Giorgio Vanni is an Italian pensioner from Varese, in the northern region of Lombardy, who set off on August 25 on a four-month trip from Italy to Australia, where his daughter lives.
Only this trip is not the usual holiday: Vanni will travel by train, bus and cargo all the way to Australia, without boarding a plane once.
Vanni’s first stop is in Moscow, which he reached by train.
“Having crossed the Brenner Pass and left Italy, the train began to ascend the Alps, and the scenery was stunning, just like the rest of the way through the peaceful Austrian countryside,” he said.
“Especially in Tyrol: its wooden houses, pine forests and streams made for an idyllic landscape.”
Vanni had quick stopovers in Innsbruck and Vienna, then he boarded the night train for Warsaw, from where he took a train to Moscow.
The adventurous Italian said that on the border of Poland and Belarus, he noticed a sudden change of atmosphere and the weight of post-Soviet bureaucracy.
Belarusian police officers stood at the border and allowed entry to the Eurasian Customs Union, which consists of both Belarus and Russia.
“I filled out the immigration card very carefully,” Vanni said.
“I wouldn’t dare imagine what it’d be like on the border of China and Mongolia!”
As usual, they then changed the wheels on the train to the former Soviet Union gauge, before departing again during the night.
Passengers were woken up at 6:15 am at Smolensk, for passport checks to enter Russia.
A young man with an expressionless face wasn’t happy with Vanni’s passport, and that of a Ukrainian passenger, and called his boss over.
Vanni was then asked if he had other documents with him, while the Ukrainian woman was forced to disembark the train.
“The anxiety and fear on the woman’s face gave me an idea of the power of the police,” Vanni said.
“I was sorry for her because she seemed like a good person who was just trying to get to her family in Russia.”
The train then continued, passing the odd wooden house and farmer in the field.
Then larger towns began popping up, with buildings typical of the Soviet era.
All of a sudden, there was the Moscow Belorussky station.
Vanni’s first destination in Moscow was the celebrated Red Square, before he took a stroll along the beautifully illuminated Nikolskaya Street.
He then visited Lubyanka Square, where the former headquarters of the KGB stands, and the Arbat, a famous pedestrian street.
He had dinner in a Georgian restaurant and spoke of his travels with a Siberian waiter from Chita.
“I could smell the hookah that was being smoked by diners and it reminded me of the years I worked in central Asia,” he said.
Vanni’s next destination is the Russian city of Yekaterinburg.
