European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 26, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A russian Soldier and woman passenger awaiting the departure of Tho trans siberian railway main Statton in Moscow Are perpetually tilled beyond their capacity with waiting passengers. My Cuba a Lafle Borrok soviet travel difficult for westerners much worse for russians by Philip Taubman new York times Eho Flot flight 3868 was ready lot Takeoff from Irkutsk Eastern Siberia s largest cily. Already seven hours late on a 4.000-mile journey from the stack sea resort of Sochi to the far Easl City of Khabarovsk the Airliner was filled Wilh bedraggled passengers and Hys Loncar children As the plane turned to lace Down the runway a father siding in the front Row propped his Young daughter on a narrow table hanging trom Iho Bulkhead a woman several rows behind reclined her Seal and tossed one Loose end of her seat bait Over the armrest the open Luggage rack overhead crammed with heavy bags and packages Many sitting precariously near the Edge started to shake ominously As the Takeoff Roll began the Cabin Crew having provided no safety information and made no Effort to see ii Seal belts were table Ned was out of sight in the Galley. For Westerner travelling in the soviet Union the customs of Aeroflot the world s largest airline can be a puzzling curiosity. To russians they Are an integral and seemingly unchanging Par of the ordeal of travel. Ii is an ordeal that often distils into a single moment of a journey the almost unimaginable inefficiency of the soviet Economy and in gives an idea of the monumental problems Mikhail 3. Gorbachev faces As. He tries to modernize soviet society. Foreign visitors who complain about uncomfortable planes and sanitized Tours in the soviet Union do not realize How pampered they Are by in oust the government Agency thai arranges and supervises most foreign travel i lakes a few years of living in the soviet Union and Raveling widely Lor a Westerner to begin to appreciate the hardships thai most russians put up with when they Lake a trip Arec enl 10,000-mile Insp irom Moscow to the soviet far East Wilh stops in Irkutsk Khabarovsk and me Pacific port of Nakhod a near Vladivostok was a reminder hat for russians moving about Trie soviet Union Means total immersion in disco Loil this year in a speech about economic problems Gorbachev pointedly said we cannot put up with an unsatisfactory situation in passenger transport " Aerol lol service has come under criticism and according to airline optic gals and newspaper reports. Iho airline is making changes to belter accommodate passengers. The ministry of railroads and other agencies involved in moving people have also promised improved service. Or Turke foreigners who order Hen lain tickets in Advance and usually travel in real Ivory clean iwo or Lour person Sleeper compartments russians lace maddening delays trying to buy tickets and can spend hours and sometimes Days waiting in overcrowded stations. Moscow s train stations which foreigners Glide in and out of with porters carrying their bags and a bus or car awaiting them can evoke a scions s bleakest images of 19th-Century misery. The main stations in Moscow Are perpetually miffed beyond their capacity Wilh wailing passengers often crowded into underground wailing rooms out of sight of foreigners. On a recent night every Inch of floor space Al Kursky station a Galoway to the South and Central Asia was clogged Wilh people Many sprawled on Iho cold Concrete or curled up in Corners amid Mounds of Luggage. Many of the the thousands camped out were victims of an inefficient ticket sates system that books one Way travel Only forcing passengers to Ofa Iain return seats when they reach their destination the system the Bane of Soviel rail Ravel works Jike a giant pottery arbitrarily dispensing tickets and leaving passengers unc Orlam How Long they can remain where they Are going and exactly when they will return obtaining hotel reservations can be equally daunting. Without the Aid of i tourist which books hotel space for Lorei ners. Russians Are confronted with problems that would seem Suri Llo a Western traveler. In the absence of phone directories Here has Long been a nationwide shortage partly to prevent foreigners from gaining easy Access to numbers it can be difficult just getting the number for out of town hotels even Wilh the Correct number dealing by phone i h hotel clerks is often an exercises in frustration wifi i rude employees either refusing to Book a room or simply hanging up because they do nol want to be bothered beyond the world of foreigners Only Inlo Urist hotels which can be spartan by Western standards but Are reasonably comfortable there lies a harsh universe of hotels Lor russians. Rooms Are often Liny and infested with cockroaches. And the bathrooms both private and he More common communal often defy polite description faced with those inconveniences it is Little wonder that russians Are less than enthusiastic Aboul travel. And most prefer to stay Home unless they can go somewhere on business in which Case return tickets and hotel reservations Are easier to obtain. Most vacations Are made possible by getting a voucher irom work or from a Trade Union that provides for transportation and housing personal travel of the kind common in the West with a family making its run arrangements for a Holiday is almost unknown in the Soviel Union. Of Ugnon a Tutty Trmal la no Tiv by Page 14 the stars and stripes or Tow Fanon lev per comp Ruments on som to not. Monday Octal