From Europe to Georgia without flying

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[this beautiful photograph was found through google on gmeyerphotography.blogspot.com]

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Fed up with spending hours and hours hanging around in Riga International Airport, waiting for a transit Air Zena flight? Disgusted by the extortionate prices for direct flights to Georgia levied by British Airlines, Lufthansa, and Turkish Airlines?* Well, if you are insane enough to try, here is how to get to Tbilisi from London without leaving the ground (and contributing to the plague of international air travel):

Day 1
Proceed to St Pancras International, and catch an early Eurostar train to Brussels (300+ km). With the new line finally in place (a saving of 20 minutes for several billion pounds), London to Brussels only takes two hours, so if you leave early enough, you will have time for a stroll or an early lunch. From Brussels, you need to catch the 14:20 Thalys to Cologne (200+), arriving at the main railway station at 17:45. Spend a few hours in Cologne - the MONUMENTAL cathedral is just outside the station - then buy a picnic in the excellent station shops, and board the sleeper to Vienna (900+), which leaves at 20:00.

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Day 2
Having crossed Germany and the Austrian border during the night, the sleeper arrives in Vienna at 08:30. From Vienna, you need to take a short train to Budapest (200+ km), ideally one that arrives at around midday, leaving you a few hours for wandering around the city. Your next train will be the sleeper to Bucharest (600+), which leaves at 17:45.

Day 3
You wake up shortly before the train pulls in at Bucharest at 08:30. However, there is barely time for Bucharest, as the sleeper to Istanbul (400+) leaves at 12:30... I would suggest trying to find a Rumanian brunch near the station. (Long-distance railway travel is all about brief, alternating periods of eating, staring out of the window, and sleeping.)

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Day 4
Having crossed the border during the night, the sleeper arrives in Istanbul at 08:00. There are several buses a day from Istanbul's two main bus stations to Trabzon (800+ km) on the Black Sea coast, an 18-hour journey. Some of these buses are *very* comfortable - bus travel across Turkey is infinitely more civilized than the usual stereotypes! Expect to be waited upon on board the bus (tea, nescafe, biscuits, kolonya eau-de-cologne to freshen up, etc.), and regular stops.

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Day 5
An Istanbul-Trabzon bus leaving Istanbul at around lunchtime would arrive the following morning. From Trabzon, you need first to head east along the Black Sea coast by bus towards the border with Georgia and Batumi (250+ km), then catch the Batumi-Tbilisi sleeper (350+), which leaves Batumi at 21:00. The journey from Trabzon to Batumi can take as little as 3-4 hours - the distance is not great, the roads quite good, and crossing the border can be quite prompt - but the border-post is always an unknown quantity, so you should allow plenty of time. Also, note that Batumi's new, gleaming station is slightly out of town.

Day 6
The sleeper from Batumi arrives in Tbilisi at around 10:00.

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* Please note that this route is in no way cheaper than flying! (Indeed, it is probably more expensive.) What little monies one might save - by purchasing an Interrail pass, for example - would be absorbed by the supplies needed for the long succession of railway journeys.

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Long-distance railway journeys can be planned using the extremely useful (but rather user-unfriendly) HAFAS timetable database, and the truly amazing "Man in Seat 61"! Information on bus travel across Anatolia can be found on the TurkeyTravelPlanner website, or in the travel section of one's local bookshop.

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