits, so why didn’t we swim even once during this trip?” Pasha picked up: “Let’s go to the sea!” Where? We open the map and decide to go to Italy, to the nearest town from the border with Austria.

Family travel charter

The main rule is no gadgets in the car. We don't watch cartoons. The maximum is headphones and a player; we allow you to listen to music. The main thing is to entertain yourself. When traveling, you enjoy the fact that you have your whole family in one car. You might think that in three days in one car you can go crazy? But this doesn't happen to us. We constantly come up with activities for ourselves: we play games, sing songs, take drawing boards with us.

At the same time we are learning, for example, counting cows. When we were driving around Abkhazia we came up with a game: did you see a cow? Moo! Did you see a horse? Rye. A dog? Barking. It was a lot of fun. We also take cards with questions and arrange intellectual quizzes!

We don't load the car too much. We are those who like to travel light. We don't even have a roof rack. As for clothes - no shoes or evening dresses. Everything is just convenient and practical. That is why several small suitcases and even 7 scooters can easily fit into the car.

We usually set off early in the morning to get to the border at night, when there are few people there. Although sometimes we go out at night, this has its own charm, because the children are sleeping and you have the opportunity to drive quickly, because you don’t have to feed anyone, entertain anyone, or stop to go to the toilet. It is optimal to leave around 4 am. The children get into the car and fall asleep, and we have already gotten 3-4 hours of sleep at home.

We never take food with us, except for a light snack and drinks. When you travel around Russia, you can always stop and eat. We take it to Europe because there is an option to get stuck at the border, and in order to save money - food there is quite expensive.

And another important rule: take several blankets and car pillows with you; it is advisable to dress children in comfortable clothes, for example, a tracksuit, so that they can sleep softly.

All the intricacies of road travel

Everywhere has its own rules. When you cross, for example, the Latvian border, you need a technical inspection there. Not required in Lithuania, but required in Latvia. They didn’t want to let us in - they told us to turn around. It was 5 in the morning, I went to the boss, stood, smiled, said that I didn’t know that we were going for the first time. I started to put pressure on the fact that there were 5 children in the car, it was hard to return. We would, of course, travel through Belarus, but that would be an extra 6 hours. Besides, we were already determined to travel through Latvia. Latvians are generally very strict at the border. But in the end they still took pity on us. We promised that we would show the inspection on the way back, but in the end we went through another border.

They are often strict with us, despite the children. We once tried to smuggle yoghurts so that we could feed the children after crossing the border. And one of our sons, who is very honest, burst into tears: “Why are you deceiving us that we don’t have dairy products! They’ll arrest us now!” For him this is the height of abnormality.

Unexpected twists of fate

One day we decided to rent a motorhome and drive to Portugal. But on the way back, a not very pleasant thing happened to us - we were robbed. They took EVERYTHING out. We didn't stop at the campsite because we just couldn't find it. I had to stop at a gas station. I opened my eyes at night and saw that a man was standing next to my child with a knife and cutting bags. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but absolutely everything was stolen from us. We were able to get home only because my husband had one bank card hidden. I was very scared then; for 2 years I couldn’t even think about traveling in a motorhome.

And our car got stuck in the mountains in the Czech Republic. The fact is that there was no snow in Karlovy Vary. But we wanted to go for a ride, and decided to go to the mountains. We didn’t understand why cars with chains on their wheels were driving towards us. We arrived, it was snowing, the cars were standing still, and ours was rolling without our participation into a crowd of people. We tried to control the controls - it was useless. I had to run out of the car, and it rolled into a snowdrift. Fortunately, people immediately ran up and helped push the car out.

And when we wanted adventure in Abkhazia, we went to the city of ghosts. Moreover, we went there at 4 pm, when it began to get dark. The city is abandoned (everyone fled from there during the war), located in the mountains. I kept thinking that if the car got stuck, we would stay there overnight. Because there are no people there at all. Absolute, ominous darkness. There are excursions there, but only during the day. It is very scary to stay there because of the large number of snakes. But we still decided to go out and drove up the mountain to take a beautiful photo. Before we could stop, the car was surrounded by 5 dogs. It felt like if you opened the door, it would be like something out of a horror movie: they would jump in your face. So we didn't go out.

