Hitchhiking Sweden to Vietnam

[OskarHladisch]

Hey guys!

Do any of you have any experience hitchhiking Europe, Middle east, Asia in the last 6 months? I'm thinking of hitchhiking from Sweden to Vietnam, starting in July. But I haven't traveled for a while and I'm not really that updated on the status regarding Covid in most countries. Are borders open, but also is it a lot harder to get picked up while hitchhiking?

Also i'm aware of the Russia/Ukraine war and I we can't know it plays out. But i'm curious what you guys think about it. I guess I would be going through Turkey, Iran, Pakistan etc.

Any experience or thoughts in general about a trip like this, during 2022?

 

[Tony Pro]

If you want to avoid Russia, I believe it's possible to travel from Armenia to Kyrgyzstan by boat. Not sure if it's hitchable though.
If you're Swedish you can probably get a visa for Iran with no problem. Pakistan opened up to tourists in 2019 but maybe that's changed now.
The major problem I think it would be very difficult or impossible to go through China. Last I researched, independent travel through western China was technically illegal but possible. But that was before the Xinjiang controversy and the virus.
Yunnan and Szechuan have always been very open to tourists, so normally I would say get to India, then up through Tibet, into Yunnan and down into Vietnam. But those border crossings might be impossible now.

 

[ali]

China is completely closed to tourists right now. There is no chance to get in, or probably even get a visa. They still haven't given up on their zero COVID policy. Even if you could somehow get a visa that would allow you in, you will be in quarantine for 3 weeks, and face many restrictions on movement inside the country.

I moved out of the country early on during the pandemic, but i have heard from people still living there that the restrictions are harsher now than they were during the original lockdowns, if you are in a city with a serious outbreak (which by Chinese standards means >5 people in the entire city who have COVID). You must install the local health apps on your phone for every city you visit (difficult to do as a foreigner unless you speak Chinese and live/travel in a region where the apps support foreigner regirstration) and they will track you everywhere you go. When one single case of COVID is detected in the same building where you are, the entire building will be locked down. People have been left homeless because their building got locked down while they were at work, or vice versa, they can no longer get to work because their office or the neighborhood around their office got locked down. This isn't the weak-ass western so-called "lockdowns", this is literally armed police erecting barriers and checkpoints on the streets. Quarantines and travel bans are also still in effect even for travel inside the country, depending on which region you are coming from or going to. It's really not great right now.

It might be useful to check the Kayak travel restrictions page. After you pick your current country, other countries that are pretty much closed completely are colored in red: https://www.kayak.com/travel-restrictions right now it looks like you won't be able to get past the China/Myanmar section. Maybe you will have to fly India to Thailand.

That said, about a month ago a huge chunk of Asia was red, no matter what origin country you chose. Now it's slowly becoming orange. I am very interested to see what China decides to do going forward, if they will continue to isolate themselves even after the other countries in the region opened up. Looking at that map over the past year or so it really struck home how widespread xenophobic policy is, especially in Asia.

 

[dudesosick]

If you want to avoid Russia, I believe it's possible to travel from Armenia to Kyrgyzstan by boat. Not sure if it's hitchable though.

Unless you have a visa already, you'll HAVE to avoid Russia. They aren't issuing out in many countries now. If you do have a visa, hitching in Russia is very easy and rewarding.
Armenia & Kyrgyzstan are both landlocked, so no chance of a boat. There is a cargo ship that goes from Azerbaijan to Turkmenistan (another visa nightmare) and sometimes to Kazakhstan, no problems there