The  vagon-lits was a pleasant ride yestetday, sadly I have finally been Deutsche Bahned in 🇩🇪 Muenchen and missed my   EuroCity to 🇨🇭 Zurich. Instead, I took the opportunity of the   Tz "München" with the 🏳️‍🌈 pride stripe via 🇩🇪 Karlsruhe.

Finally, a good old  class 628 brought me across the border back to 🇫🇷 Alsace where I was greeted by the beautiful new  🤝🏽  Régiolis transfrontaliers sleeping there.

Finally home.

17 days of travels, 12 countries, 16.600 km on rails and 200 hours onboard of trains to travel from 🇹🇭 Bangkok to 🇫🇷 Alsace !

Thanks for reading 💙💛 !

🚂🇹🇭🇱🇦🇨🇳🇷🇺🇪🇪🇱🇻🇱🇹🇵🇱🇨🇿🇦🇹🇩🇪🇫🇷

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#FOSSRail #CrossBorderRail #TeamNightTrain

Last miles back home : During day 16 of my journey, I made it to my last  night train for a while.

The day began in 🇱🇹 Vilnius with an  Pesa 730 ML ride on the international link to 🇱🇹 Mockava, where there's the break of gauge between Soviet track gauge and standard gauge. The transfer is a no-brainer, the  IC 145 "Wigry" was already waiting for us and after an illegal and annoying border check, we made our 4 h journey onboard of the comfortable, modern  voyage wagons to 🇵🇱 Warszawa Centralnia on time.

I spent a relaxing day in the city enjoying the outstanding Polish cuisine culture and visiting the hacker space before continuing my journey from 🇵🇱 Warszawa Wschodina in the evening.

I was pleased to salute the  068Л "Kyiv-Express" on its overnight trip to Ukraine's capital with its golden roofs and defiant beauty 💙💛.

I meanwhile boarded the   40407 "Chopin"  through-carriages on their 15 h journey from 🇵🇱 Warszawa via 🇨🇿 Ostrava and 🇦🇹 Wien to 🇩🇪 Muenchen. After three exhausting days rushing from 🇷🇺 Sankt-Peterburg via the Baltic's to 🇵🇱 Warszawa I granted me a luxury wrap up of my travels : I could catch a single sleeper compartment with a shower - a good opportunity on a long-running sleeper train with enough time in the morning.

The  vagon-lits are amongst the best sleeper rolling stock available in western Europe. Of course, due to the loading gauge constraints and the fundamental lack of understanding how to design suitable night train wagons here in EU (I absolutely don't get this, just look at what amazing night trains they have east of EU borders even with respect to western loading gauge), they can in no way compete with Soviet-style long hauling trains. Nevertheless, they are comfortable, clean, have somewhat comfortable beds, a private bathroom and even a DVD player 🤓 !

I'm completely exhausted from the speed run of the last days and need to catch up with my strive for sleep, dreaming myself 1000 km westbound before tackling the last miles back home tomorrow.

Good night 😴.

🚂🇹🇭🇱🇦🇨🇳🇷🇺🇪🇪🇱🇻🇱🇹🇵🇱🇨🇿🇦🇹🇩🇪

🌈✊🏽

#FOSSRail #CrossBorderRail #TeamNightTrain

After a total travel time of 12:30 h today, I reached 🇱🇹 Vilnius with a little delay.

I'm exhausted since I didn't sleep a lot last night so I directly walked over to the Panorama Hotel most railway transit passenger might be familiar with.

While the timetables in the Baltic's drastically improved in recent times (like, relatively), the link to Poland is still rather limited. For me that means I'll need to get up early tomorrow to catch the  Intercity service to the border station in 🇱🇹 Mockava at half past six in the morning to make my way to 🇵🇱 Warszawa in a timely manner.

Good night everyone 😴 !

#FOSSRail #CrossBorderRail #Vilnius

The day began with a couple of hours by  FLIRT : First, the  RE33 got me from 🇪🇪 Narva to 🇪🇪 Tapa, where I changed to the  RE45 bringing me to 🇪🇪 Valga / 🇱🇻 Valga with the transfer to the  🤝🏽  Pesa 730 ML bringing me via 🇱🇻 Riga down to 🇱🇹 Vilnius - my final destination for tonight.

