Czech and Slovak cyclists headed to Tokyo pass through Georgia
By Mariam Chanishvili
Wednesday, March 11
Two cyclists from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Jakub Dvorsky and Stefan Vasas decided to go from Greece to Japan, passing through 13 countries. They recently passed Georgia and went to Azerbaijan through Rustavi.
According to the cyclists, this is a journey from Europe to Asia, which includes surprising culture changes. The route also includes Turkey, Iran, Uzbekistan, Russia, Mongolia, China & Turkmenistan which are currently under the rule of authoritative governments.
Jakub and Stefan noted that they are using their savings to finance this journey. The trip consists of approximately 180 days, 16.000 km, covering 13 countries.
“Roller coaster of the last few days. We spent the last few days in Tbilisi with the plan of obtaining visas to Turkmenistan after our plan A, going through Iran fell in pieces due to the virus situation. We made it to the city on Friday, with the plan of visiting the embassy on Monday as Monday and Friday are the only days you can apply for a visa. Unfortunately, the embassy was closed as the country celebrated Women's day. We were a bit down, but hopeful as we had a meeting at the Czech Embassy a few hours later. The guys from the embassy were really helpful and they arranged a meeting for us for today (Tuesday) at 3 pm. So we left our accommodation around 1 pm with the plan of obtaining the documents needed and headed to the embassy. We managed to get the papers quickly, and sat down for a coffee when I got a call at 14:45 from the embassy saying that Turkmenistan just closed all its borders. So Iran is not happening, Turkmenistan is not happening. Time to come up with a plan C,” the cyclists wrote on their Instagram page.
