All aboard the Trans-Siberian from..your armchair!

It is now possible to enjoy one of the greatest travels existing in the world from the comfort of your armchair in your house. Indeed, the Trans-Siberian railway is available on googlemap. Not only is the whole trip filmed, but are also available a mini map where it is possible to select your favourite part of the journey. To add to the ambiance, a radio delivers a multitude of Russian tunes from the balalaika (I have a personal preference for the balalaika tune “Polnote, rebyata”) to the current Russian radio stations; in addition, it is possible to listen to a few Russian masterpieces such as Tolstoi’s War and Peace or simply to the rumble of the wheels of the train. However the possibility to get more related tunes via youtube or other streaming websites would have been great.

It is likely that no one will ever vision the whole part of the railway but I believe that it is a good way to enhance the renown of this mythical trip. Although the video is not always great, right now I am stuck next to the Lake Baikal watching some wagons in a train station, and is one sided which thus offer only half of the trip, it remains a considerable achievements.
I think that such initiatives should be welcome. In fact, not only the video of the journey is available but the effort to include something more authentic to the ambiance with music is a really good point of this webpage. I appreciate the simplicity of the page without any advertisement but I also believe that it remains a formidable marketing tool and that a links to specialised websites on the Trans-Siberian would not hurt either.


It is obvious that it cannot replace the full experience, which I believe is rather long. Everyone having travelled to an exotic place will know that a virtual experience cannot fill the role of an actual experience; however this page remains fun and informative. I hope that other great railways such as the Railways in the Andes, the Transcontinental American Railway or the Orient Express will be added with the same realism and sense of detail. If these webpage cannot compete with the experience of actually doing the trip, it is a great way to push people doing them.

-C