Beijing to London 2002 - FAQ
From Worldtraveller
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How long did the journey take?
A bit less than three weeks, including several days each in Moscow, Warsaw, Berlin and Paris. Could have done it in about 9 days if I'd wanted to go non-stop: 6 days from Beijing to Moscow, overnight from there to Warsaw, 6 hours to Berlin, overnight to Paris and then about 9 hours to get the train, ferry and train from Paris back to my house.
How much did it cost?
Total cost of the train tickets was about £280 - less than the cost of a one way flight from Heathrow to Beijing. But, visas etc bumped that up a lot, especially the Russian visa, which I had to sleep on the pavement outside the embassy to get hold of and then pay a horrifying sum of money for, just to add insult to injury.
Is six days on a train not just really boring?
I don't know how anyone could possibly claim so. No end of interesting stuff happening, from crossing borders, deserts, and steppes, rounding Lake Baikal and crossing the Ural Mountains, to playing cards in the dining carriage, socialising with fellow passengers and buying delicious snacks from locals at remote Siberian stations. When I arrived at Moscow I'd have loved to do another six days straight back to China.
Is the train comfortable?
Yep, nice enough, the so-called 'hard class' is pretty comfortable. A reasonable bed, hot water urn for hot drinks in every carriage, a restaurant car that served decent enough food, everything you need really. No showers, though, and be sure to tip the Russian restaurant people handsomely if you expect them to keep on serving you each time you go up to the restaurant car.
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Beijing to London 2002 / Maps / FAQ |
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Switzerland: Zurich. Beijing and around: Tiananmen Square / The Forbidden City / Jingshan Park / Tiantan Park / Wangfujing / Ancient Observatory / Central TV Tower / Beijing University campus / The Summer Palace / The Old Summer Palace / Fragrant Hills / Great Wall at Huanghua / Great Wall at Simatai / Qinhuangdao / Train out of China. Mongolia: Train through Mongolia. Russia: Train across Russia / Red Square / Around Red Square / Moscow Metro / VDNKh / General Moscow / Train out off Russia. Belarus: Train across Belarus. Poland: General Warsaw / Palace of Culture and Science / Train out of Poland. Germany: General Berlin / The Reichstag / Alexanderplatz / Train out of Germany. France: General Paris / Eiffel Tower / Across the Channel |
