Turkmenistan immigration, a kitten and some cookies
by Robin EwingJuly 23, 2013 About 1pm the boat raised anchor and excitement rippled through the ferry as we chugged into the stark Turkmenbashi port. Six hours later, we were still on the boat. A few gregarious dock workers used an English dictionary to shout garbled...
The ferry from Baku to Turkmenistan
I am sitting on an Azerbaijan cargo ferry in the Caspian Sea anchored off the coast of Turkmenistan waiting for the port to open. The port is closed because the Turkmenistan president, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, has come to Turkmanbashi, where our ship is supposed to...
Into Georgia
By Robin EwingJuly 2013 One new Renault clutch and quite a few dollars later, we crossed the border into Georgia. Immediately gone were the shiny, silver domes of the small roadside Turkish mosques, the headscarves and the occasional black flowing abaya. Instead,...
Photo gallery #1: London to Istanbul
Sweden, Germany,Holland, Belgium, France, England, France, Belgium,Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey! Helen drives! These photos can’t capture all of the change I’ve seen through the van window. The landscape has gone from...
Dinnertime in Turkey during Ramadan
During the month of Ramadan, Muslims fast between sunrise and sunset. As dusk starts to arrive, tables all over Trabzon fill up with soon-to-be patrons. The restaurants all serve either buffets or set menus. Sitting on the tables are bottles of water, a basket of...
Turkey & a burned-out clutch: Day 8, 9 & 10
By Robin EwingJuly 2013 Helen goes home and the family leg of the trip begins! Istanbul traffic is chaos. I had to navigate at a crawl the narrow, nearly vertical, cobblestone streets of the old city (there was one tense moment starting in first on a hill), constant...
Across Bulgaria: Day 7
By Robin EwingJuly, 2013 On the way to the Bulgarian border, I was pulled over by another Romanian policeman. He just wanted to know how much my car cost. After inspecting my license, he didn’t ask me, like the last policeman, if JR Ewing was really dead. We...
Romanian brake trouble and a lot of beer: Day 6
By Robin Ewing
During the 7-mile drive to Dracula’s castle, the brakes started making an ominous sound. So on the road to Bucharest, we pulled into a mechanic shop – no go. Then, we pulled into another mechanic shop and a bunch of men in overalls huddled around the wheels loudly sucking in their breath and saying things like “no safe” and “broke bad.” We kept going
