Most of us have barely made it to the end of the M25 without a back seat meltdown. So the idea of taking a month long train journey across Russia, Siberia and Mongolia might sound either thrilling or completely mad. But Martin Kyrle, a seasoned traveller with seven decades of globe-trotting under his belt, has done exactly that, and he has written a book about it that will make you laugh out loud.
Jottings from the Trans?Siberian Railway is not your average travelogue. Yes, it covers one of the world’s most legendary rail journeys, from Moscow to Beijing via Lake Baikal and the steppes of Mongolia. But what makes it special is Martin’s voice: warm, witty, wonderfully self?deprecating, and packed with the kind of detail only a Russian Studies graduate could provide.
He also wants to bust a few myths. “When I told friends I was planning to go to Siberia their invariable reaction was: ‘Innit cold?’” he writes. “I’m going in September. It’ll be mid-twenties!” He explains that most of Siberia is not a frozen wasteland of huts, the railway crosses the fertile south, where cities like Novosibirsk and Ulan Ude have opera houses.
The book is filled with marvellous mishaps (a menu offering “hot shak with bird” turned out to be something else entirely) and genuine wonder (spending days on an island in Lake Baikal, the deepest lake in the world). Accompanied by his friend Michael Roberts, whose stunning photographs punctuate the text, Martin takes us from Tobolsk’s stone kremlin to the grassy expanses of Mongolia, all with a twinkle in his eye.
What makes this a perfect read for mums? Because it reminds us that adventure doesn’t have an age limit. Martin was well into his later years when he made this trip. He has been blessed by a pope, a patriarch and a Siberian shaman (despite being a lifelong atheist), survived a near engine failure over the South China Sea, and once got locked in a church in Devon. His message is simple: say yes to the journey, even when it goes wrong, especially when it goes wrong.
So whether you are an armchair traveller hiding from the laundry, or a parent dreaming of the day your children are old enough to tackle the Trans?Siberian together, this book is a joy. It is funny, clever and deeply human.
Jottings from the Trans?Siberian Railway is available from Amazon.
Give yourself the gift of an adventure you don’t need to pack for.
As seen in London Mums magazine summer-autumn edition.
Monica Costa founded London Mums in September 2006 after her son Diego’s birth together with a group of mothers who felt the need of meeting up regularly to share the challenges and joys of motherhood in metropolitan and multicultural London. London Mums is the FREE and independent peer support group for mums and mumpreneurs based in London https://www.londonmumsmagazine.com and you can connect on Twitter @londonmums
