Right, Im slightly bored, so Im going to first see what countries we have to go through. Now we had two proposed routes, the first stage of either of these is london to paris via eurostar. Now once we get to paris, we cna either go via turkey/Iran, or via russia and Kazakhstan.
Looking on google maps, It seems we should try and get to bulgaria first, as then we can either choose to go south to Iran, or east through the Former USSR. A google of 'trains from paris to romania, brings up this site
http://www.seat61.com/Romania.htm This then directs us to the Deutsche Bahn webiste.
The next stage is to put a journey in, from London to Bucharest. I have selected a date in mid febuary, as I dont think its feasable to say, I want to go to afganistan today, and you would need at least some planning. this gives the itinery of;
London St. Pancras International
Tu, 13.02.12 dep 16:01 5
Bucuresti P.O.Aeroport Otopeni
We, 14.02.12 arr 08:21
The journey time is 38:20 hours, with 5 changes using services by EST, CNL, RJ, IC, R
Unfortunately, now the planning gets a bit more tricky. So lets get a train to moscow.
The romanian tourist board helps us here, with this website
http://www.romaniatourism.com/Schedule-of-trains-from-Romania.html#russia
- Bucharest (Bucuresti Nord) to Moscow (Moskva Kievskaja)
- Train D402 / not daily
- Schedule: Dep. 7:10 p.m. - Arr. 4:23 p.m. (second day arrival)
- Travel time: 44:13
- Train change: 1
- Via: Bucharest, Buzau, Iasi, Chisinau(transfer to D47CH), Kiev, Moscow
Now to get to kazakhstan, fortunately seat61 has some help for us, he even gets us to tashkent in Uzbekistan
http://www.seat61.com/SilkRoute.htm#Moscow - Tashkent
Moscow ► Tashkent
Tashkent ► Moscow
The "Uzbekistan" Train 6
Moscow (Kazanski station) depart 23:25 Mon, Wed, Fri
Yaisan (Russia/Kazakhstan frontier) arrive 10:36 Wed, Fri, Sun
Tashkent (Uzbekistan entry point) arrive 19:05 Thur, Sat, Mon
Now since It shares a border with Afganistan, thats the closest im getting. So overall, to get to Tashkent at 19:05 on monday the 20th feb, you would have to depart on the 13th at 16.01. so that is 147:04 hours using 8 trains, and probably a frew busses for cross city transfers). The sleeper from moscow to tashkent would cost £295. an EUrail global pass would cost €625 (and give lots of extra validity) however I cant get a price for the train from Romania to moscow.
Looking back, there seems to be another route, London - Paris, Paris - Moscow (on the transeuropean express) and then the Moscow-Tashkent.
A standard class single on eurostar is £179 (unless you get an advance)
A standard class single on the transeuropean express costs around £330
And a standard class single from moscow to tashkent costs around £295
This gives a total of £794 each way for this alternative route. It would take a little less time aswell (maybe 12 hours)
