Ljubljana-Belgrade: Day 5

Today is a new day!  CIBT had sent an email with the tracking number of the passport, and the weather looks nice (no rain).  Things are actually working out.  Roman stopped by in the morning to see us off and suggest that we take the spare tires with us.  I figured I would put them on the back to see how it looked and felt.

The spares on the back...no tubes so a just-in-case packing

We loaded up and headed out to Obsession's office to wait for the passport.  The trip was moving forward.  Just after arriving we saw the DHL courier and finally received the passport!  After a quick lunch at a food stall on the river, we were off to Belgrade.  It was another long drive, but that 25 April deadline to arrive into Azerbaijan was looming over us.
We had two countries to cross over: Croatia and Serbia.  The boarder crossings were relatively easy.  HJ used his Dutch Identity card and I used my passport.  Upon seeing the passport, I needed to show documentation that the bike was actually registered to me. 

On the cold and wet Serbian E70 highway - just passed one of many tolls

The trip to Belgrade was long.  Again, we caught rain (cold rain - 5C) on the trip.  Luckily, on arriving into Belgrade, the rain had stopped just enough for us to find the center.  The not-so-trusty Tom Tom took us on a wild goose chase around the city until we asked some locals who showed us where we needed to go.

Fresh after a good night sleep - ready to hit the wet road to Sofia

Our friend Rok booked us a hotel in the center, Manjez Boutique Hotel.  The place was very nice and right in the middle of town.  Unfortunately, as with all the other amazing cities we stopped over in, we did not have time to properly enjoy the place.  After a quick dinner, we slept. 
The next morning was a D-Day morning for HJ and his passport.  We should have info about where his passport is.  When we awoke, CIBT had informed him that there was no visa for Turkmenistan but there was for Mongolia.  Our worst nightmare came true.  We lost about an hour and a half in the morning trying to sort it out.  There was nothing else we could do so we prepared the bikes and began the day's journey to Sofia.