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Dec 31, 2011

day 72 - Imatra to Vyborg

Day 72
September 12th

The last morning in Finland was spent with careful preparations. Our unusual travel group would surely get some attention at the border and things are much easier when carrying the right documents. After breakfast and filing, we said goodbye to our hosts and moved on, scheduled to meet Boris just before the border.


Coming to the border crossing, we all stood in line, a pack of bikes jamming up the traffic. We were barely controlled exiting Finland, then proceeded to no man's land, quick stop for nature calls and then on to the Russian side.


Separated from Boris at the border control, we all took care of our paperwork, while Boris got checked at customs. We'd heard some horror stories about the checkpoints, but nothing scary came to be. Customs check included, we made it across in less than 2 hours.


Before resuming our journey, we got some rubles on our hands and realized communication would be much more interesting, since the phones weren't working properly, and when they did, they left us bankrupt. Having established contact with our local guides, we headed to Vyborg.


We met our guides from the Fixed Gear community from St P, who took us to the hotel in Vyborg. Again faced with language barriers, we made our point anyway and got installed in time for a next pizza and push-up dinner in town.


We've crossed the border and we're so close to our goal...

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