Now the real adventure is about to begin: the trip in the antique Soviet UAZ combat minibus. We had been planning it for a long time, the road trip – or rather the “shopping” tour – to Russia. My friend Uli recently got a UAZ, which he got his hands on in Slovakia. The Ulyanovsky Avtomobilny Zavod car brand is, for some strange reason, unknown to western car enthusiasts, but the car has potential. On the other side of the Iron Curtain, you constantly see the small “lunch boxes (Buchanka)” with their practical four-wheel drive driving around.

The engine and the structure of the car are incredibly simple and, above all, easy to replace. Just right for Uli’s big plans, just like for me. In a travel forum we found out that we both share the same big dream. So we’re going to start making preparations and I’m trying to help Uli convert the UAZ as much and as often as I can – as is possible given the distance from Düsseldorf to Fürstenfeldbruck.

In September we will be ready for the first maiden tour. There are still many parts to be acquired, which does not seem to be easy in our western hemisphere. So we will probably have to drive across the border – deep into the “dangerous post-Soviet zone” to stock up on parts.

So we make a plan to put the good UAZ to its first test: a trip to Saint Petersburg!

The Plan

The Reality

I drive back to Uli in Fürstenfeldbruck with all my luggage so that we can set off from there together. We load our things and stock up on spare parts, tools and provisions in the cold, pouring rain. We also need new oil, as we lost a lot of it on our first trip due to a leaky oil filter.

It is already afternoon when we set off and visit Uli’s parents for dinner. After that we drive for a while in the dark before setting up camp for the night in a forest – we sleep in the car because it is still pouring with rain outside.

The next day it happens. We start the day a little cold, but strengthened by tea and biscuits, and set about finding the source of an annoying tapping noise that had been bothering us the day before.

Is there a ticking noise in the engine?

After some tests, Uli realized that this noise had nothing to do with loose fuel lines, but was coming from the engine. He diagnosed that the machine only had a short lifespan and we decided to drive back. The trip to Russia could no longer go ahead like this.

We manage another ten kilometers before the engine explodes. The lack of oil the day before must have damaged parts of a cylinder. In the end, we only managed about a hundred kilometers with the UAZ. The ADAC takes us back home and we suddenly have… time!

We have a few weeks of vacation left and we can decide where we want to travel. My suggestion is to take a flight and start our road trip somewhere locally with a rented car. The question is where. The whole world is open to us. Whether it’s Australia or South America, we can set off immediately.

The world is literally open to us right now!

I’ve always had in mind to travel to the Caucasus and suggested a trip there. Uli has already been there once, but he likes the idea because he really liked the region. And he says he has friends in the Russian Caucasus that we can visit.

We also have Russian visas in our pockets. We decide to fly to Saint Petersburg – which we originally wanted to visit – and from there fly via Moscow to Vladikavkaz, the city in the North Caucasus, somehow get to Tbilisi and from there travel through Georgia and Armenia in a rented off-road vehicle. That’s the plan we developed in one day and which we now want to implement…