Travel story includes a drive from Stockholm to the Russian capital in 2009    "Motorway" Moscow-Latvia   The journey went via ferry to Riga and then 100 miles of driving to the Russian capital. The roads in Latvia and Russia is definitely not Swedish standards. They are at times in very poor condition, the bob and bang so that you sometimes think that the wheels will fall off. We have invested hugely in improving roads in recent years so there are many stretches of fine new freeways but unfortunately also left some really bad pieces. In some sections going road works, but this only made matters worse, maximum 40 km / h on lousy dirt road. However, the closer to Moscow will be the better way and last 10 miles are highway. Most of the route goes through pure wilderness and no traffic.   We never spent the night on the road without stretching drove Riga - Moscow and the well where we live with my wife's parents. There are motels along the main roads in Russia. Some old people do not look so tempting me some are newly built and looks quite ok. Probably has the same standard as here at home but everything is expensive in Russia.   Checkpoints between Latvia and Russia   One problem is also to cross the border between Latvia and Russia. Queue when we arrived there were 4 km long and about three days for trucks and a few hundred meters and about 16 hours for passenger cars. But since we had our little daughter, 8 months, so let all past us so that we came first in the queue.   Most of the lines of Latvians who go over to fill up cheaply on the Russian side. Despite the friendly welcome from all did the bureaucracy and duplication of controls (one on each side of the border) it still took us three hours to get past.     Driving in Moscow   As for Moscow, so it differs not from running in any other large city. In Moscow, the traffic is intense. It may at times be very heavy traffic, but you avoid rush hour so it flows nicely. We had the car parked at the usual parking area in an apartment building during the three weeks we were in Moscow and it was both quiet and safe. They have a ring road with eight-lane in each direction in the capital. At peak times it is completely quiet in all the lanes ..   There were a number of equally fine and fancy cars in the parking lot of svärmorn as our jeep. New large SUVs are nothing unusual in this city, and the bigger the better. I noted that almost all the gasoline engine. The fuel is cheap (about gasoline. 4 SEK / l and diesel 4.50 / l), so it's just that the gas on.   I have previously been to Moscow several times and then always by air. This time we wanted to try to take the car, partly to make us more luggage (prams, etc.) and partly because it was a different type of travel and partly because we believe that it is easier for our daughter to go by car than to fly. It is conceivable that it will air next time, or so we take the car again. We are looking to travel by car from Tallinn and St. Petersburg to Moscow next year, we'll see.     Cops   When it comes to drinking and driving, it's nothing I have seen something of the Russian Federation but surely there is, there as here. However, I believe that the problem is much less than what many of us here believe. BAC limits are low, fine high and there are policemen in every village and street corner in Russia. I feel safe in Russia but was told that most of Moscow. How it is in smaller cities or in the countryside, I can not answer. Moscow is probably one of the safest cities to be in, not least because of the amount of armed police and guards everywhere. The ability to Russia is a clear advantage if you're going to go there even if you can do decent with English if you are in tourist areas.   General reasoning    I think many people in Sweden have an inaccurate and outdated picture of what life is like in Russia and the Russians have it. Many Swedes think even that it is more or less dangerous, or at least foolhardy, to go to Moscow with a car that I have done without problems. Since I have been in the country several times in recent years, I have another picture of the situation. That most of the money stays in the big cities and that revenues are lower for those living in rural areas, I claim both here and there.   Of course there are always individual exceptions to the rule. The Russians I met live and consume the same level and as we in Sweden. However, it is enough that those with the worst there has it worse than their counterparts in Sweden. The social safety net is not as generous, but what can you ask for in a country with 13 percent flat tax?