We are planning a 3 week trip in March 2009, the hightlight is Trans-Siberian Railroad from Moscow eastbound or Beijing westbound to Moscow, we are 2 enthusiastic train travelers. Will start the journey from Los Angeles, I can speak Mandarin, and my partner can speak some German, I am busy getting info from the web and other sources, but we still need advice, please review my draft itinerary.
Day 1 - Fly from LA to London via Air New Zealand
Day 2 - Transfer to Frankfurt to get my reserved Trans-Siberian train tickets
Day 3 - Train to Berlin
Day 4 - In Berlin
Day 5 - Fly from Berlin to Moscow via Air Berlin
Day 6 - Moscow
Day 7 - Moscow
Day 8 - Board the train to Siberia,
I am debating whether traveling all the way to Vladivostok is worth the trip because it will take at least 4 days out of my precious vacation time to get there and get to China.
I am thinking once we arrive at Irkutsk, and stay there at least 1 night, then
1 Take train to Ulann Batar, then fly to Beijing.
or
2. Continue the train that branches into China.

Once we arrive in Beijing then things are much easier, I will take the high speed train to Shanghai, then fly to Shenzhen then Cathay airways back to LAX.

In the reverse order (Beijing to Mowcow) will also work, depends on how easy to get the train tickets.

Thank you in advance.

I've taken the Trans-Mongolian route, with stops in Ekaterinburg, Irkutsk, Ulan Ude and Ulaan Baator. I would strongly encourage you to spend time at some of the places along the way, and not just on the train! Definitely plan to spend time in Irkutsk, and try to schedule your train so you travel round Lake Baikal in daylight. My trip report is at www.wilhelmswords.com/rtw2004.

I am very amazed by your travel experience, thank you for your advice, I think I will start out from Moscow and go eastbound to Irusk then Ulan Bataar. Beijing route runs only once per week, and sold out fast, it can be a challenge.
Thank you Thursday.

Although there is only one through train on the Trans-Mongolian route each week, there are other trains that run part of the route that are more frequent that you can use if you're stopping off along the way. See seat61.com/Trans-Siberian.htm.

Who are you using to buy your tickets? Have you taken a look at Bryn Thomas' "Trans-Siberian Handbook" or Lonely Planet's "Trans-Siberian Railway"?

The train trip is a great experience, but so is stopping off. I enjoyed myself so much I'd love to go back and do the Trans-Siberian route (Vladivostok) in winter.

Eric Newby's The Big Red Train Ride is also about the Trans Siberian railroad

Please report back on your trip. My husband would love to take the T-S Rrd sometime

I discovered that the German Railroad system provides Russian booking info, but can't purchase the tickets online, can in any German stations.

http://www.bahn.de/international/view/en/index.shtml

Buying tickets when you get to Germany may be safe in March, but you might want to read what seat61.com has to say about the limited availability of tickets for the Trans-Mongolian route.

Thanks Thursday.
We decided to go all the way to Vladivostok, it is a sense of big acomplishment like "I did Siberia!!!"
When I get there, there is an international bus available to take you to China border town called Suifenhe (about 4 1/2 hours), then bus or train to Mudanjiang (about 2 hours), flights (Boeing jets, not Tuplov) are available to take you to Beijing or Shanghai directly.
Do you do geotagging? a wonderful way to record your travel routes, where you were and pictures along the ways recorded right on your Google maps, very cool. I did it in
my 3 days train trip from Urumqi to Shanghi in last April, a remarkable trip to be remembered.
Check the GPS gadgets availble:
http://www.semsons.com/datalogger.html