Practical details

China train tickets

all booked online at ChinaTripAdvisor and paid via PayPal

Service was excellent, and thoroughly recommended. They will deliver tickets to your hotel or for pickup at stations (e.g. we picked up the T98 HK to Beijing tickets at the ticket office in Hong Kong's Hung Hom station, and picked up the Beijing to Moscow tickets at the Capitol Hotel.)

We had booked train tickets with old passport numbers (and thus needed to have them changed at the last moment, which the company did very quickly). Make sure your current passport numbers are the ones used on the tickets, or you may not be able to get on the train.

In the pre-trip planning, I had inadvertently changed my booking from deluxe-soft sleeper (2 berth) to soft-sleeper (4 berth). It was my mistake, and i only realised it on the train. I called Alex at Chinatripadvisor from the train, and he helped me see if I could get an upgrade. We eventually got an upgrade (just as we came into the Erlian at the end of Day 1) and paid onboard around US$140 for two pax (for the upgrade for the entire trip) which was excellent value.

K3: Beijing to Moscow, dep 07:47 Weds 30-06-2010 arrive six days later Moscow, Monday 5th July

Contact details:-

Alex Ren &Yongmei Chen

http://www.chinatripadvisor.com
http://www.chinaticketonline.com

Email: info@chinatripadvisor.com
          chinatripadvisor@gmail.com

Tel: +86-559-231 9660
Fax: +86-559-231 3315
China Travel Service
Floor 4, Building 3
27 Xin'an North Road
Huangshan,Anhui
PR China

Russia Train Tickets

Moscow- Berlin

I booked these online from RailEurope (www.raileurope.com.sg) and paid on credit card - tickets were delivered to my house in Singapore before we left on the trip. Need the ticket prior to getting the Belarus Visa.

Moskva (Belorusska station) to Berlin HBF (Via Smolensk, Minsk, Warsaw, Frankfurt)

European rail tickets

Berlin - Paris  and Paris -London

I booked these online from RailEurope and paid on credit card - tickets delivered prior to departure.

Perseus: Berlin HBF to PARIS EST, dep 19:57 arr 09:23

Eurostar: dep Paris Nord 20:13 9th July, arrive London St-Pancras 21:29

UK train tickets

London - Glasgow sleeper

I had to make a phone booking (as i was travelling with a minor on an overnight sleeper service I suspect) and got a reference number. On arrival at Euston I picked up the ticket from a machine, using the same credit card from before (i had written down the reference number just in case).

Glasgow - Largs

Paid on credit card at Glasgow Central Station

Russia Visa

Get this one first! Applied for invite from RealRussia web site (around US$30) - needed to be clear on the entry and exit dates. Entry dates are the date when the train crosses from Mongolia into Russia, and not the arrival date in Moscow... i didn't realise this at first, and had to change subsequently, but fairly straightforward.

With the invite letter, and insurance forms (very important) could apply at the Russian Embassy in Singapore. Paid for express service, cUS$300 for two people (twice the price of normal). Very busy office, get there early.

China Visa

Used the recently opened visa office in Singapore's CBD. Needed to have details of train tickets and copy of e-ticket for air-plane, as well as completed application forms and passports. Used express service (twice cost of normal service). Required a few trips, and very busy office.

Mongolia Visa

Could only apply after I had Russia Visa. Applied at consulate in Singapore, applied for express service (twice cost of normal). Straightforward.

Belarus Visa

Applied in Beijing - express service (expensive). The one hassle is that you need to go to the main office of the Bank of China to pay for the visa and get a receipt and take that back the next day.