Kutaisi West (UG26) - Tbilisi-Lochini (UGTB)
Something weird happened during this flight: Usually I am listening to local radio via radiogarden for increased immersion. Today I used a station in Gori / Georgia, which broadcasts in Georgian, so imagine my suprise as I suddenly heard a Russian news broadcaster. I googled the name of the show and found out that it was made by Radio Svoboda / Radio Liberty, an US broadcasting (some say propaganda) service in Eastern Europe / Central Asia which exists since the Cold War era.
Anyways, we took off from Kutaisi and continued eastwards past Sestaponi (1) and Gori (2) until we reached the Georgian capital of Tbilisi (3).
We stayed on ს1 (Kutaisi - Tbilisi) before circumventing the city on ს9 (Tbilisi - Tbilisi-Lochini Airport).
Tbilisi-Lochini (UGTB) - Naftalan (UBNA)
We arrived in Azerbaijan! Taking off from Tbilisi, we visited the town of Rustavi (1) before crossing the border at Qırmızı Körpü. Our route took us past the cities of Tovuz (2), Şəmkir (3) and Gəncə (4) to Naftalan in Central Azerbaijan.
Today we used the highways ს9 (Tbilisi-Lochini - Rustavi), ს4 (Rustavi - Qırmızı Körpü) and M2 (Qırmızı Körpü - Naftalan).
Naftalan (UBNA) - Sanqaçal (UBQO)
Well, we finish Stage 2 not directly in Baku, but at least within Baku District. Reason - to little fuel to reach the capital and it wouldn’t be much of a flight from Sanqaçal to the city itself. Therefore we’re crossing the Caspian Sea right here and continue in Turkmenbaşy.
Taking off from Naftalan we came across the city of Yevlax (1) before continuing through the beautiful landscape of Mərkəzi Aran (2) to Şirvan (3) and Ələt (4).
Using highway M2 (Naftalan - Sanqaçal) we arrived on the eastern shores of Azerbaijan.
Türkmenbaşy (UTAK) - Gyzilarbat (UT55)
Fun Fact - I know this country very well from an old project in 2021! I did one flight per province in Turkmenistan for an IG challenge back then. Anyways, we started in Türkmenbaşy (1) after crossing the Caspian Sea by ferry and ventured into the desert past Balkanabat (2) and Bereket (3) to Gyzilarbat (4).
Today we used Highway M37 (Türkmenbaşy - Gyzilarbat) to reach our destination.
Gyzilarbat (UT55) - Aşgabat (UTAA)
This was quite easy - no turns, no mountains, no surprises. Just a flat stretch of rural landscape between Gyzilarbat and the Turkmen capital of Aşgabat. On our way we passed the village of Bamy (1) as well as the town of Gökdepe (2) before reaching the outskirts of Aşgabat near Arkadag (3).
We stayed on Highway M37 (Gyzilarbat - Aşgabat) for the entire trip.
Aşgabat (UTAA) - Mary (UTAM)
Today we continued east towards the ancient metropolis of Mary / Merw. We took off from Aşgabat (1), following the Iranian border (2) to Duşak (3) before turning northeast to Tejen (4) and Mary (5).
We stayed on Highway M37 (Aşgabat - Mary) for the entire time.
Mary (UTAM) - Türkmenabat (UTAV)
With a final push through the desert we managed to cross the entirety of Turkmenistan! Taking off from Mary we visited Baýramaly (1) and crossed the Karakum Desert (2) to Türkmenabat (3) at the Uzbek border.
As usual we stayed on Highway M37 (Mary - Türkmenabat) for the entire time.
Türkmenabat (UTAV) - Qarshi (UTSK)
With our departure from Türkmenabat we officially left Turkmenistan. We crossed Amu Darya (1) north of the city before entering Uzbekistan. Visiting the city of Buxoro / Buchara (2) we continued across the plains and fields past Muborak (3) and Kosin (4) to Qarshi (5).
After using Highway M37 for our entire Central Asia Stage so far we finally left it at Buxoro and continued on Highway A380 (Buxoro - Qarshi).
