I Travelled on a Sleeper Train in Russia in 2025, Close to the Border ... watch the revealing end.

Watch until the end for a big reveal ...

I caught an overnight train from St Petersburg to Minsk, a route that would take me close to the border in 2025.

St. Petersburg is an absolutely stunning city and despite current tensions everybody was kind and helpful, including government staff. The border staff at Ivanograd were far more friendly and helpful on the Russian side of the border than on the Estonian side.

The train station in St Petersburg was a slight culture shock, as the ticketing system was different and you had to be in the correct carriage, because at certain points on the journey the train would get broken up in the shunting yard and the carriages broken up and sent in different directions.

The staff on the overnight train were really helpful and kind and I finally figured out where my Russian partner's habit of turning any journey of over 100kms into a picnic came from.

The train carriages were really clean and tidy and free boiling water was always available. I finally tried Russian noodles called doshirak for my tea.

Everybody had settled down to sleep for the night by 9pm and although the bunk bed was narrow and slightly too short for my frame I slept reasonably well.

I was awoken armed border guards at roughly 1am who wanted to see my passport. Although they were armed, they were professional and did their job properly.

Minsk was not what you would expect it to be like. It's probably the cleanest city I have ever visited. It was rebuilt as model Soviet city after world war two and was built to a interesting and well thought out plan. The architecture was outstanding.

Everybody in Minsk was friendly and helpful and everything was surprisingly very cheap. I would definitely visit Minsk and St Petersburg again.

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