Overland with Kids

Andrew Unwell

We made good time to the Narva border, our final stop in Estonia. The border between Estonia and Russia is essentially a small river division between the two countries separated by a bridge you could walk across in just 5 minutes and where very old, huge fortified castles sit astride proudly on either side - incredibly close together, you feel you can almost touch both with outstretched hands. The river itself leads south into Lake Peipsi and north to the Gulf of Finland. On the Estonian side there is lots of history including an old town, plus a small sand beach area and a lovely park on the river banks vwhere we arrived to find many people (we presumed a mixture of locals and Ivangorodians alike) enjoying themselves in the hot sunny weather.

Andrew’s ear has been troubling him greatly (he has been suffering deafness in both ears for a few days - one of his ears also began to weep and he had been in pain on and off with the other). The problem began as far back as L’viv, Ukraine where we bought painkillers and ear drops and when this didn’t subside, we tried to get him help at a Poland hospital (close by the Lithunian border) only to be turned away. From here things started to get better but problems kicked in again while travelling through Estonia. Rather than book into a campsite outside of Narva, we headed straight into town and booked into a hotel - the view being to get Andrew some rest and to see a doctor before continuing our journey further.

We stayed at the Hotel Narva and paid 70 Euros for one night for all of us which included internet, English TV and buffet breakfast.  It was also located right by the border.

Visit to Hospital

With the help of Elena at the hotel who could speak very good English, she arranged for Andrew to go to hospital the next day and also accompanied him as his narrator. Elena was brilliant - thank you Elena!

We had to pay for the hospital visit itself but it wasn’t expensive and worth every penny as Andrew finally got seen, The hospital and staff were excellent and very efficient - Andrew was diagnosed and prescribed ear drops and anti-biotics without problem for an imflammed ear infection which had somehow been triggered by his nose. A common problem apparently but he should have more detailed checks at some stage. Andrew is much better now though still recovering - a relief all round for all of us..

Narva Border Controls

Narva border is very busy with cars crossing - it can sometimes take anything from 24-hours to approx 2-3 days - mainly with Estonians taking advantage of the cheaper fuel prices on the other side. It didn’t look busy when we arrived but at around midnight, we suddenly thought given the delays that if we wanted to cross the border the following day, we’d better get our queue tickets to be able to book in properly from the Service LN station located on the other side of town without delay.

At the Service LN we could see a huge queue of lorry drivers lined up waiting to cross so no problem identifying where to find the ticket area. We discovered, since the middle of this year that a fee has been introduced - we paid approx 20 Euros for our ticket. Only 6 cars per hour can cross at a time and this may account for the lesser queue we had seen (we also read via the internet that Estonians can now check their queue time electronically via the internet if they want to avoid paying the fee - we think - not absolutely clear on this) or maybe it was just the time of night or time of year because, as soon as be bought our ticket - we were surprised to be told to ‘go now’ to the border queue i.e. midnight. After a bit of a panic and a discussion between ourselves - we even went to the border queue to hand in our ticket and prepare to cross - but then screwed our heads on and decided that it would be madness - we had booked and paid for the hotel, the children were tired (AJ had already fallen asleep in the car) and Andrew needed the doctor the next morning.  We approached the offical at the border queue and asked if we could cancel and go the following day instead.  We were cancelled off the queuing system without problem but were advised we would need to return to the Service LN station back on the other side of town also to inform them. At the Service LN we had no issues and the man in the booth made the arrangements for us for the following day, keeping our ticket valid for us without having to repay - we were cancelled off the ‘go now’ queue - phew! All we would need to do was to visit the Service LN station again the folllowing day after hospital to re-collect ticket and be booked back on again. On this note, we went to bed.

Once in the queue, the border crossing process at Narva is a slow process - anything from 2-4 hours and with Andrew the way he was and until he had been to the hospital, we decided not to rush ourselves. Andrew went to hospital around 11am and we checked out of the hotel following breakfast at the same time. We got Andrew his prescription, relaxed, ate lunch and made some car insurance enquiries on the Narva side (no luck though we later suspected a company we saw called ERGO in big bright red letters could possibly have helped us if we asked). After allowing plenty of time for Andrew’s anti-biotics and ear drops to kick-in, at 3pm we visited the Service LN station and were in the queue by 3.15pm.

Following checks on the Estonian side we were then pushed through a very robust and organised process on the Russian side. We were issued and required to fill in migration paperwork and a vehicle owner’s customs declaration form in duplicate. The Russian officials were very thorough and helpful and we didn’t have any issues. The children busied themselves chatting and having fun practising their Russian phrases on the nearest Estonian-Russian travellers they could find, even trying their luck on the officials which raised some smiles.  On crossing, we obtained car insurance from Ergo immediately on the Russian side - a small hut just to left as you pass the final customs barrier (blink and you’ll miss it - you have to look out for it as soon as you cross the barrier). By 7pm we were in Russia proper with a “woohooooo!” from all of us which quickly changed to a “no way!” as the boiling hot sunshine and clear blue skies suddenly changed to black clouds and pouring rain.

In Ivangorod, we were greeted by huge big Communist blocks of flats and a big industrial plant. We had a quick recce of our route deciding whether to head straight for historic St Petersburg or further  northward to the Solovetsky Islands (aka Solovki) near Finland for a few days to see the famous remote Gulag Archipelago - now a flourishing monastery but once one of the USSR’s cruellest and most remotest prison camps created by Stalin. Prisoners at this famous and eerie Gulag were kept in intolerable conditions and tortured or kiilled at will. Decisions, decisions but as it was getting late and pouring with rain, we headed in the general direction of St Petersburg, opting to make our minds up later……………..

Diary (Blog)