Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mrsquirrel]

Anybody taken the train back to London?

The school is being a pest about vacations and wants to stiff me on a couple of days, so rather than getting agitated I would rather finish and take the train back to the UK with the missus for a holiday.

Might as well have an adventure.

Anybody done it in either direction?

[keysbottles]

My wife and I have been considering this trip in July. The best place I found for info was www.lonelyplanet.com You can chat with people who have made the trip who offer suggestions and also others that are asking questions and making plans. Good luck.

[yetanotherSarah]

I plan to do this trip in couple years when I am finished with Korea. A good site for train travel all over the world is here:

http://www.seat61.com/

I hate plane travel so this site is a gold mine for me. Check it out.

[BS.Dos.]

Just posted a similar question in the China forum:

Trains: Beijing --> Moscow,

which threw up a good link that may be useful to you.

*EDIT*
Sorry, didn't realise the above posted the same link.

[chris_J2]

July is Nadaam in Ulan Bator, & all trains will be booked out. So book asap. I went from Beijing to Irkutsk last May, June, July then headed east to Vladivostok. Legend Tour in UB, Mongolia, & Bill Wang of Ease Travel in Chongwenmen, Beijing, are both highly recommended to book train tickets.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?messageID=13071407&#13071407

http://members.aol.com/imershein/Page3.html

"man in seat 61" is another good website.

[soviet_man]

As someone who has been from Korea to Russia a *lot* the comparison to make is this:

A direct trip via Russia (eg from Vladivostok onwards cutting out China and Mongolia) is straightforward at any time of year (on virtually any day of the week).

But to go via Beijing and China, you would have to consider the timing - especially in the lead up to the olympics (with accommodation and transport at a premium) ... and only 2 trains per week from Beijing to Russia.

Yes going Russia direct is more expensive (because flights from Korea to Russia are more expensive than Korea to China) but you do save a lot of hassle.

[BS.Dos.]

^Thanks.

Are the Olympics being held in July as I hadn't considered them? I'm actually thinking about going in August and am hoping that I can squeeze some extra 'contract renewal' hoilday out of my school to add to my 2-weeks contract summer vaction.

If I could get say, an extra week out of them, then I could do the train trip, spend a couple of weeks back in the UK and then fly back to Korea in time for the Winter/Autumn semester in September.

It'd be nice to book something up soon though as it'd give me something to think about over the coming months.

[BS.Dos.]

@ Soviet_man

Do you know if you can fly direct to Vladivostok from Korea?

It'd be nice to go from China through Mongolia etc, but travelling the length of Russia by train has an appeal of it's own.

I suppose it comes down to what the traveller wants - a longer, cheaper more geographically diverse route (China-Mongolia-Russia) or the more expensive, quicker Russian (Vladivostok) route.

Could you offer any suggestions for someone making the trip for the first time, bearing in mind that time is not really of the essence, provided of course that I get there (Moscow) within say, a week of departing from Korea.

Thanks in advance fella.

*EDIT*
Sorry, one other thing. What do you think the total journey time from Vladivostok to London would be? Also, could you hazard a guess as to what it would cost?

[soviet_man]

Korea to London overland will take close to 2 weeks at its bare mimimum.

FLIGHTS:
Seoul to Vladivostok is a 2 hour flight on either Korean Air or Vladivostok Avia. There is about 6 or 7 flights per week. Prices are about 800,000 won return, although expect prices to routinely double (and triple) during the summer (up to 2 million won is common). In the past 3 summers, all flights from Korea to Vladivostok have been booked out weeks in advance.

There are other options.

Asiana and Dalavia fly Seoul to Khabarovsk, which is cheaper than Vlad (count on 650,000 - 800,000 won return for airfare) and seats are easier to get.

There is also a ferry from Sokcho to Zarubino which is cheap, but slow and unreliable http://www.dongchunferry.co.kr/

S7 airlines (www.s7.ru) also fly seasonally to Korea during the past few summers, generally to Irkutsk at cheap prices.

