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well hello friends I can't believe I'm
saying this right now but I have done it
I have finished the trans-siberian
Express and it is a little bit
unbelievable that I am in the red square
right now I think it's actually been
exactly 57 days from the time that I
entered Russia and the exact day that I
got here into Moscow and it's kind of
weird because they call the
trans-siberian Express just from Moscow
to Vladivostok they just don't count st.
Petersburg even though I'm going there
later I have done probably the most epic
train journey in the world in my opinion
and many other people's opinion and I
will say that I am tired I actually
wanted to film so much here but I'm
really like on my last thread of energy
like I am dreaming about the naps that I
am going to take when I get to Kiev and
yes I am playing the world's smallest
violin and saying that oh it's you know
poor me traveling around for three
months you can all just you know hate me
in the comments down below but it is
hard to film edit plan so many things
when you're traveling at the same time
and it is just a relief to be here now
so as in my first video here in Moscow I
really did just want to share my
experience what I've learned some
helpful tips so you guys can hopefully
learn from my mistakes because my god
has it ever been a learning journey I
start things off of my most helpful tips
for you guys the number one number one
tip that I would make you consider is to
make sure that you have enough time to
come to Russia because if you have been
on my journey as I've been getting ready
for this trip as I waited basically two
months to get my visa like it's a
process I knew that if I was going to do
the trans-siberian Express
that I would need like a minimum of two
to three months for what I wanted to see
I know some people definitely can't take
off that much time but honestly if you
only have two weeks that really does not
give you that much time to actually see
Russia if you're going through the
trouble of reading two months to get a
visa paying probably like two or three
hundred dollars a pop for that visa and
then just basically getting here and
then leaving I don't think it's worth it
I think that you need at least at least
three weeks to do the trans-siberian
Express and have probably like three to
five stops depending on you know where
you want to go and how much time you
want to spend there I did basically two
months and got to see ten different
cities and you're really not paying that
much more for train tickets to stop all
the time then just go all the way across
or have just a couple stops it's the
world's largest country it takes you a
while to get across now tip number two
and this I had to learn the hard way and
that is to know your train type to
understand what kind of train and what
kind of amenities it's going to have if
you guys saw me cried on my first three
day journey that was when that mistake
was made I'll link that video in the
description because I was not prepared
for the kind of train that I had I did
not have enough food
I was not mentally prepared for what I
went through now my third tip for you
guys is to make sure that if you are
traveling in the peak sort of months so
likely from May until mid-august make
sure you are booking your train tickets
at least three to four weeks ahead of
time sometimes certain destinations on
certain days can definitely just sell
out and if you have to be on a very
tight schedule and be somewhere on a
certain day that can definitely pose a
problem for you and I think the tickets
actually don't go on sale more than two
months in advance so if you kind of can
be in that earlier sort of window that
should help
any kind of issue
coming up but if you are coming around
this time of year kind of September
through November I would say that you
are fine - honestly leave it until like
a week or so in advance I mean some
destinations do have less coverage than
others but I haven't had any issues but
just an important thing to keep in mind
especially if you're thinking of coming
in the summer now my fourth tip is to
really anticipate how much the tickets
are going to cost because before I
really started to think about this
journey I had no idea like what what our
train tickets going to cost does it cost
more to stop you know along the way or
you're kind of actually going to go off
the trans-siberian you know path it
might be slightly different than what
I'm going to quote use most websites do
say that it starts at $400 view s but
that's if you're going in third class
with my journey for example I've done a
mix of third class and second class and
I don't know the exact figure but I
think it probably came to around $500
u.s. the majority of my last has all
been Platts card and has been very
budget-friendly but like the high-speed
trains can definitely cost more as well
as if you go first class that can be
like double the cost of Kupa so
depending on which class you want to go
in that's definitely something to keep
in mind and my fifth tip for you guys is
to make sure that you bring supplies
even if even if you think your train is
going to have a restaurant that you
still bring some kind of food especially
if you have any kind of food allergies
like really don't expect that if there's
a train on board that they're going to
be able to cater to that if you have any
kind of stipulations with your diet just
bring your own stuff don't risk it and
then another thing to mention is that if
you have any kind of medications or just
to have like a first aid kit that's also
a really good idea of something to make
sure you have on you and then some other
useful items that I would really
recommend on the train would be earplugs
because people snore and I'm asked to
kind of block out the light if that's
important to you and some
kind of like toiletry kit and some wet
wipes because almost always there's not
going to be a shower so if you're going
for like three days
it makes you feel so much better and
lastly I wanted to briefly cover the two
topics that I'm sure you guys probably
have the most questions about which
number one is is it safe and number two
can people who don't speak Russian do
the trans-siberian Express by themselves
so starting with the safety factor as
you guys can see I am a solo woman
traveler and even though I can of course
be Gretchen and it makes things a hell
of a lot easier
most people would still think that oh
I'm somehow you know at risk it's not
safe for me to do that even some
Russians were pretty shocked that I was
doing the trip I was doing by myself but
having spent two months now in Russia I
don't know if it's just me but I will
just say my experience has been that it
is very safe I've literally had zero
zero issues with people even being
creepy like keep in mind I was mainly in
larger centers I did hear that sometimes
smaller places can be a bit more sketchy
but I haven't experienced that so I'm
not gonna make a statement on that I
even chatted with some other tourists in
my hostels and they really didn't seem
to have any issues either so I think
there's just so many stereotypes about
Russia and Russian people that they're
scary that they wanna hurt you somehow
and it's just not true like I knew that
before coming here but even I was
slightly worried to be traveling on the
train and doing all this kind of stuff
by myself because I'd never done that
before but honestly everybody was so
helpful everybody was so kind and I
really don't think that most people
would have an issue doing this kind of
journey by themselves now as far as the
language barrier goes yes that's
actually going to be more of an issue
for you than safety I think because
going from Vladivostok to Irkutsk that
was when it was really apparent that if
I did not speak Russian I would have
some issues
that part of the country there's really
very few English signs as there is here
in the western part of Russia that is
much more tourist friendly overall I
would say it's tricky but it's
definitely not impossible and I'd say
for experienced travelers you'd probably
figure it out like you'd use a
translator
you'd learn some Russian phrases you do
a lot of research of like where you have
to go ahead of time so it's not just a
shock when you get there
so in conclusion would I recommend the
trans-siberian Express journey yes I
would of course I would a hundred times
over I think that this is truly one of
the most epic journeys a person could
ever take in their life but would I do
it again I don't know unless I like
booked some high pain like travel host
show and there really was a good reason
for me to not be flying between the
long-distance sort of destinations no I
probably wouldn't so I hope you guys
have enjoyed this journey and let me
know in the comments down below if you
would do the trans-siberian Express or
if you've already done it or what your
favorite moments were of my particular
journey and make sure you're subscribed
to this channel because I am still of
course going to have content here in
Moscow and then st. Petersburg and then
Ukraine still got so much more awesome
stuff coming up so make sure you guys
hit notifications for that and to close
off this video I think I'm actually
gonna put in a highlight reel of my
favorite moments of this journey so
enjoy all right this is it
goodbye apartment I will see you when I
see you and you see I'll go with the
wind that blazes
I keep holding on to a feeling so strong
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I can't believe I'm allowing myself to
film right now when I'm in the middle of
a breakdown
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first time for my second chance
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Oh
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no it's not
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Sekai hey
it
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I don't know what's on your mind
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and there's no way I can fix it
Oh
oh my god I'm actually here you guys
this is just so crazy to me right now
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