* Trans-Siberian *

Hi,

i was looking to travel from London through Europe to Moscow - from Which take the Trans-Siberian through to Bejing!

i've had mixed opinions about the Journey.
some say its a great experience, you meet loads of other people etc -
but then the other opinions are that its too cold/unsafe and boring!
(boring you would expect!)

i was just looking for some advice an opinions if anyone has anything!
that would be great!

thanks,
Jennie.

Although I would find the route interesting, I would not enjoy it if I just stayed on the same train, with mostly the same people, for the entire journey. It would feel, to me, like staying in a really small motel room in a very, very small town, with different movies playing all day long on a drive-in theater out the window. I would really prefer to take the route, but get off at several interesting places for a day or two and then get back on the next train.

I did this a few years ago on my way to study in China. It was brilliant but definitely make sure you get off the trains loads. I stopped in Warsaw, St Petersburg, Moscow, Irkutsk and Ulaan Bator but If i had had time I would have stopped more often and for longer. I did it in a month as I had to get to Beijing for the beginning of term, but I would recommend longer as we had to rush through most of the places we stopped at.

I just finished the transiberian and mongolian train to bejing in july. cold sounds good as it was really hot that time of year adn some of the windows did not open./ i went with intrepid travel and they did a good job. this was a budget trip. there might be better trains than we took. the train stays full so you may very well be rooming with someone who speaks limitedenglish. the russian people were extremely, kind, helpful and humorous however. bring a good book three of them. bring music. you can get off and get food at some stops. this can be fun and bring some at the start of the trip. never could figure out the schedule of the dining room. it was hot as hell anyway.there is hot water for soup, coffee of tea. we had no showers. the bathrooms close one half hour before and after a stop.
the top berth is good as yoy can loounge around all day in privacy and if your windows open, it is coolest up there. i only had four days straight on the train. got off at irkust, lake baikel we did a homestay, a yert in monogolia, hostel in ulaan bataar. love the person you travel with. it was one of the best things i have done, but i would not do it again.

I took the trans-siberian from Moscow to Ulaan Baatar in early July this year. I thoroughly enjoyed it- met some great people, read a lot, knit a scarf (and taught 2 of my fellow travellers to knit!), enjoyed the scenery. I will be going home by same route next spring and will probably stop off a few times on that trip- Lake Baikal is supposed to be amazing, any season.
My main motivation for going by train rather than flying was to reduce CO2 emissions- global warming is a serious issue, a flight from Moscow to Beijing emits about 2 tons of CO2 or .33 of a ton of Carbon into the atmosphere (per person if plane is full) Travelling by the Trans-Siberian railway would reduce that 10-fold. Think about it!