Two off-roaders with six people inside were taken up to the air by helicopters from the shore of the Golden Horn Bay and transferred across the ocean to Alaska.
The idea of the project, covered by RIA Novosti as its media sponsor, is to draw attention to Russian culture and to find the "Russian trace" in the world's history, architecture, traditions, settlements, scientific and geographic research.
The participants are to cross Russia, North America and South America, Europe and come back to Vladivostok on the same date, International Women's Day, in 2008.
The first lap of the expedition will be North America (April 24-May 7). The team will go through the west coast to Canada, then to the U.S., and Mexico.
Then they will go to South America and Europe. Their final destination will be Russia - from Murmansk and back to Vladivostok, more than 17,000 kilometers (10,564 miles) across the country.
