Train Life

People bring all sorts of items on the train to make their ride more comfortable. My bed partner has brought a six-inch stand-up mirror to help her put on contacts; I just sleep with mine in. The family across from me has brought a porcelain teapot for their morning hot beverage; I just have a small stainless steel mug. Others take out clear bottles of face cleaner, hold a cotton pad to the top of it, and wipe their faces before applying a new layer of foundation and other beautifying products; I never wear makeup.

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About 25 hours after leaving Irkutsk, the heat had really settled into the plaskart class car and it was thick and sticky and suffocating. There was no way to escape it. The open window tops running down one side of the car didn’t do much to circulate the air. People started fanning themselves with train-issued wash cloths, pieces of newspaper, a puzzle book. I could feel a single sweat drop trickle down the middle of my chest. To think we still had 60 hours left on this train.

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After spending over 24 hours on the train, getting off can be a process. This process often starts about one hour before your destination when the providnitsa reminds you that your stop is coming up. There’s the stripping of the mattress, collecting all the train-issued linens, balling it up and giving the pile to the providnitsa. When that’s done, you roll up your mattress with the pillow inside, fold up the blanket, and make it all tidy for the next passenger. You may have to change out of your comfortable “train wear” and back into a pair of jeans or a dress or a nice shirt – the general making yourself look presentable to the outside train world. There’s collecting all your bags and luggage, repacking toiletries and other loose items you needed during the journey. You pack all the food items back up and throw away the garbage and wipe the table clean. You may want to use the bathroom one last time. There’s the rechecking your area and lifting the seats up to look for anything that may have been forgotten (especially since the man who got off the train 12 hours ago forgot to grab his laptop). And when all that’s done, you wait anxiously, all ready and organized, for your stop.