Anyone planning Trans-Siberian Inter-rail trip from London

Winters being a tad cheap for travel in Europe and reading blogs of Trans-Siberian rail trip tempting me, checking if anyone else has been planning such a trip. Would be great to hear about such plans to get some inspiration/advise or join for a part of the trip.

No such thread for a long time so throwing up this topic.

Most people would post for Eastern Europe/Russia or like that for travelling on the Trans-Siberian....you may be in England and want to start the trip there but go to the forum for the destination...not the starting point.
If you use the Search function (top left of page) for Trans-Siberian you'll find other people who are discussing possible trips...and people who have posted in the past.
And at the heart of many good plans is this great website (if you haven't found it already)
http://www.seat61.com/Trans-Siberian.htm
Good luck.

We seriously considered travelling all the way from UK to Beijing by train but were then put off by the thought of the length of the journey and particularly across Russia when much of the trip would have been through forest. In the end we compromised by flying to Irkutsk for Lake Baikal and then caught the Trans Mongolian into Mongolia where we broke journey for a few days in Ulaan Baatar before catching a train to Beijing.

We talked to various travel companies about the journey and one recommended if wanting to do the full journey to start in Beijing as we would be recovering from jet lag on the way home.

Joining at Irkutsk meant we were breaking into a group of people who had become good friends since Moscow. There was a lot of card playing and drinking... The train (and restaurant) work on Moscow time. Crossing the borders is an experience. BE WARNED toilets are kept locked until you are well into the next country. This can be several hours... Going out of Russia our compartment and luggage was given a very good going over (more so than entering Russia). The visas of two young men on the train had expired a couple of days previously. They were frogged marched off the train, fined 2000 roubles and told they would have to go to Ulan Ide to get new visas before being allowed to leave Russia.

The crossing into China is interesting as the train has to be taken into the workshops as the rail gauge is different between Mongolia and China. The carriages are jacked up, bogies are removed and replaced with bogies for the Chinese gauge.

It was an epic journey and we really enjoyed it but I’m glad we only did part of it. We travelled end of April. I can imagine it will be a magical journey in winter although with limited day length.

My review can be found here:
http://www.silvertraveladvisor.com/review/specialist-holiday/148744-review-trans-mongolian-railway
The pictures for the stretch between Irkutsk and Mongolia are here:
http://wasleys.org.uk/Asia_websites/asia_08_mw/01_siberia/05_TransMongA/index.html

The pictures from Ulaan Baatar to the Chinese border begin here:
http://wasleys.org.uk/Asia_websites/asia_08_mw/02_mongolia/01_UB/image-html/IMGP6127.html

@wasleys incredible! thanks for sharing your account of the trip, some serious piece of advise I must say ;) I'd rather pan ahead and keep my feet on ground for the entire trip but can understand your point to break parts of the itinerary for flights. Researching more about the logistics now, thanks again for inspiring.

@sfgirl42 you've got a point. Being a newbie here, didn't think about that. Let me post in destination country's page. Have read seat61 already, nevertheless thanks for sharing.

There are plenty of places to break journey if only for 1-2 days. We traveled at the expensive ed of the market. We went first class between Irkutsk and Ulaan Baatar and second class (in a four beth compartment to ourselves). You can do it cheaper by booking in 'dormitory style' berths. This way you are more likely to travel with locals.

I have since found this website which you may find useful.
http://www.solobackpacker.com/2015/07/22/planning-a-trip-on-the-trans-siberian-railway-part-2-trains-coaches-and-berths/

Whoa, you have some serious wealth of experiences. I don't think I can be quite comfortable with locals when travelling solo and not knowing any bit of the language. Second class is what I thought originally too, will go through the link you posted now.

We cheated and got a travel agent to book the trip for us. Our knowledge of Russian runs to about ten words but it is amazing what you can achieve with a smile and signs. The ordinary Russian people are lovely.

runtothehills...you could ask a Mod to move this thread rather than write a new one...
either community@lonelyplanet.com OR...you can go to the original post, and open it...
to the right of the text there are symbols...if you click on the flag (bottom icon) it will open up a screen where you can comment....select Spam and on comment, write NOT Spam, please move thread to Eastern Europe or Russia (or wherever).

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