MIAT airlines of Mongolia are another indirect option and the Mongolian/Uzbek shops in Gwanghui-dong (around Dongdaemun Stadium exit 10) can potentially find you a somewhat passable fare (shop/ask around).

TRAIN:
Vlad or Beijing to Moscow = 6 or 7 nights (that is, without stopping)
Moscow to UK = 2 to 4 nights (either via Belarus and Poland or Ukraine or Finland)

[BS.Dos.]

Thanks for that.

I didn't expect the Korea to Vlad flights to be so expensive. 800,000 (400 pounds) seems excessive for what looks like a 90-minute or so flight, but I suppose one way would be cheaper.

Anyway, thanks for the info. It's given me plenty to think about. I'd say the Vlad --> Moscow route is more preferable to me at this stage, not just because there's something unique about travelling from one end of Russia to the other, but it'd also mean only applying for one visa as opposed to three if I went through China, Mongolia and then Russia.

Anything else you can think of that might be useful would be appreciated.

Cheers.

[soviet_man]

S7 airlines has a special fare 275 Euros (380,000 won) Novosibirsk to Seoul direct being advertised on www.s7.ru at the moment which is nice work if you can get it.

S7 has an office in Seoul, I think I recall it being near City Hall above a Tous Le Jours bakery although don't quote me on that - go and speak with them during office hours and they may be able to get it at that price.

Getting all the way to siberia for less than $400 is not bad comrade.

[chris_J2]

There are actually 2 rail lines from east Russia to Bratsk. I went via the BAM (Baikal Amur Mainline) track, about 300 km north of the TSR. (Bam is the green line in the link below).

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Map_Trans-Siberian_railway.png

Lonely Planet Russia described it as more scenic. I caught a bus from Komsomolsk Na Amure to Khabarovsk to connect with the TSR.

[nuts]

I've done it from Beijing as far as Novosibirsk in Russia. Made stops in Ulaan Baatar, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, and Novosibirsk. All were decent places to stretch the legs and avoid cabin fever. In Irkutsk you can make a day or overnight trip to Lake Baikal if that appeals.
I used the website China trip advisor (google it) to reserve the ticket between Beijing and Ulaan Baatar. I think it cost about $120, which is more than you'll pay if you get it from the office in Beijing, but I wasn't willing to spend a week there just so I could buy a ticket a week in advance. I went in mid-May, a month and a half before Naddam, and the train was more or less full of foreign tourists and chinese traders (there's only 2 or 3 trains a week)
Beyond that had no problem reserving anything... I just went to the ticket office in the rail station wherever I got off the train, and bought tickets for 2 days later or whenever I was leaving. Russia was no problem getting tickets. If you plan on getting off anywhere in Russia learn to read some Cyrillic, it's not hard and it'll make your life a bit easier reading menus and trains schedules etc. Good luck

[Easter Clark]

Are there any travel agencies in Seoul that could book the trip (and handle the visa issues) from Seoul-->Vladivostok-->London, then onward to the US?

I've looked at the ones in the sticky but no luck. I'd be looking at traveling in June.

[soviet_man]

There is no one-stop shop in Korea where you can buy a package like that. No Korean travel agent can sell you domestic Russian rail tickets, and even if they could, it wouldn't be advisable. You will have to buy them individually.


Russian rail tickets
The cheapest way to buy domestic Russian rail tickets is to buy them at the Russian railway station yourself. That way, no over charging can occur. Vladivostok to Moscow is straightforward because there are direct trains daily and seats are always available. Buying them through an agency like monkeyshrine.com is good if you want peace of mind and a guaranteed seat, but you will pay a premium price for the service.

Air tickets
Check online at expedia.com, vladavia.ru and koreanair.com for the exact price. *Then* check travel agencies to see if they can do better. Sometimes they can, often they can't.

Moscow to Europe tickets
Straightforward to buy in Moscow station yourself, provided you don't want to go through Belarus. If you do want Belarus, go through an agency in Moscow. (There is a Belarus embassy in Korea, but it could be difficult to get a visa issued by them). The Finland/Helsinki route is a far easier border crossing than the others.