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Trans-Siberian Addendum

Louie is one of the world's best trip planners. She will call, e-mail, question and search for the best accommodations, best price and make sure everything is booked. So she is not to blame for what went wrong on this trip. It all started out fine. We arrived in Vladivostok and were met by a driver, who not only took us to our hotel, but made sure we found an ATM so we had cash (rubles). It was a very nice hotel with an ocean view and a nice breakfast.

Everything also went well getting on the train. After three days on the train all I could think of was a nice shower and a real meal. Louie assured me that, "Helen will take care of us. It's a home-stay. We can get meals and she will arrange tours for us." Sure enough, as we exited the station in Irkutsk, there stood a well-dressed, attractive woman holding a sign with our names on it. I could feel the hot water and smell the food. Before we left the station, however, Helen said "I am sorry, but I can't put you up." My face must have shown my shock, because Helen asked Louie if I was alright. "My house is like a volcano," she added. Supposedly, when the city turned on the hot water for the winter, her radiators or something blew up. Her house wasn't fit for habitation. When I asked if it would be ready when we returned from Mongolia she answered, "Probably not, and my daughter and I have a chance for a cheap trip to China, so we won't be here." Louie, of course, believed her, but I doubt there was a catastrophe. She did take us to a crowded hostel, but all of Louie's plans were out the window. As a side note, we recently received an e-mail from Helen asking us to answer a survey on our stay with her. We, of course, reminded her that we had not stayed with her. Oh yeah, they did have a nice time in China.

When we arrived in Ulaanbaatar, once again our driver picked us up and took us to the Gobi Tours guesthouse. Louie had booked our trip to the Gobi through this place. Everything was going well until the lady asked, "Where are you staying" "Whoops! We thought we were staying here." "No I don't have room, you didn't say you wanted to stay here." She did find room for us in another hostel, which all in all might have been better.

No problems in the Gobi, Baatuul took care of everything.

Back in U.B. we had made a reservation to return to the Gobi Tours Guesthouse. When we arrived we learned we would have to wait until some people left. Eventually we were given separate beds across a vast room from each other. Louie had a bottom bunk and was able to stow her pack beneath her bunk. I had a single trundle bed with both ends of the bed up against other beds and no room under it to put anything. The bed was also up against a heater. We spent the night, but with two more nights to go, I wasn't returning. We scoured town and found a tiny private room with a TV that included breakfast (bread & jam) for less than the Gobi Tours Guesthouse. The Gobi Tours Guesthouse lady wasn't happy, but that's the way things go.

After returning from Mongolia, we stayed at the same hostel in Irkutsk, which turned out to be O.K.

By now I was a little apprehensive about reservations. Louie told me we didn't have any for Ekaterinburg, but not to worry, a hotel there had 300 rooms, no sweat. We found the hotel and patiently waited for a desk clerk to finish with a man paying his bill. Finally it was our turn -- it didn't take long. "No rooms," the woman said. (The hotel was closing for renovations, we later learned.) Louie turned to me and said, "There's another place nearby that has three rooms." I was not thrilled. It was cold and raining and we had lugged our packs several blocks already. What were the chances a place with only three rooms would have a vacancy when the 300 roomer was full? But on we went in search of the Academy of Geology Hotel. What kind of name is that for a hotel? We felt lost. Louie had followed her Lonely Planet map and there was no sign of a hotel. There was rubble from construction all over the pavement and, with Louie having her nose in the book, I warned her to watch her step. Just then a woman asked if she could help us. Louie showed her the name in the book and she beckoned us to follow. She pointed at a doorway with a small portico. No number, no sign, but she encouraged us to knock. She waited until someone came to the door and waved goodbye. The lady at the door said, "Nyet," when we asked for a room. Our spirits were sinking, but then she asked someone inside, who came to door and said, "Sorry, it will take 10 minutes to make up the room." No problem! We were very willing to wait. The room was huge. As we wandered around Louie said, "Which part is ours?" "All of it," I replied. Except for being dry from the heater running at full blast, it was great. (Louie had trouble sleeping because her nose dried up.)

As we approached Moscow I once again inquired about our reservations. "No worries, we have a two night reservation at Godzilla's Guesthouse" Godzilla's? When we got out of the metro stop, Louie pulled out a detailed map with directions that took us right to the door. Louie was in the reception area for a long time. I was happily reading an English language newspaper. When she emerged I could tell by the look on her face something was wrong. "We don't have a reservation. They claim I needed to reconfirm our reservation, but that wasn't mentioned in all the paperwork I received from them. We can stay tonight, but not tomorrow night. There's a soccer match between Russia and England tomorrow and they're expecting 10,000 Brits to descend upon Moscow." We tried to make a reservation at an airport hotel, but weren't sure it was booked. The next day, after touring Moscow, we took a bus to the airport, went to both airport hotels and found out there was no room at the inns. So we slept at the airport -- real comfy.

To round things off, the next day on our German flight to the States, the SS stewardess refused to sell us a beer because we didn't have any Euros.

All in all, it was an O.K. trip, especially Mongolia. But as they say, the best laid plans......