When my GrandPal, Rae, was 45 in the year 1991, he went on a boat through Russia. His plane from Canada landed in Helsinki. From Helsinki, he took a train to Leningrad, which is now called Saint Petersburg. From Leningrad, he took a train to Petrozavodsk to board the boat. He met many nice people from all over the world. There were some Russians on the boat with him, and they always begged him to play chess with them. They were very good at chess and beat him in every game.
They travelled down the Volga River, and he was on the boat for about two weeks. The three ships were called Faith, Hope, and Love. Rae rode on the ship called Faith. On the third day, there was a windstorm, and all the ships got separated. Rae's ship went the fastest, but the rudder on the boat broke, and they had to stop. In the morning, two Russians swam down to fix the rudder.
One thing Rae remembers about this trip is that he had to sleep on the deck of the ship with a tarp over him, but some of the Russians slept beneath the deck because they apparently liked sleeping in caves.
At the end of his trip, he stayed a day in Cheboksary. When he was standing around waiting to get lunch, he wanted to see if anyone spoke English, so in a small voice he said, "Does anyone here speak English?" Surprisingly, there was a college class from England!
He connected very well with one student, so he spent the whole day with him. When it was time to say goodbye, the student gave him a gift, which he still treasures to this day.