London to Russia by train

	London to Russia by train The first part of my journey was fairly straight forward; by rail from Peterborough, Cambridgeshire to London Goodbye, Westminster. Next Stop: The Kremlin.
The first part of my journey was fairly straight forward; by rail from Peterborough, Cambridgeshire to London. At London I had to catch another train from Liverpool Street station to Harwich, for a boat to the Hook of Holland. This part of the journey had been arranged for me by British Rail as part of the London to Moscow ticket which I had purchased from them, at a cost of £170.00. The only other item that I had purchased was my ticket for the Trans-Siberian Express, which was going to depart Moscow in 5 days time, destination Beijing in China, and the bit in between was to happen as and when it did. I had a room booked in Moscow for when I arrived there, though I thought I might sleep in the train station for the first night to save some money. I knew that the Trans-Siberian journey would last around 6 days, by which time I would be in China, from there I was going to try to see as much of the country as I could while making my way to Hong Kong by train, bus, boat, or maybe even a cycle, I was going to have to wait and see. 6th December (Day1) The day started at the unearthly time of 5.15am when the alarm went off. Michelle, my girlfriend, had stayed overnight, and I was pleased to wake up with her that morning as it would be a couple of months until we could be together again. Because it was winter, the central heating and water pipes may freeze up, so I had to make provisions to ensure my house would be safe while I was away. I had to set the central heating timer so that the system came on a couple of times a day, just to keep the house above freezing. Then it was just a matter of getting everything together, and checking my back-pack to ensure that I had everything. To be perfectly honest I thought that I had too much in it, but my theory was that I could always send things home or throw them away if I did not require them, but at least I was going to ’be prepared’, (Once a Boy Scout, always a Boy Scout!) At around 6.00am Michelle and I headed over to my parents home so that I could leave my car with them, as they would be able to keep an eye on it. We had a cup of coffee and a chat about my plans and of course Mother was a little worried, and I have to admit, secretly, so was I! Then it was off to catch the first of many trains, this one from Peterborough to Kings Cross London. Michelle took me to the train station to see me off, and I think we were both a little quiet towards each other. I was feeling sad to be leaving her behind, but within, I had the most amazing feeling of adventure bubbling away. What were the next few months going to be like? would the planned routes work out? It could all fall apart in the next hour, if the train was to breakdown in a tunnel on-route to London. I found it very hard to say goodbye, the train had pulled onto the platform and was waiting with open doors for me. We gave each other one last kiss and with a lump in my throat, I turned away in the direction of the station platform, the thought most on my mind was, will she still be here for me when I return? The train departed on time at 7.00am and I was off! Still feeling apprehensive about even getting to the port in time for the ferry. This was my first time on the new electric train now running between Peterborough and London, and I have to admit I was very impressed, it was very quiet and smooth. The train arrived at 7.50am into Kings Cross station and I headed for the underground railway to travel to Liverpool Street station for the next train. I had an hour or two to kill when I arrived so I grabbed some breakfast and had a cup of coffee. I had decided that today I was going to stop smoking once and for all, the next couple of months were certainly going to be a break from my normal routine, so that should help me to stop. Just to make sure I went to the chemist to get some "Stoppers" which are small tablets/sweets that you suck on when you feel the need for a cigarette, then the purified nicotine is supposed to take away the craving, just to be on the safe side I bought three packets! At around 9.20am I arrived at platform number ten for the train to Harwich, and as I reached the platform there was, without warning, a huge commotion. Police appeared from all directions shouting "Get onto the trains or leave the station at once!" Everyone began to push towards the train and no sooner was I aboard, than it jerked away from the platform. I only just made it! It transpired that there was an IRA bomb scare, and getting everyone onto the trains speedily was the quickest way of clearing the station. I dread to think what would have happened if I had not made it to the train before it pulled away. I would have missed the boat to Holland and then of course my train to Moscow. I eventually got settled into the journey and got chatting to a girl who was sitting opposite, or rather she started to chat to me as she spotted my ’Lonely Planet’ guide to China. It transpired that she had been to China a few years back so we had lots to chat about, and I tried to pick her brains as much as I could about what I should expect. She said something that I have heard said before, she hated China while she was there but missed it when she left, I wondered if I would feel the same? Her name was Emma and she was currently living in Holland with her boyfriend and was going home to be with him. We arrived in Harwich and went straight to the boat