Stranded tourists take on the longest railway in the world

Like so many others, Belgian tourists Maxime Schidlowsky, Alice Meurice and Sarah Ladan were stranded at the Beijing International Airport and unable to get home due to the volcanic ash clouding European skies.

But instead of moping around bemoaning their bad luck (or trying out CNNGo’s 10 ways to kill airport time), they’ve decided to take things into their own hands by ditching their flight and opting for the epic Trans-Siberian Railway.

The group will leave Beijing tomorrow and travel from China back to Brussels in a 10-day, cross-continental journey that will take them past Mongolia, Moscow and Berlin. A trip on the longest railway in the world will cost them 13,000 yuan (around US$2,000) -- about four times the price of their original air ticket — and there is a high chance there won’t be a shower room on board, said the 23 year old Meurice, who described their plan as “a little crazy.”

It all started as a drunken flash of inspiration, Meurice told CNNGo. “We were having a few beers at a goodbye party, and we knew our flight would be cancelled, so we started joking about either swimming back home, buying car [to drive back] or taking the Trans Siberian Railway,” she said.

Then the airline chaos really set in. The trio’s airline told them that they had to go back to the airport every day to check the status of their flight.

“When we finally saw how bad the situation was, we started to seriously consider the train," she said.

The trio is not likely the only ones opting for old-fashioned land transport back home.

“We booked tickets for the Trans-Siberian railway on Monday night, and by Tuesday morning, the train was fully booked. We’re told this has never happened before,” said Meurice, adding that she knew people from Poland and Belgium who were also doing the same.

The South China Morning Post reported that sales for trans-Siberian tickets at travel agencies have increased drastically in recent days.

While many may see it as a trip of a lifetime, Meurice, who’s never been in a long distance train ride before, said it isn’t as romantic as it sounds.

“At first it was just a solution to get home. We were under a lot of stress. Now we’re trying think positively and make the most out of the trip, but still, you can’t say we’re exactly excited,” she said.

“There’s the problem of not having showers on board -- we’re thinking of washing ourselves in the bathroom. Then we have to go through a lot of trouble to get our Russian visas. There’s no Internet on the train. And it will be hard getting tickets from Kiev to Brussels because everyone will be trying to get them too,” the final year college student said.

Even so, Meurice said she and her friends will be keeping logs and snapping photos of their adventures on board to post on Facebook when they get home.

“We really need to get home. Maxime has to get back to work. I have an internship waiting for me back home, and my finals are in June. I’ll have to start writing my final thesis on the train,” Meurice said.