Troy McCubbin: Trans Siberian Train

Time of publication: 16.11.2006

G'day Guys,

I'm sitting on the Trans Siberian Train right now and I'm about 18 hours into our 30 hour trip.
I believe its one of the longest train rides in the world. And don't forget one of the coldest, remote parts of the world.
After leaving Moscow we flew into Surgut, Russia to play a huge basketball Stadium. I think Surgut has a lot of Oil refineries and big business as there seemed to be a place of money. It was great because us guy were picked up in the basketball teams brand new bus, while Julia & Lena went in some other luxury transport. Plenty of leg room on that bus which usually accommodates tall basketball players.

We had a good gig even though everyone seemed a little tired after all the traveling. From there we had to get up the next morning at 4 am to head to the airport to catch a flight to Novosibirsk. I guess you could call Friday the 10th of November drama day. As soon as we got to the airport everything seemed to start going wrong. Sven had an altercation with a security guard as we entered the airport because the guard wrecked some of his traveling equipment when going through the security machine. It was on!! All I can say is that I'm glad we have bigger guys than there guys! Julia & Lena's security guys were right there and made sure it went no further. Its good to have 2 huge guys ready to through down for you.
So after dealing with annoying security and all the bullshit you have to go through to just get on a plane nowadays, we jump on a bus to drive out to our plane sitting on the runway. Its freezing, lots of snow and all this Aussie is thinking is, de-ice the wings, don't forget to de-ice the wings!! We get off the bus and its a mad rush to get on the plan as everyone's pushing and shoving. Finally we get into our seats and the plane feels like a sauna. It seems they think going from freezing cold weather to extreme heat is good for you.

So we are all sweating like crazy! Dying of heat exhaustion on the plane now, Sven & Steve decide to go topless to make a statement. It worked, I was impressed! They start the plane and we sit there on the runway forever, just to make things worse. Domen and I notice that they haven't de-iced the wings still. Not a good sign. All of a sudden Julia & Lena come running back from first class and tell us we are getting off. The pilot told them that he wouldn't fly on this plane as its not working too well. AHHHH! NICE!! So we all stand up and head toward the front of the plane to get off, while they call for the stairs to be attached back to the plane. So the whole TATU party is now standing in the Isle waiting to get off this plane while everyone on the plane is wondering what the hell is going on? What do these people know that we don't? We were getting some very strange looks thats for sure.
The stairs finally arrive after another long wait and we finally get off, back on a bus to be taken back to the airport. WAIT! Now everyone is getting off and we all pile on the bus to head back to the airport. Apparently the only 2 engines the plane has don't work too well and they decided it wasn't a good idea to fly after all.

Now we are back at the start again waiting for our luggage to get back off the plane and it looks like we'll have to do it all over again. But now we don't have a flight out of Surgut. So its now around 7 am and we are all extremely tired and annoyed with everything. We all head up to the VIP lounge where I read to only fall asleep for an hour or so. No one seems to know what our plan is next. So after waiting for a few hours at the airport we head back to the hotel where I quickly fall into a deep sleep only to be woken up 30 mins later with the information that we are heading back to the airport as we now have a private plane taking us. Apparently a very important & powerful friend of TATU called the owner of the airport and insisted he lend us his private plane to take us on to Novosibirsk. I'm fine with that!! So another round through security, baggage check in and getting on the plane. This time its only us and its a lot easier to get on the plane. Our plane is a propeller plane and all I can think off is Buddy Holly, Aaliyah, and JFK Jnr. But I feel god is not ready to take me just yet, well thats what I tell myself. So I put on my ipod, listen to some inspiring music and work on writing some life changing lyrics as we head off down the runway. The whole flight was perfect and quite enjoyable. I didn't feel like once we were going to smash into the crowd at a million miles an hour. We land at Novosibirsk airport and head straight to the hotel. I'm so happy to get into bed and sleep.

The next day had off and I spent most of the day writing music and working out. The next day we headed off to the stadium for our concert, which is in a Ice Hockey stadium. Its freezing, but I think its fun as I have never played an Ice Hockey stadium before. We had a huge crowd and the show was lots of fun. Great crowd! We are really enjoying these concerts and its even better when the crowd is as good as they were in Novosibirsk. After the show we sped off to a Havana restaurant where we watched some awesome performers sing and dance while we all had great food and drink. Lots of drunk Russians that night. Then we quickly left and jumped on this Siberian train, where I am sitting here writing to you as we speed along the tracks. Oh we haven't yet experienced any extreme cold temperatures yet as its been quite warm here. But I have been warned that its very cold in Irkutsk where we are headed and there is lots & lots of snow. Snow angles here I come

More adventures to come I'm sure guys

Good on ya mates!
Troy

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