Where Is Hawkins?Where travel is cheaper than psychotherapy.

I thought I’d jot some notes down about my planning of the Trans-Siberian Railway come March of 2009. It’ll definitely be an adventure, but it’s also testing out my awesome logistic skills and trying to plan everything out ahead of time.

If you’re interested in doing this trip yourself, or at least seeing the method to my madness, keep reading. This is all the pre-planning many months out. And of course, it’s the Hawkins 7.

Step One: Read the awesome Seat61.com guide to the Trans-Siberian Railway.
All good journeys start with a first step, and this is the best way to get your feet wet with thinking about the journey. And then start buying books. The Lonely Planet Trans-Siberian book sucks, but Bryn Thomas’ Trans-Siberian Railway book kicks ass.

Step Two: Figure out where you want to stop off.
If I wanted to lock myself on a train for a week, I’d take Amtrak somewhere. But I wanted to see Moscow, see some of Siberia, see Lake Baikal and of course, Mongolia. I’m doing two major stops on the train from Moscow to Beijing – Irkutsk and then Ulan Bator, Mongolia. If I had the time or money, I’d consider stopping at the major stops, even though it seems like there’s just a day’s worth of stuff to see.

Step Three: Beg for time off of work.
Enough said. I’m taking three weeks.

Step Four: Check out the timetables.
“Duh.” Well yes, I know that this is a no brainer, but it’s important to know which trains run on what days, and plan your trip around that instead of when you want to go. As much as I’d like to stop in various places along the way, it’s going to be drawing out a long process.

Step Five: Construct a draft of the itinerary.
I’ve been sketching one out in Google Documents. I know, a spreadsheet – but at least I didn’t use Microsoft Project and bust out a Gantt chart. As you can see, I’ve got 2 days in Irkutsk and 3 days or so in Ulan Bator with a few days in Moscow and Beijing on either end. Those I can be flexible with – the ones in the middle I can’t.

Step Six: Start looking at flights.
The Seat61 guy, being London based, said that it’s cheating to fly from the UK to Moscow to do the Trans-Siberian. However, since I’m about 3950 miles west of London, I decided that I’d rather spend the time I would have spent going from London to Moscow via rail actually exploring Moscow and having a good time. I cashed in some frequent flier miles and got the ticket taken care of. Otherwise, it’s a major pain to find one-way tickets from those cities, but it can be done.

Step Seven: Start saving money.
I budgeted $1000 for the train ticket itself, and it’s reasonable considering it’s lodging + entertainment + transport. What I need to save my shekels for is Moscow. It’s the most expensive city in the world, and I’m struggling to conceptualize as to why though. If you ever want an eye-opener, look at hotel prices in Moscow. Even 2-3 star hotels are $200 a night.

As the trip approaches, another Hawkins 7 list will pop up dealing with those fun things like visas, currency, gadgets and all the things that make life worth living.