While I was waiting for my train, one of my main concerns was the train not being on time. My train was supposed to get out of Belarus between 22:00 and 23:00 and I was scared of it being delayed. Remember that I only had a 48hs visa so I didn’t want to get in trouble.
I waited for a couple of hours in the train station and all the trains seem to arrive and depart on time. So I got to the platform where my train was supposed to leave from but there was no train in sight. So I was waiting there when this girl approached me and asked me something about something Moscow (that’s all I managed to get), I told her I didn’t understand but that this train was going to Moscow. As soon as I said that she started speaking English to me.
Her name is Anastasia, she is a Russian Med student from Siberia. She was in Belarus for a few days with a group of students visiting the country.
Lucky for me, we were on the same carriage. So we got on the train and I went to my berth and she went to hers.
Belarusian trains are really nice, I booked 3rd class which meant that there is no door and a part of the 4 berths (2 on each side), and a little table in the middle, you also have 2 more berths in the corridor. They provide you with a thin mattress, a pillow, new clean sheets, pillow case and a hand towel, oh! and a blanket. A really cool thing is that you also have a socket on each side of the compartment, so you can charge your phone or your laptop.
You have one crew member per carriage and they make sure everything is clean and tidy, and they check the tickets of course. They also walk down selling some kind of sausage/salami, drinks, crisps, etc. You can also get free hot water just next to where they are and, in case you don’t have any, they can sell you coffee and tea. Another important thing is that next to where all this is, on the wall, it tells you the times of each stop and the name of the stop as well (it would be better if I understood Belarusian but with the time at least I can understand where I am).
Once I got to my berth I sat on the one below (I had the top berth again). The problem was that I had no idea what to do or where to put my things until a lady came and lift the seat in front of me. That’s when I got it, that’s where you put your luggage. So, like I knew the WHOOLE time, I lifted my seat and put my backpack away. Nothing happened, super casual LOL.
Once the train left the station, Anastasia came and joined me. We talked a lot, I hadn’t spoken to anyone in a few days so it was nice to interact with someone. At the moment she is choosing what to do with her career and then was surprised about my travels.
A few hours later a few more people join, previously to that it was just me and her. So when this guy started preparing his bed she asked him to put my berth down for me and then she helped me prepare my bed. Such a lovely girl, thank God I had her.
As I was saying before, I was scared about not getting to the border on time so Anastasia stayed with me until we got to the Russian side. The thing is that we got to the first Russian city but no one got on the train to check passports or stamp anything, nor Russian or Belarusian. I didn’t know what to do so she kindly went to the crew member on the train and asked, the lady said that she had no idea, that it was an open border.
After hearing this there was nothing else for me to do until I got to Moscow. So it was time to go to sleep. Just 5 more hours and I’ll get to Moscow. Tomorrow will be a new day.