Life on the Train

Lots of people have asked me about two weeks of life on a train. 

Here is the diagram of the train.  We were in carriage 6.  A and B were the dining cars.  Fun For Less Tours filled the entire train. 

The best way I can describe it is COZY!We had the least expensive compartments.  George could touch both walls.  

During the day we had two benches.

At night the benches were made down into beds. 

The beds were 22 inches wide and shorter than George! 

We kept most of our essentials on the little table between the beds. 

This is looking back towards the door. Above the door was a storage compartment for the big luggage but it was not easily accessible. You can see that there were a couple of places to hang clothes and a  few little cubbies to put toiletries and snacks. 

Underneath the beds/benches there were large storage areas.  Once a day we went through all the effort of opening up the big compartments and choosing what we wanted to wear the next day.  As you can see we had to take all the bedding off the beds to access this storage so it wasn't super convenient but certainly doable.  One of us had to stand in the hall while the other picked out clothes.  I am glad that we had packing cubes for all of our clothes.  Certainly did make it more organized. 

At the end of each carriage was the shower.  Each day we could sign up for 15 minutes shower times. 

There is only hot water and water pressure when the train is moving.  Standing in a slippery shower while the train is rocking and rolling is an adventure in itself. 

At the end of each carriage was an area to store the super large suitcases.  From there you could pass into the dining car. 

The food was good and the service excellent. 

 I can't imagine cooking for 90+ people in these tiny spaces. 

 Or washing dishes....lots and lots of dishes! 

The workers always seemed happy and willing to pose for photos! 

We got to go in and out the VIP entrances of the stations. 

Just a funny note....there was no word in the Uzbek language for 'train station'.  One of the early emirs went to London and when he got off the train he was at "Vauxhall" and he mistakenly thought that Vauxhall meant 'station' so every station in Uzbekistan is called "Vauxhall". 

I'm not sure what you are supposed to call these women.  At one time they might have been considered 'porters' but maybe attendants is the better word.  They are the ones who kept things clean in our carriage and also made down our beds every night and morning.   

Would we go on another train trip?  Probably!!!!  The small quarters and the shared bathrooms were not a problem at all.  The motion sickness does give me a reason to 'think twice' but then scopolomine patches do work well!