Is it a plane or a spacecraft? (Image – Wikipedia) Still recovering from man flu, so some time to plan my trip to Moscow today. I have discovered that as well as “Star City”, it is also possible to visit the Central Air Force Museum, which is at the Gagarin Air Force Academy, 40 km outside of Moscow. From what I have read this place was totally off limits a few years ago, but you can now arrange a visit as long as you give 10 days notice, provide a copy of your passport and get “special permission”. I get […]
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My Leica D Lux – small, and perfect for photography on the go I woke this morning with a confirmed case of man flu (although I thought might be Congo fever at first!). It crossed my mind that I probably picked up the bug on the train last week, which in turn reminded me of “The Cassandra Crossing” (see my “Great Train Flicks” blog). Anyway, I’m trying to do something semi productive today, even though I would rather be in bed, so I’m going to talk about my camera. I gave up lugging a big camera on my travels decades ago. […]
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Trans-Siberian eating gear Back from a five hour train trip to London yesterday. Five hours seemed a fair while, so wondering how five days might feel, or two weeks? I don’t think its comparable as I didn’t have all my stuff, and lets face it, there is hardly much interaction with other passengers on the 13.00 East Coast service from Kings Cross! I thought you might like to see my small arsenal of eating irons. A minor Trans-Siberian packing point you might think, but not something I’m going to leave to chance. Left to right – Swiss Army ‘Climber” knife, […]
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I’m writing this blog on a moving train, so it’s a Toad first. I’m on the East Coast service from Edinburgh to London today, which will also be the start of my big trip as far as Newcastle as I am taking the boat from there to Amsterdam. So from the comfort of seat 31 in coach L, let me tell you about Mr Raymond.. I finally decided that I would get an agent to sort out my Beijing – Shanghai ticket, so I have got CTT based in Hong Kong on the case. The ticket has cost about £40 […]
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Preparing for blast off in Beijing (photo from Sydney Morning Herald) I loved the train information on the Beijing Travel website “Attendants on Beijing-Shanghai high speed train are aged 19 to 22 years with height above 165cm. All of these pretty girls have high education background with ability to speak both Chinese and English.” This sounds like my sort of train! The G (high speed) train looks quite different to the Trans-Siberian. Its going to cover the 1318 kilometres from Beijing South to Shanghai Hongqiao in 4 hours 48 minutes, travelling of speeds of up to 350 kmh. After a […]
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The magic key and cork – an unlikely combination? The only reason I discovered the existence of the “golden key” was when I started looking into how to open the window to my compartment if it got too hot. I understand that in the winter it can do owing to the Russian desire for a “toasty feel” to the carriage. Given I’m hoping not to share my first SV compartment with anyone, there should be no arguments and I’m hoping to secretly get some ventilation. Rumours are to be found in several travel blogs that the key to the windows, […]
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My shortlist of boots at attention on parade This post is a bit anoraky. Well actually its a bit booty.. Perfect for people sat in their homes thinking “Hang on, I’m off to Siberia next week, what shall I wear?”. More specifically – for footwear. Here is the challenge – what do you take when you know you are going to spend a few weeks on warm Chinese trains with occasional forays into freezing Siberian snow, and then a couple of weeks playing in the jungles and beaches of South East Asia? The answer is of course to pack several […]
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Best leave the Russian dolls in Moscow! I’m going to take some train orientated films with me on my iPad for the trip. I have had to shortlist my top train classics… 1) “Transiberian” (2008) – Brad Anderson’s film with Woody Harrelson and Ben Kingsley. The plot might go a bit wonky towards the end, but the recreation of the train and the scenery is stunning. 2) “Horror Express” (1972) – Spanish made film with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing on the Trans-Siberian – zombies, Telly Savalas and a cult classic in the making! 3) “Von Ryan’s Express” (1965) – […]
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Rations for Leg One – Amsterdam – Moscow I’m not convinced that I have enough food. My first journey is from Amsterdam to Moscow, two nights and one day. The train booking for the EN447 (D25/402) says that the attendant will sell “snacks” on board, but I have no idea what that means..or if there will be a samovar to provide boiling water (I’m not sure if you can eat a Pot Noodle without water?) Good coffee is a high priority for me, so I’m carrying a cheap plastic filter cone, unbleached papers and tinned ground coffee beans. You can […]
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My small collection of Trans-Siberian adaptors and cables I have spent quite a bit of time trying to find out what sort of power there will be on the train. It would seem that some of the more modern carriages are equipped with a socket in every compartment, whereas others have just one shared socket in the corridor for the purposes of hoovering, plus maybe one in the Provnitsa’s private quarters..hopefully for use with a small payment. My thinking is firstly to have a back up source of charging my devices (see my post this month on the fantastic Power […]
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