Due to my dream of travelling with the Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow (Yaroslaw Station) to Beijing, I borrowed a book from one of my colleauges. It is written by a Danish author and journalist named Carsten Jensen. He writes about a "round the world-trip" he did in the late 1990's.
The start of the book is about his experiences when travelling on the Trans-Siberian Railway. I was really surprised to read his harsh criticism of this trip. He decribes it as a prison cell, or a kind of hellhole. People, food, surroundings... everything, was unbearable.
I have thought about this train ride that lasts up to 15-18 days as an extremely nice way to travel west to east over the huge Russian continent, through the highlands of Mongolia, and finally to China.
I have read a little bit about the train ride on various web sites, and some of the tours seem very luxurious. And by listening to TD's Transsiberia I have many times imagined all the beautiful areas EF must have travelled through to compose this wonderful music.
Have my thoughts been too romantic about this trip? Should I stop thinking about once in my life doing this train ride across half of the world?
Baikal Sunrise