Another experience of a lifetime: we were traveling to Portugal in a motorhome and my husband saw the ocean for the first time. We had already passed through France, and I suggested driving along the coast. We accidentally drive into some town where there are motorhomes parked - Europeans generally tend to travel in motorhomes, unlike Russians. We go over the hill, and here is the ocean! This is incredible! They both stood there with tears in their eyes. It was such a thrill, I even get goosebumps now when we remember it. We definitely want to come there again, although we didn’t look for this place on the map, we didn’t even know where we were going. Unfortunately, this was after the robbery, we didn’t have cameras with us, so we weren’t able to take any memorable photos, but this moment remained in our memory for the rest of our lives.

Where do dreams lead?

Now the most global dream is to rent a motorhome to travel from Moscow to Beijing, the journey should take a little more than a month. I have already studied everything: there are such pitfalls as, for example, obtaining a Chinese license and entering the territory only accompanied by a local guide.

Although probably my most cherished dream: to America by land and water.

Vladimir Lysenko

Around the world by car

PREFACE

After I did everything in rafting (rafting on mountain rivers) that can somehow be formalized (rafting from all eight-thousanders and the highest peaks of all continents, rafting - first ascents in China from the two highest peaks of the world - Everest and Chogori, descent along the mountain sources of two of the greatest rivers in the world - the Amazon and the Nile, finally, I set a high-altitude rafting record in Tibet - 5600 m, I was drawn to other types of expeditions. First of all, it was about traveling around the world. But what a method of transportation. choose? On foot? No, it will take a lifetime. By bicycle, in principle, this is an acceptable option for me (as a student, I was seriously involved in road cycling, my record is 270 km in one day), but it’s still a long time (if). to make a real trip around the world, then in the absence of much financial support it would take about five years. The only option left was to travel by car. It seemed the most attractive also because no one was from Russia. Soviet Union) had never made a round-the-world trip by car before (although people from other countries managed to do it). Naturally, I wanted to go through an unusual route that no one had ever traveled. In addition, I noticed that in previously completed round-the-world trips, the starting and ending points of the journey across different continents were arbitrary, not formalized in any way. Therefore, I decided to travel through all the continents between the extreme points in the direction in which these continents are elongated, that is, to cross both American continents from the northernmost edge of North America to the southernmost point of South America (naturally, where can be reached by car), cross Africa from its southernmost point to its northernmost, Eurasia - from its westernmost to its easternmost (from those available on passenger car), and Australia - from the easternmost to the westernmost (or even go around its perimeter).

And I persistently began to implement my project.

THROUGH AMERICA

On September 25, 1997 in the evening (at 18 o’clock) we flew from Khabarovsk to Anchorage (Alaska), where we arrived less than 5 hours later at 4 o’clock in the morning... on the same September 25 - the crossing of the daily zone affected (the time difference between Anchorage and Khabarovsk is 5 hours minus days). Having waited at the airport until 7 o'clock, we went to a place well known to me (from a previous visit to Alaska in July-August 1993, when Vladimir Kuznetsov and I rafted down the McKinley and Kantishna rivers in national park Denali) Anchorage International Youth Hostel at H-700. This is where we settled.

We are me, Boris Ivanov and Vladimir Goleschikhin. We (and Andrei Ponomarev was supposed to join us for the North American part of the expedition three days later) had to make a trans-American journey by car from Alaska (northern North America) to Argentina (southern South America) with rafting along rivers in Canada, the USA (in the Great Colorado Canyon) and South America. The sponsors of this expedition were the Novosibirsk News newspaper, the Zyryanovsky branch of Kuzbassotsbank and the EKVI company (Moscow) with visa support from the Moscow travel agency Exotour (and personal assistance Alexander Andrievsky).

Due to limited finances, we could buy a car for no more than $2,500. After visiting a number of used car stores, we inspected three Fords (from 2 to 2.5 thousand dollars each) and a Volvo 240 DL (for 2,500). One of the Fords was a pickup truck with a large interior, wide seats and a berth. The car is luxurious, but it is very large; it would be difficult to navigate streets with heavy traffic and, most importantly, along narrow mountain roads. The rest of the Fords (for 2 and 2.2 thousand dollars) were quite “worn out”, but the Volvo looked like new (although it was produced in 1986 and had already covered 300,000 km). In the end we settled on it.

Through the selling company we made a purchase (it took another $200), “liability” insurance (in case we damaged someone else’s car, such insurance is mandatory in the USA, it cost $600), and the next day we became the owners of a Volvo 240 with Alaskan license plate CZS 779. As a warm-up, we went to Anchor Point and returned back.

