Urgench to Fergana (solo traveller tips help)

[roseiro]

Hello, this is my first post on the forum.

My wife (63) and myself (age 61) will be travelling for the first time in Uzbekistan from april 2nd until april 17th, in fact this will be our very first visit in Central Asia.

Long ago back in 1997, we did visit external Mongolia but we took a local guide taking care of everything (money exchange, transport, translator...).

This time, we will travel alone so I thank you in advance for any advice, tips on the following topics. The only thing we have reserved and purchased are our flight tickets from France via Istanbul, we will land in Urgench airport then will return via Fergana airport. Our intent ideally would be to systematically travel by train through this route during our trip: Urgench (Khiva, Nukus), Bukhara, Termez, Shahrisabz, Samarkand, Tashkent and Fergana.

Question about local payment
Does Uzbek accepts easily now Euros cash whereas in the past, it seems to be recommended only USD ?
Is it easy to find ATM (cash machine) in Urgench upon our arrival so use our credit card for local currency bank notes ?
How about the other cities mentioned before ?

Buying train tickets
Is it easy to buy at train station or best to purchase by internet ?
If buying by internet, is it possible to pay with PayPal or what best method to avoid being ripped off by our bank ?
Is it advised to decide specific dates of train prior our journey or is it easy to find train seat during april ?

Termez
Does a train goes to Termez or only bus ?
We see Termez very close from Afghanistan, is it safe, is it worth to visit ?

Language
We both speak english, is it easy to find Uzbek english speaker or shall we be prepared to some challenge depending each visited region ?
I happen to know some very basic turkish, does most Uzbek speak turkish ?

Place to visit versus our staying 15 nights including +4 hours jet lag
Please be frank, do you think our initial plan Urgench (Khiva, Nukus), Bukhara, Termez, Shahrisabz, Samarkand, Tashkent and Fergana represents to many places so too much rush ?

If you have any recommendations, suggestions, tips so we can have great solo travelling in Uzbekistan, we both thank you in advance.

[sebhoff]

There's plenty of information on the Caravanistan website and the forum about buying train tickets, money etc. So I think you'll find most answers to your questions yourself.
15 days would be too tight for my taste for this itinerary.

[rocknroll5]

Train ticket > I suggest you to purchase in advance online. You can buy easily on Uzbekistan railway website (or even on their app) and pay with credit card.

Itinerary > Termez is quite far from Bukhara. If you don't want to spend much time on traveling, I would suggest you to skip it and take a high speed rail from Bukhara to Samarkand directly. You can visit Shahrisabz as day trip from Samarkand.

Language > We survived with English and just did our best to communicate with body language. Google translate is your best friend (camera function to translate menu etc). It's handy to be able to read cyrillic alphabet as Russian is the most common foreign language there. When you see some basic words like кофе at least you know it's coffee.

[roseiro]

Thank you sebhoff, I will check specific threads about USD, EUR and train ticket purchase in advance.

Thank you rocknroll5 where both sebhoff's answer and your answer shows a net consensus that we must forgot about Termez due to travelling time. So my wife and I will rather then keep along the Khiva/Nukus Bukhara Samarkand/Shahrisabz then Fergana route during our 15 nights plus initial rest due to 4 hours jet lag.

From what I've read, Tashkent in itself is not so interesting city so we'll try stay longer in Samarkand. Hopefully there is one day trip train directly to Fergana unless we really need to spend one night in Tashkent for train scheduling.

[sebhoff]

I find Tashkent a *very* attractive city. Great museums, wonderful metro, fascinating market, good opera house (if you are into that kind of thing), etc. Would go back any time just to spend a few more days there... But then again, your mileage may vary...