Comments on: Adventures in Overnight Train Travel

By: Ms. HalfEmpty

Ms. HalfEmpty — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 00:52:44 +0000

Wow, those must have been professional thieves! Very bold.

By: Sarah P.

Sarah P. — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 23:20:08 +0000

RE: money stolen… I think we were able to take more out via ATM. Our bags were also high above our heads, and someone had to climb over us to get at them while we were sleeping… but we theorized that they did so during one of the super long, super loud tunnel trips through the mountains. We must have been dead to the world!

And the story about the chickens sharing seats is cracking me up!!

By: Ms. HalfEmpty

Ms. HalfEmpty — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 16:40:16 +0000

I guess I should be thankful that I was only sitting next to a loud, gregarious, snoring man (AND Mr. HalfFull) and not chickens! Why did the chickens get seats? Did they buy tickets or are they free like infants?

By: Kathleen

Kathleen — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 12:55:36 +0000

I had pleasant experiences traveling by train in Spain. In fact in the 70′s, I took on a regular basis the night train to go from Madrid to Leon and Salamanca to run workshops on Saturdays. I always bought the sleeping train and never had any problems. I was lucky or just knew to buy the “good” tickets. However, I heard of horror stories from others who took the train and had to share their seats with the chickens that other passengers were carrying with them on their trips.

By: Ms. HalfEmpty

Ms. HalfEmpty — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 02:43:13 +0000

So instead of putting the snorer in her own room, you made another girl suffer? Nice! I’m glad she got over it. =)

By: Tracy

Tracy — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 02:08:49 +0000

RE: snoring roommate…I shared a two bedroom with two other girls and I just insisted on the single. They hated me for a few days and then got over it. The snorer was the only one who wanted to travel on the weekends. Everyone else was saving their Eurorail pass for after the semester ended. Can’t wait for the Madrid stories!

By: Ms. HalfEmpty

Ms. HalfEmpty — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 17:43:40 +0000

It’s nice that they only put 3 (and not 6) people in your compartment, so you could have full beds. Surprisingly, I wasn’t so worried about theft on that particular train (even though I was on the bus) because our luggage was high over our heads and our seats were fully reclined. So it would have been pretty difficult to get to our bags without touching us or standing on the seat. Plus, I never really got into a deep sleep with all the disturbances.

I’m sorry your money and cameras were stolen. What a rotten experience! Did you have money in another pocket or did you have to cut back during the rest of the trip?

By: Ms. HalfEmpty

Ms. HalfEmpty — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 17:36:53 +0000

I can’t believe you brought the snorer with you into your compartment! Way to shoot yourself in the foot. =) How did you sleep with this roommate when you weren’t on the move?

Madrid is up next, so you’re in luck!

By: Sarah P.

Sarah P. — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 01:15:16 +0000

After my high school graduation I traveled in Italy and France with my older brother. We took an overnight train through the Alps, and also had one of those six-seat compartments where the seats slide down. These actually slid completely together, so if you were a group of three people (we were), you could make them into three sort-of beds. A uniformed person showed up in the middle of the night, as we were going through a loud tunnel, and shouted to us that there were thieves on board and did we know where all our valuables were. Groggy and naive as we were, we glanced up at our bags that held cameras, etc, and nodded. In the morning, the bags were there but the cameras and money were gone.

So yeah, I’m not sure I trust those overnight trains much!

By: Tracy

Tracy — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 00:40:52 +0000

I took a lot of overnight trains during my study abroad semester…uh, many years ago. None of my experiences were quite as uncomfortable as yours, but I never slept for one second of any of these trips because my roommate who was always with me snored. Let’s face it, I’m an insomniac in good conditions, I probably wouldn’t have slept without her snoring either. It’s just awkward…strange countries, strange languages, no locks, sleep is just difficult.

My nephew is going to Madrid for his fall semester. I’m toying with the idea of visiting him. So I’m looking forward to reading all your Spain posts.