SOLVED. Non-fiction travel memoir about the Trans-Siberian Railway. [s]

[AS]

I read this book about ten years ago, and checked it out from the San Francisco Public Library. Oddly, a search on their website turned up nothing that sounded right- it only gave me listings for travel guidebooks for the Trans-Siberian or historical writings about it.
The one I am looking for is a relatively recent one- I'd say written in the 1990s at the earliest, but I think early 2000s. Brown cover. The author has some funny anecdotes about Russian tourism officials offering to arrange special excursions and visits for him in the places where he stops along the trip, but almost none of them come through. I especially remember him talking about the food on the train, and how spartan it was, and people he talked to en route.

If you think you have an idea, thanks in advance!

[Rainbowheart]

The Gentleman from Finland: Adventures on the Trans-Siberian Express?

[AS]

Whoa- you are good!
I think this is probably it, but I am going to look at some reviews, etc. to be sure.
I didn't remember the Finland part of the title, but the cover looks like what I remember.
Looks like if this is it, I was kind of right and kind of wrong about the time period- it was written in the Gorbachev era but not published until 2005.

[AS]

Yes, this is it! Thank you!

[Rainbowheart]

Awesome, glad to help out!

[AS]

Oh, and it is available at the SF Public Library, lol- it was just that the part about Finland in the title threw me off and made me think it was a totally different book, but when I saw a review that explained that part, I remembered it. People kept thinking he was from Finland, because his passport went through an agency there to get his visa, but he's actually American.