Zone travels

I took more than 15 trips to Chernobyl to research Wormwood Forest, and usually drove my 1998 Nissan Maxima to save money (hiring a zone car and driver costs about $15 an hour). Since zone visitors have to be escorted at all times and I was without an escort in the 20 minutes it takes to get from the checkpoint to Chernobylinterinform’s offices, I was technically violating the rules. But I was such a frequent visitor, I was allowed to be unattended for that short period.