Trans-Siberian Railway - What, when and why?

I had been to Russia before making this trip, but I wanted to see and experience more of the country. Americans hear and read about Siberia and come away with their own perception of what central Russia must be like. But, I wanted to see for myself. Before making this trip, friends would ask me why I was taking the trip. One of my answers was the famous quote of mountaineers - "because it's there". Yes, Siberia is there, I had never seen it and I wanted to see it.

The map shown here gives the overall itinerary for my trip. I flew from my home in Nevada, to San Francisco and then to Korea for a layover before proceeding to Vladivostok, Russia. Originally, I was going to fly directly to Vladivostok, but Korean Airlines discontinued that flight and as a result I had to go through Seoul, Korea to get to Vladivostok.

Suprisingly, on arrival at Vladivostok, I was not tired from jet lag. We checked into our hotel there and our touring began on the following day.

After spending some time at Vladivostok, we boarded the Trans-Siberia Railway train and our journey began. First, the train headed due north to get around the northeastern tip of China, but from there we headed due west, all the way to Moscow.

A common question people would ask me after I completed the trip was "wasn't it boring being on a train for twentyone days?". Not at all. Every day, and I mean every day, there was something to do and see, lectures on the train, interaction with fellow travelers, entertainment, and more. It was a great trip.

Admittedly, the landscape viewed from the train was repetitious at times, but then again, some days we traveled at night to cover a lot of miles and arrive at our next stop for touring there. The distance covered by the trip was 6000 miles. The train was comfortable and the food was fantastic. A great trip indeed.

I made the trip in July, and the weather was quite mild, by the way.