DEAR MOM AND DAD ZAPYATAYA

Dear Mom and Dad, Well I made it. As I sit here on the couch in my apartment in Petersburg writing the last installment of this trip, I’m...

Dear Mom and Dad, Another city come and gone; this one the seventh now since leaving Vladivostok two weeks ago today. I arrived in...

Dear Mom and Dad, Another city has come and gone and I don’t know if I’m numbing to the constant newness of every day or I’m just...

Dear Mom and Dad, It seems I’ve become rather used to the violent rocking to sleep of the train’s rattle, as I sleep more on the train...

Dear Mom and Dad, Yesterday was my shortest train ride yet. The day I arrived was the same one as when I left in fact, which is a first,...

Dear Mom and Dad, Today I woke up in Ulan Ude. Things are moving fast. And the weather is changing quickly. At least for the day. I’m...

Dear Mom and Dad, This isn’t Khabarovsk anymore. Though, like the Khabarovsks and Vladivostoks that came before, Chita is the capital of...

Dear Mom and Dad, 43 hours on a train, it turns out, is a long time. I climbed aboard the second leg of my run across Russia at 15:00 in...

Dear Mom and Dad, Well, it's begun. Aleksey saw me off to the train station yesterday evening. As we embraced one last time he said I'm...

Dear Mom and Dad, I just got back from a weekend in Kamchatka. Three days was certainly a bit meagre for the peninsula 1.5 times the area...

...and a bottle of bourbon, several bottles of vodka, a few more bottles of spiced rum, a couple liters of beer, several kilos of meat...

Dear Mom and Dad, Flying into Vladivostok at seven a.m. seemed like a great idea, as you get there with the whole day ahead of you....

Dear Mom and Dad, I've arrived in Moscow after an overnight train ride. Top bunk is apparently still 'where it's at.' In our four person...

Today's the day I set out east. Well first south to Moscow from St. Petersburg on an overnight train, but then out east, to the Russian...