One week to go

So one week to go, and this time next week I'll be on the Trans-Siberian Express steaming away from Moscow and towards the wilds of Siberia and beyond. I'll be far away from blackberries, work emails, phone calls that I have to take, meetings that I have to be at, people that I have to see and all the associated 21st century first world stresses that go along with that

Instead my whole world is going to revolve around this :




(Start from the bottom of the picture and work up, I'm on train K4 on the right hand side of the picture).

Meals, drinks, socialising, everything will be based around "how far are we away from the next stop" where you will have the chance to get off the train for 20-30 mins to stretch your legs and buy some goodies on the platform.
How else will I occupy my time ?

1. I hope to catch up on my reading. I've been struggling though Hemmingway's "For Whom The Bell Tolls" for ages now. Hemmingway's writing style is definitely one where you need silence and no distractions to focus on what he's writing, so this is a good opportunity. I've also got Tolstoy's "War And Peace" which I want to try and make a bash at (where else can you read War And Peace but on the Trans-Siberian Express!), and when that fails and my head starts to hurt (notice the "when" rather than "if"!), I have some Bill Leckie and Paul Theroux light-heartedness to fall back on.

2. Movies & TV shows on my iPad. The joy of the modern age is that you can have a movie night anytime you want, so the iPad is loaded up with some of my favourites - The Shawshank Redemption, Castaway, Seven Years in Tibet, and of course a couple of series of Still Game and The Inbetweeners when I need a good laugh.

3. The bar/buffet car. I'll be spending a bit of my time in my cabin doing the above, but you'll go stir crazy if you stay in there so I'll no doubt split my time between my cabin and here :




I will bring some odds and sods with me (bread, cheese, cold meat, cup-a-soups, cereal bars etc), but I'll certainly have at least one meal a day in the buffet car. Its supposed to be not bad fayre, US$10-$15 a main course, $2 a beer, and I can't wait to try out the Russian champagne at $5 a bottle. Should be stimulating stuff (!)

Its not going to be the Orient Express or anything, but it'll be the heart and soul of the social life on the train. September is mid-season, so it shouldn't be carnage busy or too quiet either.

How will I keep in contact with back home ? Megafon, the Russian mobile phone company, promise 87% coverage along the route so I'll pick up one of their SIM cards in Moscow. They promise 6 GB of data for 660 roubles (about £12), so hopefully the signal will be strong enough to keep the blog going.

I haven't been able to get a Mongolian SIM card (no idea if you can even get coverage in the middle of the Gobi Desert!), but I have acquired a China Telecom SIM card on eBay which should do me once I get over the Mongolian/Chinese border.

Re keeping things charged, after a bit of digging I've been assured(ish) that because I'm in a first class cabin there is a single charger point to keep the various devices going. In case it doesn't, I've bought a cheap battery pack for £25 (again on eBay, god bless it!) which promises to recharge an iPhone 8 times and an iPad twice. A decent back up.

Last thing I must remember to take with me ? A good old fashioned British Gas meter key. When you leave your cabin, you can ask the provodnitsa (who I am picturing in my head as one of these overweight hunched-up old Russian peasants with the mannerisms of Queen Bea from Prisoner Cell Block H) to lock it for you and keep an eye on it. But apparently any British Gas meter key locks and unlocks your cabin as well. We'll see - might be true, might be bullsh*t. All part of the experience though - bring it on.

Location:Scotland