Travel | 2. Preparations

Helsinki, Finland

I have been preparing for the trip for the past 2 or so months. I have currently done the following:

[x] Sold most of my stuff
[x] Resigned my apartment
[x] Quit my job
[x] Bought a one-way ticket to Siberia (Ulan-Ude)
[x] Obtained visas for Russia, Mongolia and China
[x] Obtained most of my travel gear
[x] Took five different vaccinations in six shots
[x] Secured a travel insurance for the first 3 months

In addition to these obvious points, I have read a lot about the trans-Siberian train journey from forums.
So, reading about other peoples’ experiences I decided to opt for a 3rd class ticket for the single longest leg of my journey (4 days). 3rd class or “platskartny” is composed of open carriages with 52 bunks stacked 3-high on the sides of the train. This is the way aboriginal people travel from all 3 countries passed. And this is how I’m going to travel too 🙂

Here’s a picture I found from the internet:

(image courtesy of Transrussia.com)

The language worries me a little but I am well known for my great ability to fluently listen to any language. Also, I think my vodka-Russian is ok (after 3 shots)

Also, I have been betting my farewells to people I might not meet for a very long time. A little sad but it’s not like I will never see them again 🙂 So I’m not too worried for that. Besides, anyone can check on me on this blog anyhow, so cheer up guys…

I figured I will save money by taking passport photos for the visa applications myself.
Well, I did, kind of. After several hours fighting with the printer and photo paper, I got a satisfactory stock of passport size photos for the whole trip.

I went through like 10 of these:

I’m not saying the ones that were successful are much better though

Next post will be about gearing up. (yes, I am a hardcore gear enthusiast, so expect a lot of “vital” stuff to pop out of my backpack)

(First published 12/09/2011 at LiveJournal)