ramp and passed through Passport Control and onto the boat, which was a lot bigger than I had imagined. At 11.30am we were under way and heading out of the port and across the North Sea towards Holland. I really enjoyed the crossing and Emma’s company, we talked constantly over a few beers and then went to the cinema to see ’The Commitments’ (which I had already seen) but it was good to see once more. The boat was very plush and had a casino and shops and I suppose just about everything else on board one could wish for. At around 7.30pm we arrived in Holland and I had to try to find my next train which would take me through the night and onto Moscow. Lucky for me Emma had done the journey many times and knew her way around the station, and after buying her ticket we discovered that we were on the same train, or rather being pulled along by the same engine. At the end of a row of shiny Dutch carriages were a couple of dirty shabby carriages one of which just so happened to be going to Russia! and the other was going to Czechoslovakia. I got into my carriage and showed the conductor my ticket and passport and had the first real shock of the journey. The conductor escorted me to my compartment and I have to say it was a little bit disappointing to say the least. It was very dull and dimly lit by small electric light bulbs, and looked very shabby and old. This included the seat covers, pillow cases and bed sheets, my immediate thoughts were, was this just a taste of what was yet to come! The train pulled away at 8.00pm and I went for a walk along the corridor, only to discover that the door between my car and the Dutch cars were locked, so I guessed I would not be saying goodbye to Emma then! I went back to my compartment and sat there. I have to admit the condition of the compartment and the car in general was a big shock, I don’t think I had anticipated being so far away from home so soon. I appeared to be locked in a time warp, here I was being whisked through the modern country of Holland, in a train carriage built many years ago. At 9.00pm I had a really nice surprise as Hildegard, a friend of mine, was at the railway station at Utrecht to meet me and wish me ’Bon Voyage’! We had of course arranged the meeting but it was still brilliant to see her. I think she understood exactly how I was feeling about the state of the compartment, as she had done the journey herself a couple of years ago. Hildegard gave me a large plastic carrier bag stuffed with ’goodies’ as well as the every day essentials such as toilet paper etc. As I have already mentioned she had done this part of my journey and therefore knew what I would require along the way. We chatted for around fifteen minutes before I had to leave. Then the Russian guard had a laugh with Hildegard, and tried to pull her onto the train, It was good to see that he had a sense of humour. After the train left I returned to my compartment and got ready for an early night and checked out my bag of goodies that Hildegard gave to me. She had travelled about ½ hour to meet me for just those few minutes, something that I really did appreciate. I got into my sleeping bag and went to sleep almost immediately, however I kept waking up with the bumps and bangs of the train, it was certainly different from the new electric trains that British Rail operate!!! I was woken up at around 10.30pm by two people who joined me in the compartment for the night, as soon as they were settled and had turned off the light, I drifted off back to sleep. 7th December (Day Two) After struggling to fall asleep initially, I ended up sleeping until I was woken by the Polish border guards at around 10.00am. They checked to see that my visa was correct and up to date then stamped my passport. After all the checks had been completed, the carriage that we were in was removed from the current train and connected to another for the remainder of the journey. This I found to be rather amusing as back in England one would have to get off the train at some cold station and wait for the connection, whereas here they brought the connection to you! At around 11.00am I finally dragged myself out of bed as the temperature inside the carriage had got so hot I could not bear to be in my sleeping bag any longer. I got myself dressed and put on just a ’T’ shirt and jeans, it was so hot I could not tolerate anything on my feet. After the initial shyness of my companions, they finally spoke to me in English which was a total surprise, as I’d made repeated efforts to communicate with them, and judging by the blank expression on their faces I honestly thought they could not understand a single word that I had said to them! It transpired that they were from Estonia and had been on holiday to Holland, and we actually had a good conversation about life in our respective countries. I found it hard to talk about the good things too much as they gave me the impression that life back home was very hard indeed. They told me that in Amsterdam they had seen Bananas in the shops and other ’exotic’ fruits like that! What could I say to them? I just tried not to rub it in that we have a better standard of living than they do. I’ve always wondered why they did not speak to me at first, when they turned out to be very pleasant people? The rest of the day was spent quietly with plenty of reading and forward planning, to prepare me for the next part of the journey. I have always liked to read as much as possible about the places that I will be visiting, after all, I probably will never be there again, so it is best not miss anything whilst I have the