Russia Questions

senordingdong

So me and a few heads are gonna go to Moscow next summer for a few days.
Then we're going to make the trip to Vladivostok on the trans-Siberian railway.

Has anybody else ever done this?
Because any background information would be greatly appreaciated.

aviendha

Did the TransMongolian last April from Moscow to Beijing, and shared with 2 Russians. As it's quite a long journey in close quarters, I would recommend:

1. Bring photos of your family, photos/ postcards of Ireland etc for conversation points, and as Russians regularly carry their own personal photographs for "Show and Tell"

2. Books/music - self-explanatory, it's a long journey

3. Noodles, lots of noodles, and some 3-in-1 coffee/milk/sugar sachets that you just add water to, from the samovar.

4. Vodka - bring relatively-good quality vodka, as you wouldn't use the stuff they sell on the train to strip walls with. Oh, on that note, the selling of alcohol on the platforms during the journey is prohibibted, but the provenidska (carriage attendent) has a sneaky fridge full of beer and vodka, and is delighted to make a few extra roubles by selling them to tourists. Beer's good, Vodka's bad.

5. Cards - bring cards to ease the boredom, but be warned, if someone tries to teach you a game called "Mothers" and they don't have a lot of English to explain it to you, JUST SAY NO!!!! It can haunt you for the rest of the journey, if you get a particularly enthusiastic Russian player!

6. Russian phrasebook if you can get it - Russians are enthusiastic to get to know you, but they need a little help, so it would be invaluable for communication.

That's all I can think of at the minute... of course, if you are going on one of the trips like Vodka Train, where you believe you will be sharing with other westerners, you can amend the above tips where appropriate...

It's a great trip - Good Luck

senordingdong

Thanks alot for all that.

I still have a few questions though.
Some of the lads want to go in March becasue they reckon it will be much more expensive in the summer. Do you have any info or helpful links to explain fares etc...

Also, we plan to hop on and off the train, to visit some towns and was hoping someone had some info or experience to share in this.

sparkulicous

Check out this website www.seat61.com. It has everything you need to know about the trans siberia railway. Was planing on doing it myself but new job got in the way so it's posponed for a while.

Also i'd be careful about when you go as, as you know the russian winter can get VERY cold. A friend of my brother done it and came home with some very funny stories of tongue's and other part's of the body parts stuck to the train window's.

senordingdong

Yeah I checked out seat61.
Very helpful.
Thanks all.