Thorn Tree travel forum

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Hi Bizu,

My bf and I did the same trip a couple of years ago......the whole challenge for us being doing it without using tour guides and/or tour operator bought tickets. We arranged all of our tickets through train stations personally.

We didn't choose stops or dates in advance, would simply decide where we wanted to go next, rock up to the train station, spend anything from one hour to three hours queueing and trying to make ourselves and what we wanted understood (more fun than it sounds actually!), and then go from there.

It was brilliant!

I can highly recommend the Trans-Siberian book by Bryn Thomas (I think that's his name)....there's a great section in this book that shows you how to write what ticket, what class, destination etc in Cyrillic, which made buying tickets a hell of a lot easier.

Have a great time!

Red

2

Legally everything in Russia must be preplanned. That said there are ways to do it without planning every detail in advance.

PLEASE read all the links in my signature line and then get back with specific additional questions.

25 days in a fair amount of time but really about 6 weeks is necesssary to do the trip justice. Figure 25-30 days in Russia, 7-10 days in Mongolia and 4-5 days in Beijing.

Remember that just the train non stop from Moscow to Beijing takes 7 days. Once you make stops in takes longer. Once you want to see something other than the city in which the train arrives, it takes time ot organize and get out of town.

Ruth

First check: Everbrite's travel pages, the New RU sticky,and New RU train sticky

Since I have taken the time to answer your question, it would be nice if you took the time to respond as to whether the information was helpful.

3

Dear Ruth and Red,
Thank you so much for you help,
Sorry for taking long to respond... Unfortunately, I still have to keep up with my job instead of focusing totally in this dream trip.

Ruth, I'm amazed with the amount of information you placed in those links!!! Thank you a lot!!! I printed it all and I will come back to you with more detailed questions!!!

Cheers,
Bizu

4

There's a whole page in the Lonely Planet Russia guidebook, with a sample ticket & how to decypher it. The language section of the same publication was adequate for the cyrillic alphabet & most simple words & phrrases, but lacked the words 'now' & 'next'. (I kept getting tickets 3 days in advance, when I wanted the next avaialble same day bus or train).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrillic_alphabet

............. III\\//III
........... o @@ o
----- o00o-(_)-o00o-----

5

hi I am planning a trip next July/August myself. I have both the Bryn Thomas guide mentioned above and the Lonely Planet Guide specifically on the Trans-Siberian Railway. It also includes the Trans-Mongolian, Trans-Manchurian & BAM railways. Haven't had a chance to check them out properly yet, but so far I have found Bryn Thomas Guide really good for detail.
Sue