Looking for stories, experiences, and advice regarding night train
travel in east/west europe. I lived in Germany for a few years and
traveled extensively throughout eastern/western europe and took the
night trains many times, and it seems very peculiar things happen on
them during the dark hours. Man, some weird shit goes on in the
trains/stations at night ...

But please - I am very interested in any sort of night train experiences
, especially eastern europe and former USSR countries.

You can post them or email me directly at:

(NOSPAM)[email protected] (drop the (NOSPAM) - obvious reasons


Thanks,

~Simon~

"Simon" <[email protected]> skrev i meddelandet
news:[email protected]...
    > Looking for stories, experiences, and advice regarding night train
    > travel in east/west europe. I lived in Germany for a few years and
    > traveled extensively throughout eastern/western europe and took the
    > night trains many times, and it seems very peculiar things happen on
    > them during the dark hours. Man, some weird shit goes on in the
    > trains/stations at night ...
    > But please - I am very interested in any sort of night train experiences
    > , especially eastern europe and former USSR countries.
I'm counting 129 nights onboard trains, also in East Europe and USSR.
In addition some 30 domestic trips. Sorry, but not a single story about
anything unusual. Nothing happened, at least so far...
L.P

Simon <[email protected]> wrote:

    > Looking for stories, experiences, and advice regarding night train
    > travel in east/west europe. I lived in Germany for a few years and
    > traveled extensively throughout eastern/western europe and took the
    > night trains many times, and it seems very peculiar things happen on
    > them during the dark hours. Man, some weird shit goes on in the
    > trains/stations at night ...

I'm going to sort of sit on my hands on this one- except that on the
London-Scotland sleeper services, there's a "bar car" in which some of
the travellers get very drunk. I've been in this situation, and it is
rather fun at the time. Enough said.

David

--
David Horne- (website under reconstruction)
davidhorne (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk

On Sat, 13 Dec 2003 20:55:16 GMT, Simon <[email protected]> wrote:

    >Looking for stories, experiences, and advice regarding night train
    >travel in east/west europe. I lived in Germany for a few years and
    >traveled extensively throughout eastern/western europe and took the
    >night trains many times, and it seems very peculiar things happen on
    >them during the dark hours. Man, some weird shit goes on in the
    >trains/stations at night ...
    >But please - I am very interested in any sort of night train experiences
    >, especially eastern europe and former USSR countries.
    >You can post them or email me directly at:
    >(NOSPAM)[email protected] (drop the (NOSPAM) - obvious reasons
    >Thanks,
    >~Simon~

I took about 20 night trains this year throughout Western and Eastern
Europe (for example):

Malmo - Stockholm
Munich - Budapest
Hamburg - Brussels
San Sebastian - Paris
Amsterdam - Munich
Milano - Paris

The only bad experience I had on night trains this year was on the
overnight from Barcelona to Madrid. The bad experience was that the
train was completely full and I didn't get to stretch out. Oh, and
someone stole my copy of 'Don Quixote'. Mildly irritating.

The best was Hamburg - Brussels, and Napoli - Milano. I did the
Hamburg/Brussels a few times. Both times there were **** all people on
the trains and myself and a mate got a cabin to ourselves, stretching
out over all the seats. Italian trains (apart from unreliable arrival
times) are brilliant, providing you get a cabin to yourself: the seats
are fully reclinable, resulting in a cabin which in effect is like a
massive bed - you can pull the chairs completely together, leaving no
gap between the seats for your feet! Brilliant!

I didn't have any issues on night trains regarding unsavoury
characters, but perhaps they didn't want to try thieving off three
alert, somewhat dodgy looking (albeit pacifist). always smelly 21 year
old males. But as you said, some weird shit goes on at trains
stations. One such highlight was the bloke looking at gay porn in one
of the internet PCs - on a platform - somewhere late night in Germany.

Beware aggressive, highly irritating Hungarians relentlessly harassing
you about accommodation at the main Budapest station. In Prague look
out for general scum loitering around the trains stations.

