I often get asked this question when people discover that I spent nearly two months hopping from train to train for over 4,500 miles overland.

The Short Answer:
Because it sounded amazing and unforgettable and generally bad-ass.  Russia, Mongolia and China via train – who wouldn’t want to do that!?!

The Long Answer:
Traveling the Trans-Siberian was my dream.  For some reason, at about age 14, I got it stuck in my head that the Gobi Desert was a place that my life would not be complete without seeing.  It was my go-to answer when asked, “If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?”

The Trans-Siberian became a mythic trip that at times I chose not to mention aloud for fear that discussing it might somehow jinx its possibility of occurring.

The one person I did discuss the journey with at length was my sister, Bridget.  She was a true gypsy spirit (to borrow a line from Andi Perullo de Ledesma) who had worked, traveled and lived all over the world as a photojournalist.

Most of our lives, we had been the quintessential quarreling siblings who could never agree on anything and were constantly tormenting one another.  But in travel, we discovered a shared passion.

While in Paris, we discussed traveling the Trans-Siberian together someday – which would have required spending an amount of time together that I would have deemed impossible previously.  The dream was becoming a reality!

As life played out however, just over a year after our discussion in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, my sister was gone; killed, along with her husband, in a car accident.

My Trans-Siberian dream remained, but once again became a solo venture to take place sometime in the abstract future; relegated to the realm of fantasy.

Several years passed and my life suffered yet another unforeseen but crippling blow, the sudden end of my marriage.  Emerging from the shambles of the life I had built, I found myself alone and free of commitments.

I could think of no better therapy than to travel.

I dusted off my Trans-Siberian dream and made it the focus, the centerpiece of my near future.  Planning the journey gave me new life – as travel often does.

Tickets were booked, itineraries madeand at the last minute my brother added his name to the bill and decided to join me.  11 years after I somehow became enchanted with the Gobi Desert, two O’Brien siblings set off to bounce around Russia, Mongolia and China.

Sure, it wasn’t the sibling I had planned on completing the journey with, but in the end the “who” didn’t matter.  Simply going seemed a fitting tribute of sorts to a sister lost and a new beginning.

Completing this life-long dream was something of a catharsis for me – it clearly marked the end of one life and the beginning of one that has proven to be better and, frankly, more fun in every way.

The day that my bus stopped at the border crossing between Russia and Mongolia was one of the most exciting days I can recall – I was about to enter the country of my dreams and the Gobi Desert…