So I’ve had a lovely Christmas holiday at home, with lots of food; sausage rolls, chocolates, restaurants, cocktails, homemade pizza night, birthday cake, Chinese and Prosecco! I had Christmas in Russia, NYE in London, my Birthday in Stratford and a night out in Colchester. I cut my guinea pigs nails, met Granny’s new dog, and met my baby cousin!
Back off to Russia…and all I can think about is my plans for the summer 
First I plan to take the Tran-Siberian Railway from Novosibirsk (where I live) to Beijing:
I’ve read a lot about it; from Seat 61 to other people blogs who’ve done it, and it looks quite fun, with a bed and unlimited hot water supplies! The Tran-Siberian Railway is huuuuge but I only need to go a few stops to get to Beijing, although I think it will take a few days going from Novosibirsk, past the Lake Baikal (largest lake in the world I believe), possibly through Mongolia to Beijing. Moscow to Beijing takes 7 days non-stop..! I think I’ll need some good books.
First I will need to get a visa for China. I think the best way to do this will be apply via post or DHL my passport to Grandad to take to London for me as I may not be home again before this trip.
I will then stop in Beijing for a few nights and then get the new high speed train (apparently just opened?!) to Hong Kong to stay with Aniela 
She tells me we can go across the border and buy cheap fake handbags that look just the real thing which is very exciting!
And then… I don’t know!
I would like to do some or all of the following:
1. Go to Adelaide to visit Chloe
2. Go to L.A/New York/Chicago to visit Jere
3. Go to Norway to visit Therese
4. Go to Germany/Holland to see Erika, Jonas, Ilana…
5. Fly into Argentina and travel all the way up …
Ha, well depends how much money I can save for how much of this massive trip I can do..better get teaching
i have heard this before but can’t recall where i did, still interesting though,
Brilliant article you have written thank you so much for taking your time to do so!
Baikal is not a largest in the world. Largest lake in the world is Caspian Sea which located between Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran. You can read about it in Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspian_Sea . You can also travel to Dagestan or to Astrakhan oblast for swimming.