© РИА Томск. Дария Землянова

No plan B: Tomsk students from Europe will return home on Lada

· РИА Томск

TOMSK, Jul 25 – RIA Tomsk. Cancellation of international flights - is not a hindrance to returning home. Foreign students who came to Tomsk from the Czech Republic, Italy and Poland, bought a VAZ-2106 (known as “shestyorka”) and without waiting for export flights go home to Europe on it. RIA Tomsk correspondent spoke with them about plans, fears and love for Russian cars.

Tomsk students from the far abroad received warnings from their countries in March with recommendations to return home. Despite this, some of them decided to stay in Tomsk until the end of the semester. Now that the restrictions associated with the coronavirus pandemic are gradually being lifted in Europe, many foreigners are returning home.

The interlocutors of RIA Tomsk Kuba Pavelek (Czech Republic) and Alessandra De Santis (Italy), who study exchange at Tomsk Polytechnic Institute, decided to do this in an unusual way. They are going to travel a distance of almost six thousand kilometers on VAZ-2106, which they bought in Tomsk.

Kuba from the Czech Republic and Alessandra from Italy© РИА Томск. Дария Землянова

How it all began

Even before arriving in Tomsk, Kuba, together with friends, bought a Lada in the Czech Republic. He has long wanted to buy a car in Russia, because it is much more profitable, but fearing difficulties with registration, he postponed this plan.

"Literally two days before I came here (to Tomsk), I spent a lot of money and bought one Lada in the Czech Republic, which is now in my friend's garage... We just met and started looking for Lada on the Internet for jokes, we found one and bought it almost immediately, it was a VAZ-2107. The original plan was this: I return to the Czech Republic in early June, finish repairing the car and drive it back to Tomsk", - says the student.

The idea of ​​traveling to Russia by car was developed together with Technical University of Ostrava, which in this way wanted to inspire more students from the Czech Republic to study exchange abroad: “In cooperation with the university, we had a plan that we would go to every country we visit along the way, there will be one of our partner universities. That was the plan at the beginning, but now all the universities are closed, and we do not want to endanger them".

Kuba Pavelek from the Czech Republic driving "shestyorka"© РИА Томск. Дария Землянова

"This can be fun"

According to the student, cars made in the USSR were popular in the Czech Republic during "socialist times." It was considered prestigious to have a Zhiguli or a Volga, while Kuba's father had a Moskvich in his youth.

Alessandra says she was initially skeptical about buying a car in Russia, but in the end the plan seemed attractive and the car was jointly purchased.

“I thought for a bit and said: okay, this can be fun - buying an old car and driving it home… During quarantine, Kuba showed me videos of Czech travelers buying old cars and taking trips in which the car breaks down every 20 minutes. So, I watched these videos and in the end I said: why not?", - says the Italian.

The car was named "Arkadia" in honor of Arkady Ivanov Street - it houses the dormitory of Tomsk Polytechnic University, where Alessandra and Kuba live.

VAZ-2106 named Arkadia© РИА Томск. Дария Землянова

Come to know the country better

The travelers plan to leave Tomsk on July 28 and spend about a month on their way across Russia. The plans are to visit friends in St. Petersburg and go hiking in the Urals. Together with Kuba and Alessandra, a student of Tomsk Pedagogical University from Poland Anya will go, she will also be taken home.

"It's more like this, for the sake of a joke, because the car is cheap and simple. And for us it's good, because if you drive in Russia, every mechanic in any workshop knows how to fix it, or you can fix it yourself with the help of a pair instruments, that's why we decided to take Lada. In addition, people say that it is impossible to travel on Lada, and we wanted to prove that it is possible", - says Kuba.

According to the student, he wants to get to know Russia better, and for this it is necessary to communicate with local residents. In his opinion, traveling in a local car will contribute to this: "If you have a local car, people will come up, ask why you have such a car, talk to you, and that was our goal".

Travel map from Tomsk to Ostrava (Czech Republic) by car© РИА Томск. Дария Землянова

The guys plan to reach Europe in September: "We will go towards Ukraine, to Kiev, and from Kiev - to Poland or Slovakia, depending on which borders are open", - Kuba shares his plans.

Another adventure

Among the participants of the trip there are experienced travelers: Anya often hitchhiked around Europe, Kuba traveled about 1000 kilometers across Thailand on a motorcycle and about 6000 kilometers across European countries by car. To get from Siberia to the Czech Republic on VAZ-2106 - is a challenge to himself and skeptical people around, another adventure in the piggy bank.

The guys admit that they don't have a plan B: "We have only one plan, we will stick to it and hopefully we will get there".

Students plan to share details about their trip on the Instagram page, as well as on the website. Posts and articles will be published in Czech and English.

Kuba Pavelek (Czech Republic) and Alessandra De Santis (Italy)© РИА Томск. Дария Землянова