Platzkart Adventure!

[peacetraveler22]

Many people often ask me "why Russia?" I can afford to travel to much nicer places and stay in more upscale accommodations, but to me there's no adventure in this. Complete boredom. With Russia, there's always something interesting! A complex puzzle to solve, new experiences each journey, and constant brain explosions and frustration with infrastructure and societal interactions as a whole. When I thought about visiting Kazan for a few days, there were two options to get there. Fly or take Russian Railways. I not only chose the latter, but decided to travel in a platzkart to get a true Russian experience. :) At first, I was a little nervous to ride the train dormitory style by myself. This uneasy feeling arose not from my own thinking, but from Russian friends when I posted a status update on Facebook that I would ride alone in a platzkart on the Railways. Responses included - "why?!?", "brave and wild!" and "are you crazy?" What did I think of the experience?

1. I think it's a good way for foreigners to travel if they wish to interact with locals, but not for comfort. The train from Moscow to Kazan was very old and shitty. Train number is 112мц. Avoid it! I'm not certain, but I think the final destination of the train wasn't Kazan but onward into the depths of Russia. The main problem for me is that it was a night train, and I was completely unprepared. Upon boarding, the lights on the train were out, cut on only for a few minutes when the train took off for the conductor to check tickets. After that, complete darkness. Most passengers immediately went to sleep and remained in silence all night. Besides the echoes of loud snores in the air, there was little movement or motion. No one to talk to, complete darkness, and zero outlets for phones or computers. For twelve hours, I sat in boredom, staring in blackness. I can't sleep in planes, trains, automobiles, or even a bed on most nights.

Salvation came in the wee hours of the morning when I encountered a handsome young man. At the sight of a young Russian face, there's always a glimmer of hope that the person will speak English. I asked him in Russian if he spoke the language, and his face lit up! Yes! For a few hours, we sat and chatted at the tiny table by my bunk. He had spent a summer in America, on the work/travel program sponsored by the U.S. government. Most important, he gave me food. I was starving, carrying with me no food or water for the long ride because I thought all trains had a dining car, where such items can be purchased. This train had nothing. No real food, only a dispenser for hot water. My new friend gave me a homemade meat pie and some instant mashed potatoes. Add hot water, and suddenly hunger pains subsided. So, I learned a proper lesson on how to travel on some Russian trains - bring boiled eggs, bread, potatoes and meat pies for survival. :)) And for some, I suppose vodka. After Yaroslavl, I will not touch this poison for a long time!



2. The train from Kazan to Moscow was more modern. For this journey, I picked second class, a private room with four bunks. Of course, it was much nicer, and I was in a room with all females. Here's one of my bunk mates - a Russian fashionista with a sullen expression for the entire 12 hour train ride. All of the women were friendly, but there were language barriers so conversation was almost impossible. On the theme of trains, I attended a hockey game in Yaroslavl, where the local team is named "Lokomotiv." :) About Russian hockey, I can say it's more calm and civilized than the U.S. version. At least the game I watched - there were almost no fist fights. In most NHL games in the U.S., numerous brawls break out each game.



3. After four trips to Russia, I think I have a lot of insight to offer foreigners traveling to the country. Perhaps I'll make a post about it sometime, but the most important thing is to learn the Cyrillic alphabet. Otherwise, you will be completely lost the entire time. In the train station in Moscow, there are almost no signs in English. The alphabet is easy to learn, with many letters and sounds similar to English. It will help you navigate on your own immensely, as a lot of basic Russian and English words overlap, or are very similar.



You'll recall that when I traveled to the Sochi Olympics last year, I took a 24 hour train ride from Moscow to Adler. However, on that journey I was in a private, first class kupe with someone I knew. I've now traveled in all classes of the train - first and second class and dormitory style. Each has something unique to offer. When I arrived in Kazan, I had a long conversation with the hotel manager. I told him how I traveled to the city, and he was in complete amazement that a 42 year old American woman and lawyer would choose to travel in a platzkart. He told me he "hates Russian Railways," and would "rather sit in an airport for 10 hours than take the train." I think this is a bit of an elitist attitude. For me, train travel remains interesting and my impressions of Russian Railways mostly favorable. The most important thing is to research the train on which you will travel. They are not all created equal.

