Sunday, 16 August 2026

 

Start: Vitebsk (BY) 7:15

Arrival: Moscow (RU) 17:40

 

Total: 569 km

 

 

Dark thoughts beget a sleepless night. Would we get car insurance at the Schengen-like border between Belarus and Russia? Would the border checks take forever and leave us driving through the night? Worst of all: would we find our hotel in this city of 14 million people? So many unhelpful worries. At 7 o'clock, I decided I'd tossed and turned long enough, we might as well get up and get going.

 

I'd become so obsessed with the idea that we would have trouble getting OSAGO (car insurance) at the border, that I insisted on making a detour south, to enter Russia via the main M1 Minsk-Moscow corridor. 30 km before the border, we filled up on petrol. Shortly after, we spotted several booths advertising car insurance for Russia. Ten minutes later, we were all set and ready for Russia. What a relief. I hopped back into the car, drove on, and spotted the next couple of booths. And the next. A veritable flood of insurance agents, touting their wares. Enough to provide the whole of Europe with Russian car insurance. We had just wasted an hour making a totally unnecessary detour!

 

 

 

In no time, we reached the border. There were maybe twenty cars in front of us. The Russians and the Belarusians had to open their trunks, a perfunctory glance inside and they were sent on their way. Two minutes later, it was our turn. "Please park to the side and wait." This was to be expected. At least we were the only ones being singled out, so we would not have to wait long.

 

 

A border employee told me to step into a container booth. Ah, so this was the "interview" that I'd read about online. "Please sit down," a young man said in Russian, leafing through my passport. I took a seat and shot an annoyed look at the air conditioner blasting icy air straight into my face. "Too much?" he asked me. "Huh?" I was a bit nervous. What did he mean? I'd forgotten every single word of Russian I'd ever known. "Is it blowing too strongly?" he repeated slowly but a wee bit testy. I shook my head. Better not start this conversation by being difficult. He looked at my passport again, then at the AC and switched it off. "What is your name?" he asked sternly. Luckily, I was able to remember that much. After a couple more questions about what I was doing for a living, where I wanted to go and why, about last year's trip to Kaliningrad (What did you do there? Good question. What indeed? Visited the city, I'd answered. How lame was that? I probably sounded like a nitwit), he handed me our documents. "You can go." "Shall I go get my sister?" I asked, as Sonia had stayed in the car. He shook his head. "The car inspection? Someone will come and check?" He again shook his head. "Have a safe trip." "We can drive?" He nodded. That was quick. I hopped out of the container and returned to the car.

 

"We can drive?" Sonia asked, when I returned. I nodded. "He asked about where we are going. I should have given him the link to my site," I said, while I steered the car onto the highway. "Damn, why do I always think of these things when it's too late?"

 

No use crying over spilt milk. It was 10:30 and we were in Russia! The whole border thing had taken about an hour. It really had not seemed that long. Now for the last 450 km to Moscow. Time enough to fact-check some rumours from the net.

 

The FSB will check your phone. Myth. Well, at least they didn't check mine. I'd proactively put it on the table between us, but the interviewer had not even glanced at it. Come to think of it, I could have shown him the pictures we'd taken at the Yantar museum in Kaliningrad last year. And the one of me eating that yummy cake at the seaside. Might have made me look a tiny bit less lame. Or not.

 

 

The roads in Russia are bad. Well, depends on what you call bad. I had not expected quite as many potholes on the main highway from Minsk to Moscow, but Russia is a huge country with comparatively few people and it's hard too keep hundreds of thousands of kilometers of tarmac in great condition, especially considering the harsh winters. There are roadworks going on everywhere, so there's that.

 

Russia's gas stations have no petrol. Sadly, this is a Fact in August 2026. We passed dozens of gas stations on our way, many closed, others with only diesel on sale. Maybe a handful were selling any petrol at all, and there were very long lines. We had not expected it to be quite so bad. Why oh why had we not bought an LPG car!

 

No Coca Cola because of the sanctions. Myth. About 120 km from our destination, when we reached Moscow Oblast, we stopped at a small minimarket to get something to drink. They had Coke, Pepsi, all colours of Red Bull (yep, I bought one), Crunchips, Twix and a hundred other European brands on sale.

 

 

 

Moscow traffic is crazy. Myth. Against all expectations, I enjoyed driving in Moscow so much! The ring of Piter had been a lot more stressful and gridlocked. But then today was Sunday, so it might be worse on a weekday. Moscovites are fast, speed cameras do not seem to deter them too much, and they adore line weaving. I can live with all that. Maybe I'm a Moskvich at heart.

 

GPS is scrambled. Jury's out. Not permanently, in any case. Yandex Maps worked like a charm offline. We only lost connection very briefly twice, unfortunately just about when we should have made a right onto the Third Ring. I'd prepared so much for this and now we were heading for the city centre after all! Just what I had wanted to avoid at all costs! But Yandex Maps (and of course my greatest of all sisters) guided me safely onto the inner city ring, the Garden Ring, and from there, without one wrong turn, to our hotel.

 

In retrospect, I'm so glad we missed the entrance to the Third Ring. Gave us the chance to experience the city's large stately boulevards, its generous overpasses, the sprawling landmarks and highrises. Man muss es erfahren um es zu erleben. I loved every moment of it.

 

 

And yet, when we turned onto Olympiyskiy Boulevard and our hotel came into view, I could have cried of tiredness and relief. After an almost sleepless night followed by almost ten hours straight driving, my energy reserves were at an end. Sonia managed the check-in and I just sat down in the lobby and let it sink in. We're in Moscow! Right inside the city - and I drove us here!