Hope this helps. Feel free to ask more questions if you want!


SC (Melbourne, Australia)

I took the night train from Krakow to Praha in September 2001. The first
interesting thing that happened as we entered the train station with our
baggage is that we were approached by a very old man in what appeared to be
some kind of very old military uniform. By old, I don’t mean shabby I mean
old fashioned. The kind of uniform that would have been worn in imperial
times before WWI. By words and signs he made it known that he wanted to
carry our bags. At first I resisted, mainly because it was unexpected and I
had been warned to be careful in rail way stations. But then I relented and
I was glad I did. The station was much larger than I expected and we were
short on time. This small old man grabbed our largest bag and started off
with it as if it were a small hand bag. As we boarded our train I gave him
a tip. Then I realized I had all these Polish coins in my pocket that would
not be of anymore use to me so I started to empty my pockets. The old man
tried to refuse them. I explained that they were no more use to me and he
took them.

Then as we tried to board our car we were assaulted by the shrill loud voice
of an American woman complaining about how dirty the train was. Oh, talk
about the ugly American. The train was not particularly dirty, but this
woman was complaining at the top ef her voice about everything. She ordered
her hen pecked husband to check the toilet to see if it was clean and had
toilet paper. She kept shouting at the top of her voice, “It smells like
shit.� I could hardly believe my ears. It was nearly a parody of the ugly
American, but it was all too real.

She quieted down, we went to sleep and except for the border crossing there
were no other disturbances.

--
"These are the times that try men's souls." Tom Paine

Stagshrine


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"Simon" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

    > But please - I am very interested in any sort of night train experiences
    > , especially eastern europe and former USSR countries.
This was in autumn of 1993 when the second putsch was transpiring in Moscow
and it was extremely difficult to buy train tickets in both Russia and
Ukraine. My cousin from Khmelnitsky managed to come see me in Kiev by
travelling all day on a succession of small hops. We decided that we would
travel back to Khmelnitsky, so he went to the station to scrounge around for
some train tickets. The best he could do was to buy tickets for the 3rd
class plaskartny vagon, which is a huge dormitory car with 54 berths.

When we entered the Kiev to Lviv train, the crowd looked pretty rough.
Eventually everyone settled down for the night and my cousin climbed up to
the top berth and I went to sleep in the bottom one. All through the night I
was aware of movement and people getting on and off the train at various
stops. The conductor was more than likely making money on the side by
letting ticketless passengers onto the train.

Sometime in the middle of the night I awoke to find a man sitting at the
foot of my bed. At this point, I turned over without letting it be known
that I was awake. From the slits of my eyes I saw him reach over and, like a
loving parent, cover me with the blanket I had displaced when I moved. I
guess that sharing my berth must have provoked a sense of responsibility for
my health and well-being!

And I have another story about the Kazan to Moscow train!

Lana

"David Horne" wrote
    | I'm going to sort of sit on my hands on this one- except that on
    | the London-Scotland sleeper services, there's a "bar car" in
    | which some of the travellers get very drunk. I've been in this
    | situation,

in the bar car, or in your cups?

    | and it is rather fun at the time. Enough said.

They'll be celebrating.

On the Scotland-London service they'll be drowning their sorrows.

Owain

Simon <[email protected]> wrote in article
<[email protected] t>...
    > Looking for stories, experiences, and advice regarding night train
    > travel in east/west europe. I lived in Germany for a few years and
    > traveled extensively throughout eastern/western europe and took the
    > night trains many times, and it seems very peculiar things happen on
    > them during the dark hours. Man, some weird shit goes on in the
    > trains/stations at night ...
    >
    > But please - I am very interested in any sort of night train experiences
    > , especially eastern europe and former USSR countries.

I'm not keen on night trains, since I don't sleep well on them.

I've used a couple of them in Scandinavia; they're very good (including a
shower if you have a sleeping compartment) and I felt very safe (but hey,
it's Scandinavia ;-).

