The ultimate train trip

This cat will help you with that: http://www.seat61.com/

Hi! Thanks. I had started my search there. It does not answer my question- perhaps because it can't be done?

London to Turkey: http://www.seat61.com/Turkey.htm You'll have to backtrack some. I don't think you'll be getting through the border at Georgia to Russia as an American. You can take a ferry to Odessa (my gut feeling is that is going to be your most efficient route) and then to Moscow from there. Alternatively, you can head back to Bucharest and then to Odessa via Moldova. From Odessa, there is a train to Moscow.

I don't know anything about trains east of central Europe but in that area it is a fairly straightforward concept. To save money on fast trains you have to commit long in advance to specific non changeable trains. To have the ability to walk up on fast trains you need to pay top prices. Regional trains in most countries don't have deals and the walk up price is the only price; on regional ones you can often get off and back on within a short window. They are the slowest trains so you will see plenty of whatever is outside as you stop and go. So my answer to your question is either travel slow or travel expensive if you want to be able to get on and off on a whim. Happy planning...

It looks like the ferries from Istanbul to Odessa aren't running. I know those from Constanta to Odessa have stopped. It is possible to go from Istanbul to Bulgaria to Rumania to Ukraine to Moscow, providing you have the correct credentials for entering Russia. We went on part of this route a year ago but it is difficult. Our route was from Istanbul train station to Stara Zagora, Bulgaria to Bucharest, or Buchuresti as they say. The route from Istanbul north was by bus or train. Information on the buses went as far as northern Turkey and not wanting to be set down in the middle of nowhere we chose the train. It was overnight, fifteen hours, and a real milk run. You might see if you can fly from Istanbul to Sophia or Bucharest, and pick up a civilized means of transportation there. From Romania you can aim for Lviv, Kyiv or Odessa. There are luxury buses that go north from Odessa but I don't know about trains. All trains and buses in Ukraine go around the top of Moldova because of the unsettled politics there. You should find a map of the region and use it to help with your planning.

...and if Monte's wife were on here she would say do NOT go 3rd class on the train from Istanbul.

Pam, Right. In the part of Europe we call "Eastern Europe", do not travel less than first class. It is not that much more expensive, and is sooooo much better.

"...it can't be done." On the contrary, of course it can be done, especially the London to Istanbul ride. On this leg you can tailor the routes you want to take with the least number of changes or places to avoid, at least to Budapest, or with the standard expected changes.

I think what can't be done (safely) is Moscow-Istanbul.

John, email me privately at gtomseeley at gmail and i'll tell you how i did a lot of what you're trying to do and how i'd do the rest of it. I'd pay cash money to go with you! Short answer: London-continent-Budapest-Bucharest-Istanbul-Bucharest-anywhere north of there such as Prague or Berlin-Warsaw-Moscow would work. I haven't checked www.bahn.de myself but i'd bet you could find point to point trains for every city pair i've listed above. When I did the continent-Istanbul part this past April, I had no trouble at all finding all the trains I wanted.

Elaine, There is no visa requirement for U.S. citizens to, travel to and in the Ukraine. You will need one to get into Russia, however.

Hmm...well then it wasn't the Ukraine but there is a transit-visa required someplace along the route, in one of the "ex-USSR" states along the way. I'll have to go back thru my notes when I get home.
But my point was - you have to check these things out for every non-Schengen country.

Elaine, Here is what we do. A computer search for "Visas, Ukraine" or a similar search. You can always find the information that way. We have been in Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, and Poland and none of them required a visa.

Hi to all for the wonderful responses. We had a wonderful Christmas and I hope that you did too. This planning part is some of the best part of all trips. I have been to 80 countries so far and am going to add about 8 on this trip. We are leaving Atlanta on September 1 and will be gone until we get back - probably early November. We are going to London for a couple of days and then going through Paris (stopping only briefly - we have rented an apartment there from Feb 14-Apr 14 so we will be Parised out I expect) and on to Munich for a day or so and then Vienna and Budapest (so far, I have been to all of these). Then we go to Bucharest and Istanbul where we have a lot of friends. We are either going to take a train or a bus or rent a car and go out to Gobekli Tepe, about 500 mi E of Istanbul. Then back to Istanbul and north to Moldova and Moscow, then over to St Petersburg and a ferry to Helsinki. Truncating to next post...

... continuing Back to Moscow and the southern route (I think - I volunteer in the local elementary schools and I have 400 4th and 5th grade students "helping" me figure out the route) to Ulan Bator and then Beijing (or vice versa) and then Shanghai and Hong Kong then Laos, and the speed boat to Angor Wat then the bus to Bangkok and then home. The reason for the original question is that we want to have as much freedom as possible if we get tired of the train or the company on the train or see something interesting to hop off and get a later one. It seems that it is doable but only in advance and only for a considerable additional cost. So, we are going to have to plan what parts are get on and get off (probably in Europe and SE Asia but that may be because I don't know much about the middle - seems interesting but fairly consistent; thoughts?) Thanks for all of the input. We will be doing a blog as we go and would love to have advice on places along the way. We will give kudos in the blog to those who can help us with advice!
John & Donna

One last thing: Gobekli Tepe depends on the Syrian civil war being over very soon. It is only about 50 miles from the Syrian border and while the Kurds seem to love Americans, we don't want to have a close encounter with a Syrian SCUD. And one more last thing: when I was in Cuba, I told everyone I was from Australia because of the difficulties being American. We are thinking about sewing Australian patches on our backpacks just as a safety measure. What do you think?

I was trying to plan train travel from Vienna to Moscow for next summer. I ran up against an unplanned visa requirement for the Ukraine, it requires a visa just to "transit" thru the country in the middle of the night. Can't remember the fee, but I will need the visa ahead of time, and it involves mailing my passport to the Ukraine embassy in DC. So when you plot out your trip, make sure you research any transit-visa requirements along the itinerary.

Mea culpa - it was BELARUS that requires a visa to enter or transit thru the country.

Thanks for all the great info. I've been offline a bit. Had a fall delivering a yacht and put my back out. Will be well in a month say the MDs. PT sux. Anyhow, we are also considering flying from Atlanta to Istanbul, skipping the London to Istanbul start until 2014. So all of this jnfo on getting to Moscow or St Pete from Istanbul. One wrinkle is we have a son and daughter-in-law living in Warsaw so we may route that way. When we return in mid-April from Paris we sill likely send our passports to a DC company to get all these vizas. I suspect the transit visa problem was in Bylorussia (or however it is spelled now)..I was arrested there in Grodno in 1990 by kgb and warned in 2010 to take a Vilnius-St Pete train that did not go thru there