Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Landscape Photography Locations => Topic started by: stefanie_ch on January 27, 2005, 12:52:02 pm
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I traveled to Russia for more than ten years and lived there temporarily.
If you go there the first time it's better to look for something guided. In Moscow it's possible to find people on the street that speak English (no problem in better hotels), but in Petersburg it's quite unlikely, also are all streetsigns labeled only cyrillic. Don't even think about renting a car, if police stops you your Russian has to be very good. Nevertheless, Petersburg is an absolute gorgeous town, fell in love with it at the first sight. Definitely worth a trip.
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Thanks so much,,,About rent a camper I don't think I will like the idea...My wife and I travel for 2 years over Europe/Asia
in some other place..We camp all over and eat one night out.
After that we cook every night...I just like to take a shower a list one a day.
Stefanie, thanks we are not going to rent a car over there.
what other way to spend two weeks and go around you recomends?
BlasR
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Blas
Re Iceland: Rent a 4 X 4! Don't even consider a regular car since you will miss many of the best locations which are *only* accessible with a 4 x 4. (the rental companies now make you sign an undertaking that you will not take a regular rental car on many of the unpaved & mountain roads) Take a light tent & sleeping bags and also use farmhouse 'sleeping-bag' accommodation; it is less expensive, generally clean, will have showers and often the only alternative to camping or sleeping in your car. Have fun and forget about sleeping too much!
Best
Chris S
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My wife and I are going to Iceland/Russia in June...I was reading Michael's post about Iceland,,,but it's from 2002,,,I was looking to rent a 4 wheel drive for 2 weeks in Iceland, but was quoted a price of $3000.00 dollars
We planned on traveling in each country for 2 weeks. We are going to be camping. We would prefer to do this with accommodations for showers and toilets if possible.
In Iceland, to rent a 4 wheel drive vehicle costs too much money. Do any of you know if the road is ok to drive a car vs. a 4x4 vehicle?
What about russia? I think we're going to be in hotel over there, I hold US passport and my wife is American..I think Americans are not so welcomed in this country. Any advice for Russia?
Thank You so much
BlasR
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Hi
I was In Iceland in 2001 and it is possible to get a 4x4 camper for less than that (approx 1200 USD a week incl 1200km) - check
J&S Car-Rental
Laekjarsmari 6
IS-200 Kopavogur
Iceland
Tel. + 354 564 6000
Fax + 354 564 6001
http://www.randburg.com/is/camper/index.asp (http://www.randburg.com/is/camper/index.asp)
We had opted for the two door nissan - two beds - perfect for two. The space behind the two seats was perfect to store camera gear during driving. Here it was safe/dry and perfectly accessible. Prices were approx. 100'000 ISK or 1150 USD for a week and 1200 km. The advantage of the fold up roof is low point of gravity during driving, therefore it is possible to cross rivers and use cat 3 pistes. No toilet but good gas heating. Very basic, but who needs more? We did the same Michael proposed later - eat out at gas stations but we did not take camping gear / tents and slept in the car - very comfy, heated and dry and less stuff to take along (only sleeping bag). I have no experience with the bigger cars.
The guys of J&S are very friendly. We overrun the limited mileage (100km per day) by 500km. A bottle of baileys cut the price per additional mile in half :-) - highly recommended. As for the route we decided (since we only had a week) to stay in the sw - se area (most eastern point was jokull sarlon). We first went to see the geysirs and then cut directly (piste) to landamannaugar and then direct (piste) to join the coastal highway. Those days and nights on these in-country (very bad roads) were phantastic for taking pictures.
highly recommeded!
Don't expect hotels to be a cheap alternative. The prices are horrendous and there aren't any to begin with (except in the agglomerations). By far the best way (and the cheapest) is to rent a 4x4 camping car that can accomodate 2 people and luggage
For what its worth
Cheers
Peter
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Quite long for just one town. How about a roundtrip? Petersburg, Moscow, maybe something with a river ship...
I've seen lots of American tourists in Russia, but can't tell you with whom they were traveling. I'd contact an experienced travelagency, but I don't know about any in the US, I'm from Switzerland.
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Thank You, so much....
BlasR