The dream becomes a reality

After 25 days in trains, I finally connected the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by rail. And my old dream finally became a reality.

Day 25: Vladivostok!!!

And so it is that my birthday and the culmination of my trip started at 7am, seriously tired and hungover (to be correct, I was probably still drunk). We were woken up by the provodnitsa, warning us of the imminent arrival to Vladivostok. A serious headache ensued, but I wasn't alone. All of us in the kupe ordered tea and biscuits for breakfast, and painfully waited for the train to arrive to Vladivostok at 8am.

Despite the headache, stepping off my last train was a moment I really enjoyed. It was hard to believe that I had actually made it. And while the feeling of achievement was overwhelming, on the other hand I was wishing that it would have lasted a bit longer. No more struggling to buy train tickets, sharing vodka with strangers, being rocked to sleep every night...

Russian railways day - 1st October!

I headed uphill to the hotel, where thankfully my room was ready, despite the early hour, and straight to bed I went. Never mind just having arrived to Vladivostok, and it being my birthday - all that could wait, I was an absolute wreck, and really needed some rest!

In the afternoon I met up with Kristin. As she wasn't used to travelling alone, and also not speaking Russian, she was getting slightly paranoid (in her own words) and really needed some company, which I didn't mind - although her constant need of chatting wasn't easy to deal with my massive hangover. We had some shashlik in a fun fair by the coast, and then walked along the city, visiting the old fortress and a few parks.

9288Km from Moscow - yeah baby!

A real communist "Plombir" ice-cream - delicious

I also visited the excellent submarine museum, housed inside a real old Stalin-class submarine, complete with command centre, working periscope, crew quarters and torpedoes. And old man working there and trying to sell some souvenirs chatted me up, and after showing me his coin collection, was more than happy when I gave him all my remaining euro coins - and really surprised when I didn't want any money in return.

In the evening I went back to the hotel, grabbed my swimming shorts and towel, and out I went again. Being in Vladivostok, and on my birthday - a swim in the Pacific was a must! The water wasn't as freezing as I feared, and it was a refreshing swim. Pity about the pollution, but the closest proper beach was miles away from the city.

Yes, I was freezing

In the evening I met up with my third pen-pal, Natasha, a translator graduate, selling wall-paper during the day and giving private language classes in the evening (such is life in Russia). After some food in a kafeika, we met her friend "Jane" and went to a rock bar, where we met some more of their friends, and watched a live band playing some Russian rock. A really cool evening.

Day 26: More Vladivostok

The Regional Museum

I stayed up until 3am, reading and answering birthday and congratulating messages (being in GMT+9 meant that most people back home were still well awake), which meant that I started the next day quite late. After lunch, I visited two museums, the Arsenyev Regional Museum and the Pacific Fleet Museum, both equally interesting and among the best I visited throughout my trip; in the second one I was the only guest, so I had a young female officer accompanying me throughout my visit, turning on and off lights and keeping an eye on me.

The Pacific Fleet Museum

I then had a long walk across the city, until I reached the funicular, which took me up to the "Eagle's Nest", a great viewpoint over the city and the Golden Horn Bay, and where you can see part of the Russian Pacific Fleet docked. Vladivostok was in the middle of an extreme make-over, in preparation for the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, to be held in 2012, and therefore looked like a massive construction site.

The iconic Monument to the Fighers of the Revolution

In the evening I returned to the same great restaurant I had found for lunch (it was that good), after spending over an hour buying souvenirs from the excellent gift shop of the attached art gallery. and then had a lovely russian meal (blini with red caviar and pelmeni).


Day 27: A 30h day back to Moscow

I woke up in the morning, had my shower, and rushed downstairs, to make sure I would still make it on time for breakfast. I then proceeded to stuff myself with sausages, rice, tomatoes and cucumbers, followed by blini with condensed milk, all washed down with two cups of coffee, in preparation for the long day ahead. Back in my room, I had to completely rearrange my bags for plane travel (quite different from train travel), and then off I went to the train station, to catch the bus to the airport (which I had scouted the previous day). The driver wasn't happy at all to abandon his warm seat and open the luggage compartment under the drizzling rain, and demanded 10 roubles for his troubles which I paid with a smile, despite knowing I was being scammed - 10 roubles are worth a lot more to him than to me.

The cool Vladivostok train station building

The 30Km journey to the airport took quite a bit longer than I expected, thanks to all the APEC summit works, and I was glad I had left the city quite early. I then boarded my plane, and went back in time (literally), arriving at Moscow less than two hours later, which meant an eight hour flight across the largest country in the world. Being back in Moscow was like a small homecoming: I stayed in the same hostel as in the beginning of my trip, and after weeks travelling eastwards and meeting new people, seeing a familiar face gave me a small feeling of comfort.

Day 28: The end of it all

In the morning I had a lovely home cooked breakfast, and gave Luiza a 5 euro note to add to all those kept on her fridge door (from all over the world) - it now resides under the Ireland magnet I had left her the first time round. I then caught my last train in Russia, to the airport, where I had absolutely no trouble with immigration (after all the tales of scams, and keeping registration snippets from all the hotels where I had stayed, it was a breeze to get out of the country).

My first flight took me to Riga, where I still had time to meet one last amazing person, Ruta, a Lithuanian girl coming back from a 5 day trip to Moscow. We shared lunch, both in between flights, and she ended up being one last addition to the list of amazing people I met throughout this trip. Then it was time to catch my last flight, back home to Dublin. What a trip!