I've used a night train in Italy once, where my watch and quite some money
was stolen from our (locked!) couchette.

I didn't use night trains on my train journeys through Poland, Lithuania
and Latvia this summer, mainly because I don't sleep too well but also
because we heard quite some stories about crime on those trains.

FWIW, a new night train Krakow - Kyiv will start operating next tuesday.
This train is fitted with various new safety equipment, such as CCTV in the
corridors, fire alarms and alarm buttons in the compartments.

Regards,
David

Owain <[email protected]> wrote:

    > "David Horne" wrote
    > | I'm going to sort of sit on my hands on this one- except that on
    > | the London-Scotland sleeper services, there's a "bar car" in
    > | which some of the travellers get very drunk. I've been in this
    > | situation,
    >
    > in the bar car, or in your cups?

I'm not sure if I've ever not been in the latter while in the former.

[I don't think "in your cups" is that familiar to a lot of readers. It's
a bit like "three sheets."]

    > | and it is rather fun at the time. Enough said.
    >
    > They'll be celebrating.
    >
    > On the Scotland-London service they'll be drowning their sorrows.

That's the one that seems the liveliest!

I wonder what would happen if there was a "Hogmany" sleeper service
going up on December 31? (I'm pretty sure they don't run.)

David

--
David Horne- (website under reconstruction)
davidhorne (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk

    > "David Horne" wrote
    > | I'm going to sort of sit on my hands on this one- except that on
    > | the London-Scotland sleeper services, there's a "bar car" in
    > | which some of the travellers get very drunk. I've been in this
    > | situation,
    >

The overnight from Kiev to Odessa has a restaurant/bar car (with plastic
ivy draped all around) that I was sure must have had another train in
tow just to supply the booze.

Also of note is that this run has about 4 hours without a stop, or at
least I think... I had some of the offerings.

jay
Sun, Dec 14, 2003
mailto:[email protected]

--

Legend insists that as he finished his abject...
Galileo muttered under his breath: "Nevertheless, it does move."

"st" <[email protected]> skrev i meddelandet
news:[email protected]...

    > old males. But as you said, some weird shit goes on at trains
    > stations. One such highlight was the bloke looking at gay porn in one
    > of the internet PCs - on a platform - somewhere late night in Germany.
You watched the screen ??

On Sat, 13 Dec 2003, Simon wrote:

    > Looking for stories, experiences, and advice regarding night train

I believe I told these already, but you might be interested.

When I lived in Darmstadt, Germany, I used to come back to see my
parents in Milan every few months. Whenever possible, I did this by
night train (I could leave after a full day working or in family and
arrive in the morning ... the exception - using morning (or very
early morning in case of early perigee) was when I was working night
shifts)).

I did it often enough that I could collect 9 trips on a frequent
traveller card and get the 10th for free.

So one funny story was that I'd got this card from a dutch station,
therefore it was written mainly in dutch. When I showed up with this
card to the DER travel agency in Darmstadt to get my free sleeper
ticket, the girl at the counter looked quite puzzled. She asked some
boss, who told her she had to issue a normal ticket, cancel it and
replace with a special one. She seemed frightened of the fact she had to
pay herself for the fare !

Another funny story occurred on the way back, Milan to Darmstadt. I
always booked T3 compartments, and most of the times travelled alone and
undisturbed.

Once there was a German police control in Basel. There were two
policemen, and old and a young one. They knocked and asked very politely
to inspect my luggage.

I had in my luggage a chestnut sweet which my mother does (you squeeze
boiled chestnuts, mix them with butter, cocoa and some rhum or cognac,
and make a brownish paste). So I had a big blob of this
suspicious-looking stuff wrapped in aluminium foil.

This attracted the attention of the policemen, who asked what it was,
and how it was called. I replied that it had no particular name, it was
something which was done in my family. The old one insisted and asked
whether it had at least a generic name. I said, well, yes, it could be
called a "dolce". So he looked at his young colleague with a large
smile and said "As I told you". Then they politely wished me good night
and left.

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