About Kazan, there will be a separate and detailed post. This is now my second favorite city - right behind St. Petersburg.

Do you take the train often? In which class do you travel? Any interesting or unusual experiences with bunk mates? I envision sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll on some of these journeys, especially for train rides lasting several days! :) Share fun stories in the comments. I will be amused and happy to read them.

I'm now back in the USA after a long plane ride home yesterday. Many stories about Russia to follow...stay tuned my dear readers! I've missed communicating with you the past two weeks!

P.S.: All photos in this post were taken on iPhone. Sorry, on this trip I was lazy with the big camera.

Other Train Stories
Romance on the Rails - Wolstzyn, Poland


Sapsan Train to St. Petersburg


American Journey to Sochi: Train Ride from Moscow to Adler

Comments

[onkel-hans.livejournal.com]

Once I took a train from Moscow to Venice. In those days, there suddenly happened a war in Yugoslavia and the train was rerouted via Vienna. The Austrians requested transit visas from train passengers, so practically very few travelers were accepted on board. I turned out in a compartment with a young secretary girl alone. She had sort of a bonus vacation to Venice from her company. Fortunately her name was Lena, so we went in town in Budapest to take a breath and missed our train with all our stuff in the car.
As I know some practical Hungarian, we managed to take the next train towards Vienna. We recovered our our baggage at the border crossing station. Everything was intact but a couple of bottles of vodka were missing from my travel bag.
Then we got to Vienna, a city I know well. The train we had tickets for was gone and we had to take a local train to Venice next day. Actually I was going not to Venice but to a small village on the Lake north of Milano. It was quite a problem booking a new ticket to that station as nobody in Vienna could find it on the railroad map. In Venice I kissed Lena goodbye and continued to Milano.
Milano, you should know, has a grandioso fascist style central station. I admire that station better than the Grand Central in NYC. And there, in Milano I had a real adventure! I like walking in strange places in new towns. Once - it was in Rotterdam - I even had met the people I could not speak with - they spoke neither German, nor French and even English. I understand the Dutch after having six pints of beer but cannot speak it. This time, it was the lunch time and I could not find a different place to eat than Wendy's! In Milano!!! Yet I made a discovery. I went in a bookstore and there was an artist's album that touched all the string of my soul at once. I had never heard of this artist. I decided to buy a better album of his back in Vienna but when I came to Vienna, nobody in the bookstores had ever heard his name!!! Otto Dix turned out to be a German.

So this is it about traveling the Russian Railroads.

Hey, there was one adventure more! On the train back to Moscow, as we crossed the border with Poland, I met an immigrant into Russia! The passport control police would not believe their eyes either. But he was emigrating from Poland to Russia permanently.

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

Your story reminds of the film "Before Sunrise." Do you know it? " I understand the Dutch after having six pints of beer..." Ha! I can speak Russian much better after several shots of vodka! :)) I sometimes wonder why any American would want to immigrate to Russia. For what reason? For a Pole, the cultures are more closely aligned but American and Russian culture are completely alien to each other.

[onkel-hans.livejournal.com]

"Before Sunrise"? A French movie? Then there are even two more about the same characters! I love them. Ethan Hawke looks much like my s-i-l. And Julie Delpi, I simply adore her.

The thing with me is I know several thousand of German words but never learned the language. When I lived in Austria, I used the German words joined with the English grammar and everybody perfectly understood me.
When I watch a movie in Swedish, Dutch or Ukrainian, I interpolate between the German and English or Polish and Russian. The problem is, it takes time to interpolate and I trail behind in the dialog, Recently, I watch a Danish movie. They use as many English words as the Ukrainians do the Russian.
(Once, on a plane, I heard a group of people speaking a perfect Ukrainian without a trace of contamination with the Russian, I asked them, Where are you from, guys? The answer was, We are from Baltimore)

A funny thing, when I was a kid, I taught Jewish g-fs Yiddish, which I had picked up from the Barry Sisters of San Francisco.

I cannot see any reason for anybody to come to Russia but curiosity (like yourself) or the desire to make a quick buck (although very risky, this buck may be very big).

The Pole on the train had married a Russian girl and was immigrating to live with her. I presume there may be ruling circumstances for this. I hope, he moved out of that country some time later.

I think what is in common between America and Russia is the wide expanse of land.