Vanessa's Globetrooper News Feed

Vanessa Daniel - that's an awesome trip! I went to Central Asia in 2008 for 2 months and Tajikistan was my favourite place (Kyrgyzstan was close second!). You can find local guides in the Fan Mountains and Pamirs to take you over some of the mountain passes. Although you need a bit of Russian, tajik or pomiri to get by - we found out our poor grasp of Russian meant we'd agreed to scale down the other side of a pass on scree rock / cliff without ropes! It's a popular place for cyclists, although when we were in in Tajikistan most of the roads were unsealed or in really bad condition - except for in the Pamirs because of the trade route (they were in the middle of building sealed roads when we were there, so it's probably fine now). I'll keep an eye on your trip - I'd love to join, but not sure if the dates suit me. :) Vanessa

Vanessa Hi Lauren - I can't make it (wish I could!) - but have travelled through that area (couple of years ago now...'06/'07).
When I was there trains were infrequent and ran only between some major towns - but the bus system was really good (private minivans too) - I don't think you'll get value from a rail pass.
Had trouble finding out how to travel south from Montenegro to Albania as only private buses were running the route (which seem to have random pick-up/drop-off spots) - so I went the other way from Greece - Albania - Montenegro which somehow seemed better organised (i.e I found a way!). Things keep changing there though and if you have time then there's always a way!
Anyway that's my 2 cents worth...
Hope you have a great trip! :) Vanessa