| 1st class return | £19 |
| 2nd class return | £13 |
| 3rd class return | £8, 10s |
Return tickets are available for sixty days.
The tickets cannot be taken right through, and it is advisable to take them from London to Alexandrovo, the Russian frontier, and thence to Vladikavkaz. There are various companies which issue tickets for Alexandrovo, the Great Eastern Railway Company, the London, Chatham and Dover, and the Belgium States Railway Company, 52 Gracechurch Street, E.C. The last-named is the only company issuing third-class tickets. It is as convenient to travel third as to travel second in Belgium and Germany. In Russia, however, it is extremely inconvenient to travel third class. The carriages are dirty, and the passengers Russian peasants, and the seats are wooden. First and second-class compartments are very comfortable, and one may be fairly sure of sleeping at night, since a ticket entitles one to the whole length of a seat.
The train takes five days from Alexandrovo, with changes at Warsaw (here one has to cross the town from the Viensky to the Brestky Station, the fare for which by droshky is one rouble), Kiev, Poltava and Rostof. There is, however, a fast train, Warsaw-Rostof (first and second class only), which enables one to do the journey in two days less. A special ticket (platzkaart), costing 10s., has to be bought at the Brestky Station, Warsaw. The train leaves that station at 5.11 p.m.
Another route is by train to Odessa (tickets may be taken from London to Odessa), and thence by boat to Novorossisk, Sukhum or Batum.
The fares are:
| Port. | Novorossisk. | |||
| Class. | With Meals. | Without Meals. | ||
| 1st | 2nd | 2nd | 3rd | |
| Fare from Odessa in Russian or English Money | 27.30 roubles or £2, 12/- | 19.90 roubles or £2, 12/- | 14.40 roubles or £1, 10/- | 5.45 roubles or 12/- |
| Sukhum. | ||||
| Fare from Odessa Fare from Odessa in Russian or English Money | 38.15 roubles or £3, 19/- | 27.50 roubles or £2, 18/- | 19.40 roubles or £2, 11/- | 6.50 roubles or 14/- |
| Batum. | ||||
| Fare from Odessa Fare from Odessa in Russian or English Money | 42.10 roubles or £ 4, 7/- | 30.30 roubles or £3, 3/- | 21.19 roubles or £2, 15/- | 7.50 roubles or 15/- |
Another route is via St Petersburg and Moscow. Boats carry passengers to St Petersburg at various fares, and the ticket to Vladikavkaz from St Petersburg costs:
| (Single) | |
| 1st class | 46 roubles 20 copecks or £4, 15s. |
| 2nd class | 26 roubles 95 copecks or £2, 16s. |
| 3rd class | 15 roubles 40 copecks or £1, 11s. |
It is a long and tiring journey, and one will appreciate the pleasure of lounging in Vladikavkaz for a few days. The hotels are good, and rooms can be taken from a rouble (two shillings) a day. From Vladikavkaz the celebrated Georgian road runs to Tiflis—150 miles. There are various conveyances, and I append the fares: