Took the train overnight from Irkutsk to Ulan Uday. I managed to get zero sleep as I had one Russian guy snoring most of the time and the other up and about a lot. Plus the train driver was pretty bad and kept me awake by driving like he was running out of fuel. Anyway the one Russian left at about 4am and left all the lights on. Very considerate of him. Got taken to a home stay at 06:30 in the morning and met Julia. She owned the flat, but her Mum - Natasha and ...

Well I have officially spent the longest time ever on a train. 48 hours from Ekaterinburg to Irkutsk. The train trip was pretty uneventful. What was great however was that their were only 2 of us in the cabin, so lots of space to ourselves. I met a Russian lady called Nadeesda. She was a retired woman with 3 kids and had been to Moscow for her one sons wedding. Well that's what her photos appeared to indicate :-) We spent about an hour ponting at phrases in my ph...

Spent 24 hours on the Siberian Express from Moscow to Ekaterinburg. The total distance is 1667 km. It took from 16:10 till 17:45 the next day. Thats 25.5 hours on th train. What made it worse was that I could not find any English speaking travellers. I shared a compartment with 3 Russians. The one couple climbed off in Kazan at 3am. They were really lovely. Strange how the girl made an effort to chat to me and not her husband. The other guy was going further to I...

Well I have lived a dream of mine and that was to stand on Red Square. OK it was not all covered in snow and minus 40 degrees but somehow I did not mind that it was sunny. I actually got goosebumps whilst standing there. I had a guide Oleg, who was showing me the sites. It was helpful to have him as buying metro tickets would of been interesting. I'm slowly starting to remember some Russian words like "Please, thank-you & hello". I have been reading a book about ...

Well its now been 4 days since I have started my year sabbatical and its very strange having no routine at all. While I'm still in Poland it still seems like I am on a short holiday break, but I think that will all change when I land in Moscow on Sunday evening. But let me not miss out on the first 4 days of travelling and rather let me take you back to the start of my trip. LONDON The last 2 weeks before I left London I spent house and dog sitting for Ke...