You will find that you will probably be travelling nearly every weekend when in Georgia. There is a lot to see, and well, you will find that the friends you make in training are placed a fair distance away from you. So, whether you are travelling to another village or to the city, you will find that you will be needing to make use of the marshrutkas that run between almost everywhere.
Marshrutkas are mini bus taxis which are always an interesting experience. They tend to be crammed full of people (not overloaded, but there is not much space inside them). The catch with getting a marshrutka is that you need to be able to read Georgian in order to know where it is headed. They have a sign on the front window, with writing that is approximately 15cm in height. You need to be able to, in most cases, see this writing coming towards you at about 100km an hour and translate it, so you can stop it before it passes you. You have about 15 seconds in which to do all of this, so it can be a bit tricky, but generally, there are always people around at the marshrutka stop who will help you.
Once on the marshrutka, you will find that you will be stared at a lot but eventually people lose interest. However, you should expect, that more often than not, people will attempt to make conversation with you. They will very quickly guess that you are an English teacher, and they will even share their travelling food with you. I had the good fortune of getting on a marshrutka in Tbilisi, and sitting next to a man, who went and bought me a soft drink, a packet of crisps, and some chewing gum. That's just what these people are like. They always want to take care of you. It can be overwhelming, but mostly, I think it is just really a great way of getting to know Georgians and their culture.
Prices for marshrutka journeys can vary, from less than 1GEL to about 30GEL (which will get you from Tbilisi to Yerevan in Armenia) so it is a fairly inexpensive way to travel. The prices are set and are usually typed out and stuck on the front of the mini bus (on the inside) so they will not try and overcharge you. Although inexpensive, the driving is creative a lot of the time, but there are very few reports of accidents and having travelled almost exclusively in marshrutkas, I can say that it is as safe a way to travel as any.
Taxis are another option, which can be pretty expensive, unless there are a number of you. In taxis, you need to barter for a price before you go anywhere. Often you will barter the price down and find that you have still been grossly overcharged. Mostly taxi drivers are out to make money off foreign people so expect to be ripped off (unless your bargaining skills are top-notch).
The other inexpensive way to travel long distance is by train. There are a number of night trains that run across the country and you can travel in 2nd class from Tbilisi to Batumi for 23GEL. Second class consists of cabins with 4 “beds” per cabin. So ideally what you would want to do, for safety's sake in these situations is ensure there are 4 of you travelling together, or spend the extra money and buy all 4 tickets.
It is very easy and fairly inexpensive to travel around Georgia and I would definitely encourage it. It is a marvellous country with many diverse attractions to offer. Don't let the fear of public transport put you off. It’s really just part of the adventure.
Brigid Weir
Footprints’ Teacher in Sagarejo, Kakheti region, Georgia
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