chance to experience it. Michelle had bought me a digital diary. It was great fun trying to work out how to programme information into it. I had decided to use it as much as possible to keep track of my movements, so that when I eventually had a chance to write about my travels, the records would be accurate. By 2.00pm I had noticed that the weather outside was getting colder, that was obvious by the amount of snow on the ground, however, the sky was perfectly clear and the sun was streaming in through the windows of our compartment, and this made the temperature inside very hot, in fact too hot for comfort. At around 4.15pm the train pulled into Warsaw railway station and there was a chance to get off the train for the first time and stretch my legs. I was told the train would remain there for about half an hour which would give me time to look around and maybe take a few pictures. It was dark outside with not much to see so I went into the station which was a very damp, dowdy old fashioned type of building but was an experience to see all the same. Walking around I saw people lying asleep on the hot water pipes, that were fixed to the wall at one end of the building, and there were many people just hanging around, most appeared to have come inside to get out of the cold. I walked around the upper floor and came across money being changed on the black market, this was something that I had not seen before. The people looked very drab and their clothes were colourless except for the girls. They all stood out in the crowd as they were all dressed nicely and wore lots of make-up (a bit too much for my liking), anyway it was interesting to see that in what were obviously difficult times, the girls were able to make the best of them selves. Then I had a bit of a shock to the system (Although I was able to laugh about it after wards. After twenty minutes I figured I had better head back to my platform and get onto the train however, I found the correct platform but there was no bloody train! My first thought were just sheer panic! I was positive the guard told me half an hour, or maybe they had said that so that they could steal my belongings, all these thoughts were going through my head. I decided the best thing to do was just to try and calm down and not look as if I was lost, suddenly a Japanese guy came up some stairs and he too had that look of sheer panic (it was good to know I was not going to be alone) even though he did not speak any English. We stood there for a few minutes and then, out of the darkness came a train which was shunted back to the platform where we stood. We both laughed and heaved a sigh of relief as it appeared to have been taken away to have some carriages removed and some new ones added. What a relief!!! My two travelling companions were to get off the train during the night at their station, so we said goodbye to one another before going to bed. My bed was the top of three, therefore I would not be disturbed when they left although I was worried about my back-pack, as it would be far too easy to just pick it up and get off the train with it. I guess it is hard to trust complete strangers all the time, but I could have certainly had a lot worse companions if I had been unlucky. So there I was fast asleep dreaming away when suddenly we were all woken up by the Russian border guards. We all had to get up and fill out the required documents to state where we had been, where we were going, were we would be staying, (when did you last go to the toilet!! etc.) Once this had all been written out, the border guards took my passport and disappeared with it, something that I did not like at all. I had no idea how long they would keep it for or how long we would be at the border. The time by now was 9.30pm and a very curious thing started to happen to the train. The gauge of the train track is different to that of the rest of the world, or at least Europe so the wheels have to be changed to accommodate the Russian track gauge, very bizarre! Each car is disconnected from the train and then shunted into a huge shed for the operation to take place, huge hydraulic rams lift the carriage high into the air so that the old bogies could be removed. The lifting gear was very smooth and at first it was hard to tell that we were going up but the banging and clanking that followed made sure that we knew something was going on. Inside the sheds all around the walls, were huge posters in Russian that obviously had some sort of communist propaganda slogans on, but as they were all written in Russian it was impossible to understand them. The entire operation took about two and a half hours, I honestly could not believe that they would go to so much trouble, surely it would have been much better to have shouted "Everyone off" and have a second train ready with the correct size bogies for the onward journey. Once the carriages had all been reconnected to the train, the armed Border Guards appeared again with our passports and set about inspecting our compartment under the seats and on top of the luggage rack. Now this was something I had never experienced before, and it was very intimidating to say the least. All the guards were very serious about their work and very efficient in the way they carried it out, I got the impression that they were used to catching people trying to get out of the country, and here I was trying to get in!!! Once they had returned my passport and the excitement subsided, the train was soon under way again, rocking, banging, and clanking along the track and it was back to bed to try and get some sleep.