Girl On a Train

It was almost 10 years ago, when I asked a friend what place on earth was his number one destination to travel to that he mentioned taking the Transiberian. I had no idea at the time what it was, but when I looked into it, I was in awe. The sort of awe you start to feel before something bigger, mightier, and greater than yourself. That friend had become my partner since and we decided to do this trip together. A 9000 kilometers pass-over started for both of us. This is by no means a project for the light-hearted. Doubt is an essential part of it. How does anyone go about and organize such a trip? How much will it cost? How easy will it be to get the visas required for each country? What would I have to pack? How much would my backpack weigh? Would I even enjoy traveling in such cold weather? Would I really even get to see anything? It gets dark so soon so most of the day would be in darkness…. Will there be a language barrier? How many pictures will I be able to take on a moving train? Will they be any good? Will I get bored on the train? What about Wi-Fi? How will I be able to connect to the rest of the world while on the train? How much will my relationship get tested in such a journey? What will this journey mean for me as it was never something that I considered before…? These questions have altered, if not vanished, upon the completion of this journey. 4 different trains, 5 stops, 7 time zones, almost 9000 kilometers and some 30 days later we finished our trip in Beijing to ring in the New Year before flying back to Athens. I wanted to combine both the experience of traveling inside a small carriage, filled time by time by unknown passengers, travelers or commuters, with the standing majestic greatness of the scenery, its’ alterations and dilutions. As everything came by the window, a glimpse of places probably never to be seen again, I understood what has driven me to hold a camera; it was not my will to hold a moment still, it was rather my wish to hold that feeling still for a moment. This journey makes its own rules, once you are on it. It has a price that you are eager to pay, a cut off of what seemed indispensable to a ≤modern≥ man; cellphones going out of signal, no internet, no wifi. It is you, yourself and the carriage. Being in such close compartments for days at a time with another human being and being able to enjoy the togetherness as much as the individual still moments while gazing through the window for hours on end is an experience that I will cherish forever. You have to be so much at peace with yourself in order to really let go and take in all that this journey is offering. I have never felt more in love, with my partner, with life and with traveling before… Shortly after the trip was finished we found out we were going to be parents and we welcomed a very healthy magical baby boy into our now family. I don’t know if this trip enabled us to do so but having completed it shortly before I can definitely say that when I came back I was ready to become a mother. Transcendence was completed. Or at least, this is the way I felt it.