I boarded the old green train as night fell in Moscow and met Thomas, the only other traveller if the four-berth compartment I was assigned.

Thomas was a 24-year-old Polish poker player, softly spoken, who ate pork fat on crackers for breakfast and loved a strong coffee and a good game of cards.

Thomas was travelling with a herd of middle-aged Polish railway workers who were loud and jolly and spent the trip drinking and dancing and endless supply of Polish sausage.

This was carriage 11. Add in a British family (London to China and back on the train) who loved a good cup of tea and a gaggle of Chinese conductors who mopped the carpets, and you have my little family for the trip across Siberia. I tell you, you couldn't make this stuff up!

So what was such an epic journey like? The biggest surprise was just how enjoyable and relaxing it was. There was never a dull moment. You very quickly established your little routine of wash in the pokey toilet, breakfast, some cards, some scrabble.

Meals were quite a highlight and revolved around whatever could be bought from the wide, aproned Russian sellers at the stations (horse sausage anyone?), unless you could face the meat and soggy chips in the restaurant car.

Station stops happened regularly and they were met with great excitement. A chance to move the legs and get a little taste of the outside world! No one roamed far though, a perpetual fear of missing the train kept us reined in!

And then looking out the window became quite interesting, I never thought it could be so fascinating but the landscape was just breathtaking. You watched the alpine-like chalets of Russia melt into the harsh endless grasslands of Mongolia, before the smog of China descended and the excitement rose.

Hours were meaningless and the days disappeared until we couldn't remember how long it had been. Until D-Day of course. The corridors were packed with people hanging out the windows for a first glimpse of Beijing as day seven chugged us into the Chinese capital and I couldn't quite believe I was to leave my little compartment and be released into the world.

It was a journey that became about the journey and not the destination. It was relaxing and surprising and beautiful. It was inexplainable to the uninitiated.

What was strange was picking up The Bag and walking away from the people I had crossed a continent with. I felt like we had shared so much, been so far together.

But we shook hands and away I went, ingested by the Beijing hoards with a camera full of photos and a head full of memories I will never forget. On to the next adventure!

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