Tbilisi to Yerevan by bus: everything the flight won't teach you

The marshrutka leaves from Ortachala bus station, not the main terminal everyone's GPS sends them to. Show up by 8:30am. The fare is somewhere between 25 and 35 lari depending on who's selling the ticket and how much you look like you've done this before. Pay in lari. Don't negotiate aggressively — you're already getting the better end of this deal.

The border crossing at Sadakhlo is where people get anxious for no reason. Georgian side: they check your bag, they're not excited about you, they wave you through. Armenian side: slower, more deliberate, occasionally a full unpack if the officer is having an interesting morning. What they're actually looking for is cash over the declaration threshold and anything that reads as commercial quantity. One sealed bottle of chacha and a bag of walnuts — that's a gift. Twelve bottles — that's a conversation. Sit next to someone who has done this before. On my last crossing I sat next to Armen, a contractor from Vanadzor who goes back and forth twice a month and ate an entire bag of sunflower seeds without once looking concerned. That is the energy you want.

Bring USD and lari. ATMs exist on the Armenian side of the crossing but treat them as decorative until you reach Vanadzor. Every single one I've tried has had a card reader problem, a connection issue, or simply nothing in it. Change what you need before you leave Tbilisi. The flight is 45 minutes. It costs five times as much. You land at Zvartnots, you take an overpriced cab, and you know nothing about the country you just entered.