Despite all the joy of being back in 🇪🇺 Europe, the bitter breeze of nationalism, oppression and fascism blowing around the globe can be smelled even here : Our universal freedom of movement is violated here as everywhere with the Estonian police illegally racial profiling the arriving train from 🇱🇻 Riga.

Illegal border checks are no minor issue. No privileged complaint. Fighting police checks is fighting for fundamental human rights. Arbitrary identity checks are the open port of entry for fascism, for hazardous oppression.

I'm terrified of this because I've just seen what this road leads to during my journey across 🇷🇺 Russia and 🇨🇳 China.

We need to fight this. Every single of us must fight this. If you do not fight this, you collaborate with the autocrats. This is our civil duty. Our fight for a liberal Europe.

It's 13:12 🕐 !

P.S. : If you wanna glimpse on what this does to a democracy, I'd kindly suggest to read this : https://mullvad.net/and-then/

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#FOSSRail #CrossBorderRail #Schengen #SchengenUltra #Estonia #Latvia #Lithuania

Long live democracy, long live freedom, long live liberty 🌈✊🏽.

Let's fight together for a future in solidarity !

I'm back in 🇪🇺 Europe. I'm back in democracy. I'm back in a country where I don't need to fear to disappear for putting up my voice. I left the terror of the 🇷🇺 Russian hegemony behind. I could drop my fear, my caution.

Europe needs more solidarity, strength - because our enemies are close by, undermining our fraternity and unity !

Let's fight it together 🌈✊🏽 !

In other words : I left the 🇷🇺 Russian Federation in 🇷🇺 Ivangorod and arrived in the 🇪🇺 European Union in 🇪🇪 Narva.

A bridge, one kilometer by foot. An Iron Curtain. Worlds collide. A restricted gate to liberty. A valued gate to liberty. The New Iron Curtain. As terrifying as the old one.

Stay strong and be thankful for our freedom 🕯️.

🌈✊🏽

#FOSSRail #CrossBorderRail

After one more night onboard of the  071Е, I reached 🇷🇺 Sankt-Peterburg Ladozhskiy around noon. Leaving my comfortable  first class single SV compartment behind, I'm preparing for the final leg in Russia : Tonight, the  dieziel' (or is it an elektrichka when it's bi-mode ?) П 6661 will hopefully bring me from 🇷🇺 Sankt-Peterburg Baltiyskiy to 🇷🇺 Ivangorod-Narvarskiy right at the border to 🇪🇪 Narva.

Since the suburban train will depart in the evening, I'll have half a day to spend in 🇷🇺 Sankt-Peterburg. The agenda is obvious : After some lunch, I will head over to the  Museum of the Russian Railways right next to the Baltiyskiy railway station 🚂 !

So far, day 14 of my journey !

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#FOSSRail #TeamNightTrain

After spending the evening in 🇷🇺 Ekaterinburg with the amazing Children's Railway, I boarded one of the two actually occupied SV compartments of the  071Е "Diemidovskii Ekspriess" brining me to 🇷🇺 Sankt-Peterburg during its 40 hour journey. Sadly, this is my last sleeper train for a while since the journey down the baltic's will be entirely seated due to the lack of night trains.

After the exhausting afternoon in the city with its chaotic tram lines, I slept like a baby and started my day as usual : with an amazing  @diningcar breakfast.

The chef served me fresh oatmeal porridge along with Asian-fusion rice noodle salad with steamed vegetables, juice and a bun. I rounded this up with oat milk cocoa and fresh fruits from my groceries and at the end had the meal of my life 🥰. While I initially was sceptical about the combination of porridge and rice noodles, the chef de cuisine could fully convince me : It was a truly perfect match for an amazing start in my day 😋 !

My train is meanwhile following the last miles of the Transsibirskaya Magistral north of 🇷🇺 Nizhny Novgorod so that I'm now notably reached Moskva Time Zone +3 🎉 !

I will enjoy some rest with good food today - and plan the final few days of my trip which is mostly reserving seats , booking my  EuroNight home and looking for hotels in the baltic's.

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#FOSSRail #TeamNightTrain #EaterAndSleeper