Interesting. A good friend of mine had Turkmenistan a clear last after her visit to the stans. IIRC due wider effect of oppressive regime.
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We have done a few visits to the Stans region but only the one trip into Turkmenistan mainly as Iâm not really into being forced on tours.
Yes they are fairly oppressive in some areas but we were freely allowed to walk the cities on our own and werenât watched 24/7 but you just need a tour to sponsor your visa and book hotels etc. The tour operators were great and I really enjoyed the scenery and some of the historic regions. I didnât find anything really overbearing there are such except around military or government buildings.
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Been on my list for a while, too. Assume youâve booked a group tour. Iâm not sure how practical (or even possible) independent travel is in those parts.
So youâre saying those $7.50-8.00 coffees I had in Oslo last year were an absolute bargain!
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Iâll be in Copenhagen/Oslo in October⌠bracing myself!
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Hope you like pizza/pasta! Anything further up the food chain is big $$$$. Definitely no alcohol.
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two of my brothers are traveling with us, and are both vegan - looks like vegie pizza/pasta will be their menu!
Sounds terrible 
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Yes on the first, through G Adventures. Had good experiences with them in the Arctic and Central America previously. Planning to add on a little bit of independent wandering prior/after.
And yep if you found a coffee for that equivalent over there itâs actually quite reasonable!
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We have hired rental cars in both Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, both very easy places to get round independently.
For Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan we have used a combo of drivers and tours.
Turkmenistan was tour only and that tour did the 5 Stanâs I mentioned above.
What time of year are you going? Most tours Iâve seen run roughly April-Sep.
Honestly donât know Iâd trust myself to drive in those places. My first preference is always train travel which I assume might be ⌠difficult.
Uzbekistan has a pretty decent rail network connecting the major cities. Both Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have some decent routes aswell.
I trust my driving better than some of the local drivers we have had who do 120 clicks in pitch black out in the middle of nowhere on roads that shouldnât even be called roads 
Fine as long as youâre staying only in the cities. Iâm assuming that some of the sites you referred to in the earlier post would not be easily accessible by train.
All within May, partly to fit with other life circumstances but also keen to avoid the peak summer and tourism season in the region
Some are outside the cities and you can hire a driver for the day or even take smaller group tours but in Uzbekistan for instance Tashkent is linked to Bukhara, Samarkand and Termez. Learning some basic Russian phrases and being able to read Cyrillic is very handy
@Aceman just about to book flights to Bali, and not flown Garuda for years and they were ok back then
Their business fares are cheaper than Virgin at present, are they better ?
Absolutely better. They are lie flat beds for starters.
Occasionally they run the older 2-2-2 business seats which are still fine but most are 1-2-1 business now. Food is good, seats comfy and just an all round better product as you also have lounge access.
Widebody aircraft also more toilets more roomy than a Virgin Airlines narrowbody
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Any thoughts on using Finnair to get to Europe?
What class?
Flew them to/from Scandinavia 8-10 years ago. Maybe theyâve lifted their game, but back then their economy seats were narrow, thin and uncomfortable, and their in-flight entertainment system was poor (very limited options). They were LONG flights (via HK if I recall correctlyâŚ)
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