shallit@gargoyle.UChicago.UUCP (Jeff Shallit) (04/26/84)
I'm planning a bicycle trip through Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Poland this
summer and would like to hear about your experiences in this area.
I'm especially interested in hearing about things that went wrong, like
problems with visas, bike problems, language problems, difficulty finding
places to stay, or camping, or registering with the police, etc.
I've already been on two long bike tours through Western Europe, so I know
what to expect there... but I've never been in Eastern Europe.
Sorry if you've already seen a message like this one, but our VAX has
been down for the 8 days since I posted the first version of this message.
Thanks,
Jeff Shallit { ...!lbl-csam!oddjob!gargoyle!shallit }
or call
(312) 962-3496grt@hocda.UUCP (G.TOMASEVICH) (04/26/84)
I have traveled in Yugoslavia, which is not quite the same, since it is not part of the Soviet satellites. I speak some Serbo-Croatian, which helped a lot. Many of the people in those countries speak German, so that is a good language to know. Check with a Consular office on the country's visa requirement. Yugoslavia will issue one at the border; you just wait while they fill out some forms (yes, even they have discovered red tape :-)). Roads may vary from good to atrocious, and not necessarily what you would believe from reading the maps. Bike shops may be nearly impossible to find, though I expect it would be better in Poland and Czechoslovakia. They have the Peace Race every year, so there are plenty of competitive riders around. You could try asking Eddy Borysewicz, who is the United States Cycling Federation national coach; he defected from Poland. I think he lives near the training camp in Colorado Springs. George Tomasevich, AT&T Bell Laboratories