Young colonial Americans – to broaden their perspective – used to do “the grand tour” of European capitals: London, Paris, Rome… My pioneer forebears reached the furthest western limit of North America – Alaska – and from there I thought that “the grand tour” must mean Asia, Africa, and Europe.

 

I had already been to Japan, China, and Southeast Asia (in 1978), so when I spent 1983 in India and the surrounding countries (Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh), I fantasized about spending 1984 visiting Africa and Europe, then returning to Alaska across the Soviet Union.

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Of course money was a constraint. I had left Alaska with about $20,000 and was already down to half. My grandmother’s 100th birthday – which I was committed to celebrating with her in Iowa – was coming up soon.

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Since I had just met Ellinor (who is Swedish) in Bangladesh, I decided – after a quick trip to Iowa, and leaving Africa for later – to go to Europe, including three weeks on a bus tour of Great Britain before taking a ferry to Sweden.

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I spent half of 1984 with Ellinor, either at home with her in Göteborg or traveling with her in Sweden and the surrounding countries (Denmark, Norway, Poland). I hitch-hiked to Munich, Paris, and back; took a mail-boat up the Norwegian coast and around North Cape; joined a tour to Leningrad and Moscow; and spent three months on a Eurail Pass, hitting Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Germany, and all the countries in between.

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By then I was nearly broke, so Ellinor and I flew to London for a week, after which I flew home (my first time over the Pole) to look for work. The Trans-Siberian Railway (as well as Africa!) would have to wait. And wait. And wait.

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I never forgot the trans-Siberian possibility, especially after we moved to Sweden in 1992 (having gotten married in Anchorage in 1986 and then living six years in DC). Going across Siberia – like the original Russian explorers – would be a great way to get “home” to Alaska.

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But when I thought about actually doing the trip, I realized that, first, I would want to spend a lot of time to see Siberia, leaving little time for Alaska (since, for insurance reasons, we usually have a 45-day limit on travel outside the EU). And flying from eastern Siberia to Alaska – when possible at all – is very expensive, further reducing the incentive to get to Alaska that way. Why pay a lot to go to Alaska for a short time?

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But, for the last decade, I’ve been active with Democrats Abroad, the worldwide branch of the U.S. Democratic Party for Americans living abroad. DA holds an annual global meeting, and in 2018 it was scheduled for late May in Tokyo. I had been to, and enjoyed, the previous four global meetings, so I wanted to go again. But how to get there? Across Siberia, of course! Here's what happened.