Thomas McMillan

Train

Unknown

14/01/2010

Route notes

We arrived in Irkutsk around Independence day which meant that the ticket office was closed for a extra day over the weekend. As we were short of time I paid an English speaking local to buy my train tickets although I had to go to the station with him. It was worth the extra cost as he got moved from one ticket desk to the other and there were a few travel options. After about an hour he got the tickets sorted just as they were closing up for the day.

A couple of days later we got on Train No.1 to start our 72 hour journey to Moscow. We were short of time so decided to do the whole journey in one go. We were in second class which meant that we were in a four birth compartment. Throughout the journey we had one cabin mate after another. All of them seemed to work in the oil industry. Communication was always difficult but fun as we spoke no Russian and they spoke no English but we got by with hand signals and drawings.

To be honest I was a little disappointed in the Trans-Siberian route, maybe it was because most of the other westerners were enjoying their retirement so the atmosphere on the train was a bit flat. The crappy food from the catering carriage did not help and the scenery is quite repetitive. But I’m glad I did it 72 hours straight on a train, that’s still an experience of a lifetime it gives you time to think about life in a different context as everything slows down! The train pulled into Moscow on time and we headed off to our hostel via the Metro. By the way if you’re going to get the Metro head to what looks like the underpass under the road. It took us a while to find it!

Tom McMillan
3 years ago