Russia…The Trans Siberian Railway ~ Friends Update!

Two of our friends, who follow my blog, responded with pictures of their adventure on the Trans Siberian Railroad. Sean and Lee are world travelers. They have done all of the continents and have been to every major points of interest in the world. Helen and I met them on our trip to New Zealand and Australia.

Trans Siberian Train

They did not travel the entire length of the railroad, but enough to get a flavor of this railroad. Sean said that the railroad schedule and times are very accurate. In one of the pictures, a kilometer/stone marker reads 5613, which I believe is 3,498.08 miles to Moscow. His comments on the train follows…


Does anybody read Russian?

I just read your blog. I think we told you that we took a short 8-hour ride on trans-Siberian train from Ulan Ude to Irkutsk in the Lake Baikal area early September last year. Our portion of the trip on the train schedule is highlighted in one of the pictures. The fall colors were beautiful. Since we did not stay overnight on the train, we did not use the blankets provided in the cabin. The bunk beds (4) in our cabin were reasonably comfortable, but no one in our group (total of 11) wanted to nap or sleep. I think there are "business class" 

Railroad Crossing...Rusian Style!

or "first class" cabins, but not sure. We had coffee in the diner car. Almost no locals went there to eat or drink due to the steep prices. There are hot water dispensers on the train and most locals brought a lot of food and drinks with them. The are also food vendors on the platform at most stops.
The only person we know who covered the entire route was a good friend of our younger daughter. She was between jobs and she decided to do it about six years ago. Not sure how her father would have let her do it as a single woman. As far we are concerned, I don't know if we can survive the entire length in our current physical conditions. By the way, the train was on-time almost to the minute all the way while we were on it. There are small "kilometer markers" along the way and the "railroad crossings" are quite interesting. I think you will enjoy the ride. I wish we would be able to visit as much of the world as these two Texan friends have. They say that they are running out of stamina, but after all, they have seen a majority of this expansive planet! They should be slowing down a little. Thanks for the information on the Trans Siberian Railroad. Oh yes, we have another friend “George” who is also running out of stamina. I am trying to convince him to travel a little more and also see this great planet!   That is what we plan to do and see!