So, by the evening of September 26, we were ready to begin the journey, but Andrey was supposed to fly to Anchorage only two days later. In order not to waste time, the three of us decided first to go to the village of Deadhorse (Dead Horse) on the shores of Prudhu Bay, the northernmost point of Alaska that can be reached by car. A few years ago, access to this area was limited, and ordinary Americans (and even more so Russians) were not allowed further than Disaster Creek without a special permit (this is 340 km from Livengood, and Livengood itself is 114 km from Fairbanks), then The last 314 km to Deadhorse were closed. These restrictions were related to oil production in Prudhu Bay. However, fortunately, the situation had changed and we were no longer prohibited from visiting Deadhorse.

Early in the morning of September 27, we moved in his direction. We drove along luxurious highways, smooth, with excellent markings, with a large number of reflective signs that “lit up” from the light of the car’s headlights. It is quite obvious that emergency on such roads it can occur incomparably less often than on Russian ones. By the way, American drivers differ sharply from ours in their discipline - few break the rules traffic. We, having reached good roads, unfortunately, were unable to control themselves and repeatedly exceeded the speed limit of 65 miles (110 km) per hour. It was Saturday, and the road to Nenana was practically empty. Therefore, on one of its long desert sections, I was able to “squeeze” the speed of 100 miles (160 km) per hour out of the car. However, in the section further than Livengood, the road gradually began to deteriorate (the asphalt disappeared from it in the middle of the Fairbanks-Livengood section), and then became downright bad (mud appeared). The only bridge was used to cross the Yukon River. And, having covered 960 km in a day (out of those 1356 that separate Anchorage from Deadhorse), we spent the night in the small village of Coolfoot (Cold Foot). Here a hotel room for two (in which the three of us fit) cost $75.

70 miles after Coolfoot, the Atigun Pass began, about 1.5 km high. There was snow on it (and before it the road was covered with a thick layer of mud). Just before the pass, a girl in a construction helmet stopped us and warned us to be very careful (due to snow and poor visibility at the pass). Beyond Atigun the road was covered with a crust of ice. The car skidded. I had to work hard pushing her. And yet at 12:30 we found ourselves in Deadhorse. We refueled with gasoline (there is no place to refuel on the 251-mile stretch between Coolfoot and Deadhorse; this distance corresponded exactly to the fifty liters of gasoline that fit in the gas tank of our car) and had a “plenty” of lunch at the Prudhu Bay Hotel - here the buffet cost 15 dollars per person. At 2 p.m. we set off on our way back.

Here we need to make a small digression. On the first day of the journey (to Coolfoot), Boris and I drove the car alternately. On the second day, Volodya got behind the wheel and successfully drove the car to Deadhorse. However, he drove the Volvo very carefully and the speed was low. Therefore, in order to go faster, Boris (a man with forty years of driving experience) replaced him in Deadhorse. Unfortunately, the increase

, Trips

SMH agency

Prepare the necessary electronics. All!

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Insurance.

This is definitely not worth saving on! Find information about the insurances you may need while traveling. Please note that each state has its own rules. In some places you will have to buy insurance upon arrival, but in others you can buy it in advance, right from home.

Vaccinations.

Get all the necessary vaccinations and go through a medical examination once again to make sure that your health will not let you down along the way.

Learn how to call for help (you never know).

A car can behave unpredictably, and when traveling you will not always have to drive through a metropolis and crowded places. Any breakdown will not only spoil your impressions, but also interfere with your further movement. Write down in advance all the numbers of on-site technical assistance, tow truck and ambulance in the area, depending on your route.

Before you leave, go through the list.

Five times. Better - ten.

Throw a party no one will forget.

Leave, slamming the door loudly! Remember: it is not only the journey that is important, but also the seeing-off to it. As you know, how you meet an adventure is how you spend it.




Oleg and Oksana Radul went on a trip around the world in their car in May 2011 - from Moscow, to Europe, Africa, the USA, Mexico, Korea and across the ocean to Vladivostok. I met them in Novosibirsk, where they stopped on their way home. The journey was coming to an end, we sat in a cafe and talked leisurely, Oleg and Oksana recalled the bright moments of the path they had traveled, talked about their plans and promised to continue their wanderings. Almost 2 years have passed since then. During this time, they managed to return, write many reports on their LiveJournal, and launch a project that many predicted would soon die.

Now Oleg and Oksana live in Barcelona for most of the year, their project is codenamed “Our Hut” ( www.facebook.com/groups/nasha.xata) is developing successfully, new ideas are born and dreams become real.

