Hebbo, we are in London.
I may try to organise a HU London drink at some point one evening, and post in the HU meet posts... if there is any interest....

__________________
Maria

www.franglais-riders.com

Posting couple of emails I got from David at Stantours, for those of you starting to look into the Visa situation. You may find this info very useful. I do!

Response to my 1st email (general enquiries):

Thank you for making contact. We will be glad to assist.

Normally with a western passport you should be able to obtain most of the visa you have indicated invitation-free at their respective Embassies, also a Turkmen transit visa. We will be glad to assist in case any of the EMbassies should insist on invitations or hotel bookings, or if you need more flexibility. You may need our assistance with an Uzbek LOI and an Azeri e-visa, CURRENT procedure for this as well as our standard information for Turkmenistan (TM) below. Please check back for updates (also for payment procedure) a bit closer to arrival.

The dates you set on your application will normally correspond to the ones fixed on your visa. You will be able to enter and exit anytime within the OUTER dates you set, for the number of times you apply for. We can normally proceed with the LOI earliest 3..4 months in advance and it should be used within 2 months.

No visa are needed any more for KYRgyzstan for most western passports forstays up to 60 days.

For Russia - we can assist, but the expiry date of your passport would be a problem, as normally they only issue visa up to 6 months prior to expiry.
Also note that in any event the multi-entry LOI could only be issued in
March if the visa needs to be valid until September, Please confirm that this (as well as the costs for the actual visa, which you should check with the Consulate) is ok and I will double-check on the 6-month rule.

AZ
We can supply you with an Azerbaijan single-entry tourist e-visa visa for up to 30 days against a fee of USD 100 per person. The visa will be issued within 3 weeks and sent to you by e-mail attachment. Note that we cannot guarantee approval in this time frame, as the rule is still quite new.
If you wish to proceed we would request a full payment of USD 100 or EUR 80 per person as follows, the dates for your trip, as well as the following
documents:

1 the attached visa application filled in TYPED, signed and
scanned (no photograph)
2 a clear colour SCAN (not photograph) of your passport
3 a scanned colour passport photograph
4 your tickets to and from Azerbaijan if applicable (not needed
if you indicate entry overland or by sea)
5 a hotel booking for about half the duration of your stay (you can
cancel as soon as you get the visa). NOT booking.com - all other booking
engines are fine

UZ
We can supply you with an invitation for an UZbek single-entry tourist visa for up to 30 days against a fee of USD 40 per person. The invitation will be issued within 10-14 days and sent to you by e-mail attachment.
If you wish to proceed we would request your passport info, a copy of your passport and a letter confirming your current employment / place of study by e-mail attachment or fax and a full payment of USD 40 or EUR 32 per person as follows:

1 Full Name (incl. name at birth or previous names if applicable):
2 Date of Birth :
3 City and Country of Birth :
4 Citizenship (also previous citizenship if changed) :
5 Passport Number :
6 Date of the passport issue and expiration :
7 Issuing authority :
8 Gender :
9 Marital Status:
9a if married: spouse's full name:
10 Occupation, Place of Employment and type of business :
11 Address and phone number of place of work :
12 Accompanying children travelling on applicant's passport :
13 Previous visits (date, purpose and inviting party if applicable):
14 Port of Entry :
15 Date(s) of Entry and Departure :
16 Cities and Sites you wish to visit :
17 City/country where you will obtain visa :
18 Home Address and Phone number:

Beneficiary: STANtours Inc., 3A Little Denmark Complex, 147 Main St, POB
4473, Road Town, Tortola, VG 1110, British Virgin Islands, Fax +49 (3212)
1039960
Bank: ABLV Bank AS, 23 Elizabetes St., Riga, LV-1010, Latvia, Fax:
+371 6777 5200
Account # / IBAN: LV78AIZK0000010337508
BIC/SWIFT: AIZKLV22

Please make sure that you include ALL bank charges and please confirm the payment amount before transfer. We will proceed upon receipt of funds or proof of transfer.

TM
For a Turkmenistan (TM) TOURIST visa, in order to enable us to provide you with an LOI, we will need a detailed service booking with fixed dates. The minimum cost of this will be about USD 100..130 per day per person for a standard overland routing if you are two or three or 140..200 if you travel alone, for paperwork, transport, guide and accommodation B&B. We will be glad to make a detailed offer or join you up with other clients at a lower cost, if you can make some preliminary indications of what you would like to do and when you wish to travel.
You will be free to move around Ashgabat and its surropundings on your own, but everywhere else our licensed driver or guide is mandatory. Please bear in mind that invitation processing can take 2-3 weeks.
The only alternative for independent travel would be a transit visa which is sometimes granted for a maximum of 5..7 days with fixed dates and is issued on the grounds of the Iran / AZeri and Uzbek visa. Transit visa processing AT THE EMBASSY takes 10-14 days and there is no guarantee of approval. We cannot assist with transit visa and no LOI can be issued for them.
I trust this assists, we will also be glad to assist further on in Central
Asia, Caucasus and Russia!


Looking forward hearing from you,
David
STANtours Almaty / Ashgabat

2d email with additional info on Russian visa issue:

Yes Maria - the new passport would put you on the safe side for the Russian visa. In theory for 3 months, a 90-day double-entry visa would be enough, but the problem with that would be that we could only proceed mid May, 45 calendar days prior to the first arrival date you set.

Note that for AZ we are NOT suggesting an LOI - the e-visa is currently the EASIEST and lowest cost option (as opposed to getting the visa at the Embassy), unless you don't have enough time.

David

Cheers,

__________________
Maria

www.franglais-riders.com

I'll come, if you can get a few people mobilized

Cheers,
Noel

Totally up for it! I am free pretty much every evening

Hmm... it seems I have "volunteered " myself for a job then

Will post sth in next few weeks in the HU meetings pages... and will let you know. Have to find quite venue where we can sit and talk (so no pub with loud music...)

Cheers.

__________________
Maria

www.franglais-riders.com

As discussed above, I put the following post in HU UK Meetings:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...762#post440574

Hope as many of you as possible can make it.


Hebbo, you pub suggestion sounds good, if they are open on saturday (And serve some food?). Let's get an idea of numbers first.

Cheers,

__________________
Maria

www.franglais-riders.com

Hi guys,

I came across this website that has some good visa info.

Turkmenistan visa | Caravanistan

I am starting to think that the easiest was to do Turkmenistan is a transit visa which looks like 3-5 days depending on who issues it!.

It does mean you have very strict time constraints but a tourist visa runs at $130+ US a day.

I know most of you will be leaving western Europe late April/early May. For anyone else reading this thread I will be leaving the UK around 13/14/15 May, 2014 and need to be back by late July - about 10 weeks total.

I am flexible as to route through Europe (just find some nice roads!) then Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Russia out to Irkutsk (maybe go around Lake Baikal), down into Mongolia and if time permits head out towards Vladivostok.

If I make Vladivostok I will most likely ship the bike back in a container which some other guys will have there already or alternatively get the Trans Siberian back to Moscow.

Let me know if you have any similar plans.

Cheers,

Tom.