Countdown to Departure

Sunday 16 May 1999 – Monday 17 May 1999

As our plane touched down at London’s Heathrow airport and we stepped off the red-eye from New York on the morning 16 May, we finally began to feel we were on our way.  There was definitely a sense of anticipation, each of us reflecting on what the next two years or so would hold and the major changes we had already begun to experience in our lives.

London was to be the starting point for the first leg of our adventure.  Our plan was to cross the whole of the Eurasian landmass by train, leaving London by Eurostar to Brussels and from there, making our way onwards to Berlin, St. Petersburg and Moscow.  From here, we planned to travel across Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railway to Mongolia, where we intended to spend about a month exploring the country; our final leg would be the Trans-Mongolian to Beijing where we had arranged to meet up with Pippa’s mum for the duration of our three-week stay in China.  

We had made no reservations (travel, accommodation or otherwise) and were armed only with an array of guidebooks on which we were relying entirely to get us from west to east in just under three months.

On the eve of our departure, we were up until 03.00, Eric cramming in the entire 225-page Complete Guide to Photography he had bought that day and Pippa worrying (as ever) we had forgotten something essential.  It was a step into the unknown; exciting but not without the odd last-minute doubts.

Berlin

Tuesday 18 May 1999 – Friday 21 May 1999

The first Eurostar to Brussels left Waterloo at 06.53.  After less than two hours sleep, we were up, packed and heading out into the deserted streets to hail a cab to Waterloo station - a nostalgic reminder of our years working in the City.

Our first day was spent on trains or on station platforms waiting for connections.  We bought our onward tickets to Berlin in Brussels and, realising we had nothing to help us locate a hotel in Berlin (who said we were prepared?!), took every opportunity along the way to scan the bookshops and newsstands for anything resembling a guidebook. 

We arrived in Berlin at 20.00 that evening and walked out of the train station in search of a hotel, suddenly very conscious that we were no longer travelling on five-star expense accounts.  Had we known how few showers (let alone hot ones) we would be able to get over the next few weeks, we might have been more focused on the quality of the plumbing in any potential hotel rather than its location or décor but as it was, we were happy to opt for something cheap and in close proximity to the station.

Reminders of Berlin’s turbulent history – particularly the World War II and Cold War periods – were still in evidence throughout, although one of our most poignant memories will be the backdrop of hundreds upon hundreds of cranes silhouetted against the skyline in East Berlin.  Once a no-man’s land, this area of extensive construction centred on the Potsdamer Platz (soon to be the new financial centre of the city) is now a tourist attraction in its own right with corporate skyscrapers rising on what feels like every street corner.  Only a stone’s throw from here is the once-infamous Checkpoint Charlie (the former crossing point between East and West Berlin, between the Communist Block and freedom), a stark reminder of the changes this city has seen in the mere decade  since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

When we visited very little of the Wall remained, although there were plenty of street vendors keen to sell you a fake “chunk” as a souvenir.  Despite the overwhelmingly modern feel that permeated the east, there was still an array of historical monuments to be found throughout the city, not least the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin’s famous Cathedral and the Rotes Rathaus (Red Town Hall).  The Jewish quarter was a different sort of monument, an eerie collection of streets where thousands of Jews were forced to congregate before being shipped off to die in concentration camps.  Scars of the war could still be seen on the facades of some of the houses lining the streets – evidence of shrapnel and gunshots as well as plaques and memorials to those who died.

On a somewhat lighter note, we were both pleasantly surprised by the assortment and quality of food on offer throughout the city.  The Berliners’ beloved tradition of eating breakfast out ensured there was always a café or bar to be found serving a variety of different breakfast dishes well into the afternoon – something we took full advantage of.  And, while one of Eric’s principal challenges became mastering the art of ordering a beer (a hobby to be continued throughout the rest of our travels), Pippa would invariably relax with a pen in hand as she assumed the job of chief postcard writer!

Berlin to St Petersburg

Saturday 22 May 1999

Things we'll remember from our first train journey in eastern Europe: