Reader's Story: How to cross the border during a pandemic?
The question of border crossing hangs heavily over Russians. Some want to return home, some can't imagine life without travel, some need to fly for business. There are many options, but little concrete information.
State authorities themselves don't really know the exact dates for lifting restrictions, as everything depends on the epidemiological situation. By the way, restrictions on air and land transport differ slightly. And if there was a clear ban on crossing the border by land, there was no air ban – it all came down to the absence of flights and the willingness of other countries to accept Russians. That is, it was possible to fly for work, study, medical treatment, or family reunification at various times.
Our reader Vita shared a story about how she recently crossed the Russian-Finnish border in a truck. IN A TRUCK, can you imagine? All because regular buses and trains are not running yet.
"Borders are closed, but that's no reason to cancel a trip to Russia to see family. I live in Finland, where I spent the quarantine. I waited a long time and hoped that the borders would open at least for those with dual citizenship, but no miracle happened.
In the end, my friend and I decided to go to Russia anyway. Due to border closures, there's no public transport at all, so if you don't have your own car, crossing the border is a real adventure. Yes, there are still people who travel between countries, but finding them is difficult.
Two weeks before the planned trip, we started looking for a transfer: we wrote to acquaintances and transport companies, even found a Telegram chat where people with similar situations discuss the Russia-Finland border situation. Then we started considering other options: on foot or by bicycle. In the end, we settled on the option of crossing the border in a truck! All that was left was to find a truck and somehow get to the border itself.
In Russia, I arranged with my parents that they would pick us up on the Russian side. And so it happened: a friend drove us to the border, dropped us off at the checkpoint, joked that he would pick us up in the evening, as we hadn't seen any cars at all on the way to the border.
It was a very hot day, and we were left standing by the highway with our suitcases, trying to hitch a ride. After 5 minutes, the first truck stopped. The man said he would only take one of us, and his colleague would pick up the second. He radioed that a girl needed to be picked up at the border. My friend left, and I stayed. It was funny that then 5 trucks drove by in a row, but no one stopped. I already thought I had been tricked, but then my truck also arrived. I climbed up with my large suitcase, and we set off.
At the Finnish border, everything was checked very thoroughly and for a long time, with many questions asked: where, why, and for what purpose. This was unexpected for me, as normally they only check the residence permit card and that's it. They made notes and let us go.
Then came the Russian border: there, a woman from Rospotrebnadzor immediately meets you, asks you to fill out an application, and agree to 14 days of isolation. 15 minutes later, we were already in Russia. Our trucks dropped us off at a gas station, where we then caught the next one, as our parents were far away.
We drove about 70 km with the driver: I was lying on the bed in the cabin the whole time. The funniest part of this trip was listening to the drivers' conversations with each other over the radios. They drive along the road and discuss every driver on the road with each other: who's doing well and who isn't.
The experience was amusing and not scary at all, as it seemed. At first, I was very scared to ride with truckers, as many consider them dangerous guys, but they turned out to be very kind people. To desperate Russians stuck in Finland, I now advise everyone in that Telegram chat to choose this transport option to Russia if there are no alternatives. And I still have the journey back to Finland."