The thought of traveling around the world came to Oleg a year before departure. In his opinion, a year is the most optimal period for preparing such a big trip. In Moscow, the Radul family drove a Lexus, but for the trip it was decided to change the Lexus to the new Mitsubishi Pajero L200. The reasons why Oleg sacrificed comfort: firstly, the reliability of the new Japanese car compared to a non-new one, secondly, the Pajero is much more spacious, thirdly, it has lower fuel consumption and, finally, it is more “passable”. The car coped with the task perfectly and during the six-month trip it never broke down; only scheduled maintenance was carried out. The budget for the trip turned out to be quite large - a million rubles for four people (at first the traveling team consisted of two crews, but two of them had to go home early). The family saved up money for the trip during a year of preparation, which, by and large, was all about it.

Around the world route

The route was laid out across all continents - from Moscow the travelers went to Europe, then made a forced march to Morocco, where they heartily jumped in cars from dune to dune, returned to Europe again and from French Le Havre on a container ship together with the car went to New York.

Having circled the United States and Mexico from east to west, the team again loaded the “iron horse” onto a container ship and sent it to Korea. After getting acquainted with Asia, the car set sail again, and Oleg and Oksana boarded a plane and within a few hours were in Vladivostok, where they waited for their four-wheeled friend for a whole month. However, this time was not wasted - the Radul family announced real war Far Eastern officials involved in replacing concrete curbs with granite ones, while several dozen open manholes were found on the central street of the city. During this month, they managed to “stir up” the officials and achieve partial repairs. True, after careless travelers left the city, the problem of open hatches returned.

Where to live, what to eat when traveling?

Traveling in a car is more comfortable than traveling on foot or by bicycle, but when it lasts for several months, it can become tiring. To prevent this from happening, Oleg and Oksana found friends in advance in the couchsurfing system (a worldwide network of travelers and people willing to host them for a couple of days), so they were able to wash and sleep in comfort once every 2-4 days.

– this is a great system! This is not just an overnight stay and a shower, like in a hotel, it is constant acquaintance with interesting people, most of whom are travelers themselves and you can learn a lot from them interesting stories. Besides, it’s so nice to come to an unfamiliar city and know that they are waiting for you there and will be happy to see you,” says Oleg.

We simply would not have gotten to many places if we were guided only by materials from reference books, and the people with whom we stayed always told us with inspiration what was worth seeing in their area or state,” Oksana continues.

True, we tried not to stop near Russian villages and found places in the forest where we could park the car and where there was 3G Internet.

Travelers were also careful with national cuisine and often chose McDonald's instead of local restaurants.

McDonald's is convenient - says Oleg Radul,- you always know that in any country a Big Mac will be the same as in Moscow and the likelihood of getting poisoned with it is much less than with a dish that is described on the menu in many unfamiliar letters and you won’t be able to ask what it is either. But some national dishes simply captivated us - we still remember the paquitos prepared in Mexico.

Travel philosophy

Novosibirsk for us is almost the end of the journey, we are almost at home here - familiar places, familiar people. We feel that the journey is ending, but for the first time we return without a painful feeling, without depression from the piled-up affairs. And we understood why this happened only now - when you travel on vacation, you quickly, quickly sort out a bunch of things that need to be done, leaving some of them “for later” and when, two or three weeks later, this “later” appears in front of you , then the painful feeling returns. This time we did everything we wanted and did not leave any “tails” in Moscow, so we are very happy to return and we have a great desire to act and the strength to do this.

We will not stop traveling - that’s for sure,” says Oksana, “during this trip we realized that there will always be opportunities, the main thing is the goal. We have had situations when it seemed like that was it – we wouldn’t be able to move on, but we were traveling around the world, and in any case we had to look for opportunities and complete the route as planned.

Road impressions

We were amazed by the American traffic police. One girl was once returning home after a bachelorette party with her friends and on the way she ran out of gas. The police immediately appeared with a canister and wanted to fill the tank of her car, but they smelled the smell of alcohol from the driver, when they measured the level of intoxication and it turned out that it was slightly higher than the norm, they refused to refuel her car.

Instead of fining the girl, they got behind the wheel of her car, drove her home, and only then filled the tank so that she could drive to the gas station herself in the morning. Is this possible for us? That’s why such stories seem like fairy tales to Russians. This is probably why Russians do not believe that an unknown American can smile because he is happy. And not because he was raised that way.

