Sleeper train Bulgaria on my own?
- Thread starter miss direct
- Start date
miss direct
misfungled
I'm leaving tonight! There's no food or drink available on the train (which seems ridiculous - it takes almost 24 hours from Istanbul to Bucharest!) - I've got a sleep pack consisting of eye mask, ear plugs, my own pillow, a fan (it says it has air con but just in case) and a sarong to use as a sheet. I've also got a picnic - it's hard coming up with a picnic that will work on a long train when the weather is 30C+ but think I've cracked it. I've got one physical book (Murder on the Orient Express 
) and I've also downloaded some audio books onto my phone.
Please please please let me be alone. Or at least with just one other, quiet person.
) and I've also downloaded some audio books onto my phone. Please please please let me be alone. Or at least with just one other, quiet person.
Spymaster
Plastic Paddy
I've never understood the attraction of sleeper trains. The Blue Train and the Orient Express are one thing but I'd find the prospect of sharing a cramped "couchette" with strangers about as appealing as a dose of herpes.
What's nice about that?
Most prison cells are more comfortable and have better facilities.
What's nice about that?
Most prison cells are more comfortable and have better facilities.
miss direct
misfungled
Thanks for that.
teuchter
je suis teuchter
Oh well.
bimble
floofy
Enjoy miss direct ! I think (hope) you'll love it. