Driving the Trans-Siberian: The Ultimate Road Trip Across Russia

by Chris Raven, Simon Raven

Ever had the desire to simply jump in the car and keep driving, to wave goodbye to routine and commitment, to drive into the unknown with your arm out of the window hungry for adventure! Well, that is precisely what twin brothers and UK authors, Simon Raven and Chris Raven decided to do whilst stacking boxes of frozen oven chips in a minus 30degreeC freezer. With a squeaky foot pump and an SAS Survival Guide, the brothers fired up their rusty GBP300 Ford Sierra and headed east. Not being petrol heads and having very little knowledge of the internal combustion engine, with luck they hoped to reach Poland and maybe even the Baltic State of Estonia - where lived, according to legend, the most beautiful girls on the planet. After driving for six weeks and clocking up over 11,000 miles, quite literally living in the car, they miraculously arrived in the Far Eastern city of Vladivostok in Siberia on the Sea of Japan. What they had in fact done was to drive the entire length of the amazing new Amur Highway before it was finished, which crosses Russia in a 6,200 mile swath of cracked tarmac and potholes. Along the way our trusty heroes drink vodka with Chechen criminals, escape highway robbery, trade banana flavoured condoms with Russian cops, meet the eccentric and plain weird at truck stops in darkest Siberia, endure torturous road conditions and have a race to the finish with the Germans. Surviving this journey by the skin of their teeth, the brothers are forced to confront their worst fears in this toe-curling comedy that is both gripping and surreal.

163 pages, Paperback

First published June 22, 2006

Reviews

[Frida · Rating 5 out of 5]

How funny to see the cover of the original version! The first edition of this book was roughly edited and distributed to tourists across Thailand. I bought the new edition in London in 2015. A classic tale of how it feels to go it alone.

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I cannot quite come to recommend this book as most people would, I think, feel the authors are a couple of goofs. While they are goofs, these twenty-somethings who endeavor to drive from the UK to Vladivostok in a beat up Ford they purchased for 300 pounds touches the hearts of some of us with a diehard travel bug. If you're one of us, buckle up and enjoy the ride.

[Frida · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book in Thailand in 2006. It was roughly edited but the story led me to travel all over Russia. I bought the new 2015 edition a few years ago and I had to smile at the brothers persistence. A truly great journey that captures the spirit of adventure.