Facts

• Gasoline in Russia is one of the cheapest and stories that in the USA a liter of gasoline costs 1 dollar are a myth.
• The roads in Russia are some of the worst in the world and this is the honest truth. Even in the deserts of Morocco, despite the harsh climatic conditions, the asphalt is ideal.
• Some of the most “residential” villages in Russia are located in Buryatia.

Other posts on this topic:

(c) Photo: Oksana and Oleg Radul. Text: El Yate. Copying of material is prohibited.

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Around the world - by car? What could be more exciting and surprising? Is it a round the world trip? hot air balloon. But since not everyone is ready to fly on balloons, it’s more common (and safer) to drive, so let’s try to understand all the intricacies of such a trip.

Firstly, you need a certain period of free time, which will not fit into the usual standard vacation. The minimum period that should be cleared for a round-the-world auto tour is three months. During this time, it is quite possible to circle the globe and return to the starting point.

It should also be taken into account that planning a round-the-world road trip will take no less time, since collecting the necessary funds, an array of information, developing a route, choosing suitable transport (spacious and at the same time economical) sometimes takes as much time as the round-the-world trip itself lasts.

At the same time, you can draw up a plan for a round-the-world road trip yourself, or you can do it together with travel agencies. You must immediately remember that this is not a cheap pleasure. You will have to take into account many expenses and set aside about ten thousand dollars.

Also an important factor is the expectation of the “iron horse” when transporting the latter from mainland to mainland. This sometimes takes two or three weeks and during this period you need to stay somewhere (and at the same time see local attractions). Of course, costs can be reduced if you find accommodation online.

An example of planning a car trip around the world:

1. From Moscow to Vyborg, and there - Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

2. Then in transit from Copenhagen to Spain and crossing through Gibraltar.

3. A week in Africa: vacation in Morocco (Western Sahara).

4. South America: Brazil, Argentina, Chile.

5. North America: USA and Canada.

6. Flight from Los Angeles and waiting for a car sent by bulk carrier.

7. Final stage: from Vladivostok to Moscow.

That is, somewhere you will still have to break away from the “iron horse” and trust it to dry cargo ships.

As a rule, all experienced road travelers who have already circumnavigated the world recommend taking a new one or almost new car. Travel expenses can increase exponentially if the car suddenly fails and breaks down along the way.

Couchsurfing has not been canceled. It's practical and useful. You can ask locals for directions, arrange accommodation and a hot shower, ask about the peculiarities of national culture and not miss a unique local attraction. A guest is always welcome anywhere in the world, ready to recommend convenient travel to the next destination and have an interesting conversation.

However, it is better not to stop overnight in villages. There are no convenient parking lots, no one guarantees the safety of tourists and the safety of the car. It is advisable to look for a campsite with access to the Internet and the ability to park properly.

If a person is bored of traveling alone, fellow travelers will brighten up the loneliness. However, caution should be exercised here too. If a person is alarmed by something in the first minutes, you should give up the desire to give him a ride. The subconscious sometimes works better than direct perception, and intuition can save life and health.

Regarding nutrition, everything is individual. If a person does not know the local slang well, it will be difficult to navigate the menus of roadside restaurants and cafes. Then McDonald's will help out. Although there are pleasant exceptions, where the food is inexpensive and prepared perfectly (Spain, Mexico, Peru, etc.).

Remember that in Latin American countries it is advisable to travel not with your own transport, but to rent a car. South American rental is cheaper and more reliable.

In order for impressions and emotions to be preserved for the rest of your life and even passed on to your grandchildren, you should take care of high-quality photo and video equipment. A travel diary filled out every evening can also help reflect the mood of each day. Finally, if opportunities allow, you can broadcast your trip online and post photos on a social network.

Wherever you like, you can stay as long as you like, if your budget and weather allow it, and also provided that your travel time is not limited. What makes such a trip attractive is the ability to independently manage time and space - what to see, where to go, where to stay. Colossal impressions and the unique experience of a round-the-world road trip then remain with a person for life.

Is it a risky undertaking to go around the world by car? Certainly. No one guarantees that a person will not get sick, including some exotic disease, that he will not be robbed or will not get into an accident (in a hurricane, a rockfall on a mountain serpentine), that he will not get lost in the prairies or in a huge traffic circle... But nevertheless , who is tired of a measured life, to whom all trips like “all inclusive” and “buffet” seem bland, may well give it a try.

Remember that there will always be opportunities. The main thing is the goal.

Thank you for your interest in this article! When traveling anywhere in the world, do not forget to issue an international driver's license. Traveling is easy and safe with our IDP.