Our Trans-Siberian journey began in Vladivostok with 7 stops before arriving in St. Petersburg. Without stops, this journey takes 6-7 days. For us, we would be living in Russia for 28 days.

Vladivostok to St. Petersburg is approximately 9700 kilometers (~6000 miles).

Arranging the Trip

To kick off talking about the Trans-Siberian, this blog post is dedicated to talking about our first 66 hours from Vladivostok to Ulan-Ude. The picture above shows our train schedule, which was arranged by Real Russia. They did not pay me to say this - they were amazing! As my friends know, I can be a bit… controlling… about traveling. I started getting the idea in my head that I would book the entire train ride via the local Russian website using Google Translate. It is significantly cheaper, but the cons are that well, the website is in Russian, the trains are published in Moscow time (so you need to be great at time zone conversion), and all your tickets themselves will then also be in Russian. If any issues came up, we would have to buy new tickets as well. So I went with Real Russia which had great customer service: giving advice on how long to stay in each place, what we were missing out on, and complimentary providing us with the visa sponsorship letter that you need to get! Let’s not get into how to get a Russian visa here.. let’s just say.. you need to make sure you get that done in advance as soon as you know your exact arrival and departure dates. Our total train ticket cost was $2,650.66. This included a mixture of first class (for overnight trips) and third class (for daytime trips). I will do a separate blog about how much Russia cost us for those interested. Thank you Alla and Anastasia at Real Russia for all your help!

Arriving at the Train Station

We arrived at the train station about over 90 minutes early as we didn’t know what to expect. There is a security machine at the front entrance and then we were in a large room with many other people waiting for trains. The board was in Russian (as expected) so we spent some time sorting out how to read it. The key is just figuring out what track your train will be on, but it was pretty obvious to us (phew!). Even so, we always made sure to get to the station 45 minutes early just to get our bearings as every station is different, with some being much larger than others.

Because Vladivostok is where this particular train originates, it was already there and we were able to get on an hour before it was leaving. It was 8:30PM and departure was scheduled for 9:52PM. Ian looks very happy in above photo here as we aren’t yet fatigued by carrying suitcases and bags up and down many flights of stairs at every train station (note: they do not have elevators/escalators in almost every Trans- Siberian station stop).

66 Hours in First Class

We were sleeping in the first class cabin during this part of the trip (third class was booked for our day trips). The Provodnitsa (female attendant) asked for our passports and checked us in using her portable electronic machine. She didn’t need to see our tickets at this point (but you do need it printed to show later). Our cabin was quite nice and we quickly settled in. Suitcases were placed up top in the storage area and we had some shelf space above our beds.

Most of the time during these three days was spent playing mobile games on my phone, reading kindle, staring out the window or just napping. It was a great wind down given we both had been busy the few months prior packing up our lives and finishing up work in Hong Kong. Ian caught up on podcasts and spent some time in the dining car as you can’t buy beer and bring it back into the cabin – everything has to be in that car.

Toilets are very clean in first class, mostly because there are just less people (9 cabins = 18 people) and the Provodnitsa is using the same toilets as you. Piece of advice: Use the one near her as that will always be cleaner than the one further away. She was really kind to us and let Ian wash our cutlery in her sink area.

Food in the dining car is quite expensive and just not very good - it is better to bring alternatives even if you aren’t on a budget. For example, we bought cup noodles, and then added porcetta and tomatoes into it (purchased at the Sportivnaya market). Pretty gourmet huh? You can also buy cup potatoes, where you just add hot water and it mixes into delicious mashed potatoes. Hot water is readily available on the train – so make use of it! We had a large thermos that we would fill up - this cooked the cup noodles, making tea…. and making coffee!

Some of my former work colleagues (Thanks Amanda, Pansy, and Peony) bought Ian a portable espresso maker and it was fantastic. A slight arm work out to pump the coffee out, but such a perfect way to have nice coffee while on the road. He uses it almost every morning now!

If you do end up eating in the dining car, keep in mind that most dishes on the menu will be unavailable. It gets to the point where the waitress will just tell you what she does have. Then, it could take 10 minutes to be served, 1.5 hours, or possibly not at all (this happened to Ian on a later train). Either way, be flexible and just enjoy the experience.

You will definitely go to the dining car though if you are craving a cold beer. In fact, you are NOT ALLOWED to be drinking alcohol anywhere else on the train. As much as we read about how people do it, they have become much stricter on the trains and we even heard from a friend that someone was forced to leave the train by the security due to being drunk. In first class, we could hide some vodka and wine and drink it behind closed doors, but anything cold? Buy and drink in the dining car.

As a semi-related fact, we had a bottle of red wine from our Hong Kong stash but after drinking only 1 cup, I was quite drunk. Not sure if it was too much fresh Siberian air or the train moving, after that, I was sober for all the train rides. Ian enjoyed having Russian vodka straight up room temperature - we recommend you try it!

Of the beers Ian tried on the train, his favorite is KOPOHA (pronounced like the Corona beer). It is the center brown bottle with the green and white label.

There were stops in small towns during our journey and we used these to stretch our legs as well as make purchases from the babushkas (Russian elderly women) who were selling various items on station platforms. Have some cash ready and be adventurous! We bought pastries, pickled cabbage, and even a chicken drumstick (yes, it was delicious!). We were able to see what time each stop was (and for how long) via Real Russia’s website. You will get cabin fever from being on the train so long and it is nice to get off just to stretch your legs.

Here is a photo from one stop around 8:00PM where we became mesmerized by the sunset.

About an hour before we reached our destination, we started packing up. I read online the importance of leaving your cabin as neat as you found it. So we made sure to fold up the blankets and sheets and throw out any and all garbage. Treat the place with respect and the Provodnitsas will appreciate it.