Do you know that scene from The Big Bang Theory in which Raj tries to convince Sheldon not to come with him by very unconvincingly saying: 'I hate trains'?
Well, that's me right now. I'd like to say that I'm one of the cool kids and don't care much for trains, but in fact I really really really like trains. Especially night trains. I think that's because I have this heavily romanticized idea of a nocturnal Hogwarts Express. I knew my night train from St. Petersburg to Moscow wouldn't be that awesome, but the experience was just screaming to be blogged!
I travelled through the Baltics and Russia with a group of Dutch people, accompanied by a tour guide. A tour guide who didn't speak and couldn't read Russian. Because of this, everyone was panicking at the train station while I wandered off. St. Petersburg train station has a wonderful great hall, which is also a waiting room. It's the kind of Soviet impressive I expected to see in Russia.
When I came back to the still panicking group, I looke at the sign with departure times on it and reported when and from which platform our train would leave. I'd learned Cyrillic and that came in very handy. Sadly, no one listened to me because I'd been vlogging. Half an hour and a lot of panic later we went to the platform I'd named. Of course someone else took credit for it, but there our train was.
Our carriage was the very last on of the reddish train. I say reddish because it was pitchblack out when we boarded, so it might as well have been pink. Okay, not pink, it's still Putin's country, but you know what I mean.
I was boucning up and down the platform with excitement. I couldn't wait to see what the inside of the train would look like, so I peeked through a window - straight into the face of a shirtless guy, which is actually quite normal in Russia.. The guy didn't seem to mind. I did, so I jumped away from the train and waited with checking the compartments out until I'd boarded the train.
Boarding took ages. Mostly because people in general have the annoying habit of blocking hallways instead of entering once they've found their compartment.
My compartment was almost at the end of the carriage, near the toilets. That was actually a big plus, because I could quickly run up to the toilet before a bathroom line could form. The compartment itself was basic: four beds and a tiny table. The beds were bunk beads. Sleeping in the top bunk, I had about half a meter left between bed and ceiling. Yes, that resulted in multiple head butts, but I didn't care. I was excited. I had a real bed in a train, it was freaking awesome.
As the train left the station, I noticed there wouldn't be much to look at during the ride, not just because the Russian night is pure darkness, but also because the Russian landscape is very empty. No specks of light from villages. Nothing. I went to bed early, and that's when the ordeal began. As I said, there were four beds in the compartment. One for me, one for my mom, one for my dad... and one for another woman from our group. Not this woman snored. At first I was okay with this; I had my ear plugs, no problem. Then the woman started to snore louders. By some kind of miracle I managed to fall asleep. Not for long though. The decibel level in our compartment kept rising, making it impossible to even go through the six stages of sleeping near a snorer, heck, even thinking was impossible.
My mom would like to tell you this: 'She snored louder than a boar. At some point I even thought a boar was coming at me from her side of the compartment. After a while I found the courage to wake her up, but she turned around and snored even louder! Around 4am I fled the compartment. I waited on the stairs near the toilet until we arrived in Moscow. You could hear her snore through the walls."
Yes, my poor mom spent most of the train ride on a staircase... She didn't exaggerate. If I hadn't been stuck on the top bunk, I would have fled too.
Either way, I enjoyed my train ride. I looked at the outskirts of Moscow while eating my breakfast that came "ticket included lunchbox" as the Russian paper with bad English translation said. I enjoyed those moments. Night trains are awesome, but next time I'll only board one with people I know and who don't snore.
Stay Awesome!
PS. If you wanna see the train for yourself, you can watch my vlog on the Russia trip right here!
Well, that's me right now. I'd like to say that I'm one of the cool kids and don't care much for trains, but in fact I really really really like trains. Especially night trains. I think that's because I have this heavily romanticized idea of a nocturnal Hogwarts Express. I knew my night train from St. Petersburg to Moscow wouldn't be that awesome, but the experience was just screaming to be blogged!
I travelled through the Baltics and Russia with a group of Dutch people, accompanied by a tour guide. A tour guide who didn't speak and couldn't read Russian. Because of this, everyone was panicking at the train station while I wandered off. St. Petersburg train station has a wonderful great hall, which is also a waiting room. It's the kind of Soviet impressive I expected to see in Russia.
When I came back to the still panicking group, I looke at the sign with departure times on it and reported when and from which platform our train would leave. I'd learned Cyrillic and that came in very handy. Sadly, no one listened to me because I'd been vlogging. Half an hour and a lot of panic later we went to the platform I'd named. Of course someone else took credit for it, but there our train was.
Our carriage was the very last on of the reddish train. I say reddish because it was pitchblack out when we boarded, so it might as well have been pink. Okay, not pink, it's still Putin's country, but you know what I mean.
I was boucning up and down the platform with excitement. I couldn't wait to see what the inside of the train would look like, so I peeked through a window - straight into the face of a shirtless guy, which is actually quite normal in Russia.. The guy didn't seem to mind. I did, so I jumped away from the train and waited with checking the compartments out until I'd boarded the train.
Boarding took ages. Mostly because people in general have the annoying habit of blocking hallways instead of entering once they've found their compartment.
My compartment was almost at the end of the carriage, near the toilets. That was actually a big plus, because I could quickly run up to the toilet before a bathroom line could form. The compartment itself was basic: four beds and a tiny table. The beds were bunk beads. Sleeping in the top bunk, I had about half a meter left between bed and ceiling. Yes, that resulted in multiple head butts, but I didn't care. I was excited. I had a real bed in a train, it was freaking awesome.
As the train left the station, I noticed there wouldn't be much to look at during the ride, not just because the Russian night is pure darkness, but also because the Russian landscape is very empty. No specks of light from villages. Nothing. I went to bed early, and that's when the ordeal began. As I said, there were four beds in the compartment. One for me, one for my mom, one for my dad... and one for another woman from our group. Not this woman snored. At first I was okay with this; I had my ear plugs, no problem. Then the woman started to snore louders. By some kind of miracle I managed to fall asleep. Not for long though. The decibel level in our compartment kept rising, making it impossible to even go through the six stages of sleeping near a snorer, heck, even thinking was impossible.
My mom would like to tell you this: 'She snored louder than a boar. At some point I even thought a boar was coming at me from her side of the compartment. After a while I found the courage to wake her up, but she turned around and snored even louder! Around 4am I fled the compartment. I waited on the stairs near the toilet until we arrived in Moscow. You could hear her snore through the walls."
Yes, my poor mom spent most of the train ride on a staircase... She didn't exaggerate. If I hadn't been stuck on the top bunk, I would have fled too.
Either way, I enjoyed my train ride. I looked at the outskirts of Moscow while eating my breakfast that came "ticket included lunchbox" as the Russian paper with bad English translation said. I enjoyed those moments. Night trains are awesome, but next time I'll only board one with people I know and who don't snore.
Stay Awesome!
PS. If you wanna see the train for yourself, you can watch my vlog on the Russia trip right here!
