Beijing to Helsinki Over 20 Days

It’s been a big and long awaited day for us. Since the trip was just a twinkle in our eye, we have been looking forward to the Trans-Siberian Railway, which will take us from Beijing, China to Moscow, Russia and then to Helsinki, Finland over 20 days. It is the longest train journey on earth.

We’ve found that it is one thing to want to do it and another to actually get everything lined up to make it happen. The problem is trying to plan the travel and get Chinese and Russian visas while on the road. For a 30 day Russian tourist visa, Americans have to outline an exact itinerary and have letters of invitation from hotels along the way. Further, because we chose not to plan ahead too far, we have to get the Chinese visa and Russian visa while we are in (expensive) Hong Kong. This is not to mention trying to plan the Trans-Siberian journey in the midst of the visa applications.

Luckily we found help and today we’re rejoicing in our luck at settling the whole issue in one fell swoop. We saw an ad for an agency called Monkey Business that specialized in Trans-Siberian journeys that has an office in Hong Kong. Today we walked into the office and within about 1.5 hours, we had an itinerary including lodging and all trains from Beijing all the way to Helsinki and applications for both Chinese and Russian visas. All we have to do is drop by the office on Thursday afternoon and we’ll be set until late September – certainly the longest range plans we’ve had thus far. We feel like we’ve avoided a HUGE pain in the butt and have a lot of trust in our new friend Kelvin at Monkey Business. This is him:

It feels a little unreal to have plans like this and we’re both really, really excited. We spend our time in a “Ger camp” (a Ger is a tent like structure, similar to a yurt) in Mongolia and do “homestays” in the homes of Russian families in Siberia. We’ll spend 8 nights on the train with lots of instant noodles and coffee and perhaps a little vodka. In the end, we’ll hopefully gain some good friends in other travelers and local Mongolians and Russians. After spending longer in Asia than we expected, it’s nice to finally see the “around” part of this around the world trip come to fruition.

Costs

by leelefever on August 13, 2006 - 6:05pm

Hi SK,

Sorry for the delay in answering this. We've chosen to do the trip as a package and then upgrade to first-class train cars. This means that we'll have a private cabin and whenever we stop, we'll have things to do (like excursions). For our trip, it costs about $US3500 per person over the 20 days and that includes the costs to acquire express Russian and Chinese visas in Hong Kong. If we did not do first class train travel and did not need express visas, it would have cost about $US2200 per person.

Guangzhou hotel

by Jeanine on August 5, 2006 - 4:30pm

Try a night or two at the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou if you want a little R & R in a top quality hotel. A couple years ago it was $60 or so US. While there, you'll see lots of American families there to adopt babies. It's located in a historic area of Guangzhou. BTW - loving the videos!

sounds incredible

by anastasia on August 10, 2006 - 11:47am

Wow. This sounds incredible. Can't wait to see your posts/photos/videos. Ahh, I'm so jealous :)

No White Swan for us

by sachilefever on August 11, 2006 - 10:29pm

Hi Jeanine! We checked out the White Swan and it was over $100 per night, so we chose the Victory hotel instead which is still on Shamian Island near the White Swan, but not on the river. It has really nice rooms with fax machine and all the amenities for about $50. If only I had someone to fax... We did however, visit the White Swan today, and wow do they do a nice job in the lobby. I think the Hare & Moon bar is calling our names tonight after we visit the crazy animal/food market this afternoon.