Patience! Discipline! Professionalism! Crossing into the World’s Most Isolated Country

Travelling is considered a luxury, and a privilege. With all the fun, new experiences and immersing into new lifestyles and customs, there comes with it challenges and logistics. One of those major hoops every traveller from any country has to deal with is crossing borders.

I have travelled the world and one thing that causes me the most anxiety, yet rewarding experience, about travel is waiting to and successfully crossing a border, into a new country.

Having grown accustomed to waiting in long (and sometimes short) queues and handing my passport over to immigration agents, it can be nerve racking when dealing with members of authority. People in these positions are often there for the purpose to make travellers uncomfortable.

Travelling through Central Asia was no different. Being a traveller from Canada with a Canadian passport is a rarity for immigration officials in the Stan countries. The good news is four of the five Stans (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan & Uzbekistan) are visa free for Canadian travellers.

Turkmenistan on the other hand is a completely different situation. No matter which country you are from and/or passport you carry, everyone is required to have a visa to enter. An organized tour is required to be able to enter Turkmenistan and a COVID-19 test was required at the border.

Having travelled across Central Asia with G Adventures, we experienced border crossings including an arduous land-border crossing from Tajikistan into Uzbekistan, requiring us to walk a full kilometre in scorching heat while carrying our bags.

I took a rapid Covid test in my hotel room prior to departing. Waiting what was the longest 10 minutes of my life, I tested negative, which provided relief and helped me mentally prepare for the Covid test at the border.

To ensure I was feeling relaxed, I made sure to use the bathroom and drink little water prior to leaving the hotel.

After finishing up in the small town of Khiva, Uzbekistan, we left around 9:30am local time for a one-hour drive to the border.

Due to government restrictions, photographs were prohibited at the border and I am writing this through the memory of my own experience. It would be the most arduous and rewarding crossing of my travel life.

It began with meeting our local guide, Serger, from G Adventures. We entered the border station to go through exit immigration in Uzbekistan. Putting my bags through an X-ray machine, I was asked by an immigration officer if I had a drone, to which I responded “no”.

Clearing our first passport check, we waited outside for the group and entered the 4km wide neutral zone where we had our first passport check by Turkmen border guards. We proceeded to board a small bus that drove us to the Turkmen border station.

Arriving at the border station, the group and I were in line awaiting to be called into a small office with a clerk and a medical nurse. I had proceeded to undergo my required PCR Covid test with a quick swab up my nose. I exited back into the main hallway to sign papers declaring the amount of cash (in USD) I would import into the country.

The next phase was being called by Serger to the immigration officers’ booths. This was nerve racking, yet, exciting since I was getting my visa imprinted on a whole page of my passport. Happy ending right!!! Not quite!!!

One X-ray machine was daunting. How about another one on the Turkmen side? All my bags had to go through once again and I was required to open them up for security officials to inspect. Surprisingly, the officials were polite and asked me where I was from, to which I responded “Canada”!!! The officer was so happy to hear a Canadian traveller was visiting Turkmenistan.

Clearing bag inspections, another border guard checked our passports and asked me a question, but didn’t speak English. It was awkward, but he probably wanted to pick my brain.

We exited the border station and awaited the group. Just steps away was the gateway to the tour bus and Turkmenistan. Only one more border guard stood there to provide the final passport check.

It was the moment of triumph. Handing my passport over to the officer, it was checked and handed back to me.

After an ordeal that took nearly two hours, I had finally done it!!!!! I made it across one of the world’s strictest borders. I had entered TURKMENISTAN!!!!! It was truly a relief!!!!!

Turkmenistan visa imprinted on my passport. One of the rarest and creatively designed visas for travellers to collect.

We entered a world where internet was censored, phone service outside was non-existent and there was no social media access. A group of locals awaited our arrival and greeted us with a warm welcome into Central Asia’s most isolated country.

Patience! Discipline! Professionalism! All these factors came into play to prepare me for crossing one of the world’s strictest borders. Learning to remain calm with lots of breathing and preparation allowed me to keep my anxiety down and mentally prepare me for the successful crossing into what would become the strangest, yet most unique country I have ever travelled.

My objective in Turkmenistan was to visit a site very few travellers get the opportunity to see. This made all the challenges and hurdles travelling across Central Asia and the two-hour border crossing completely worth while. It was a moment that shifted the trajectory of my travel life forever.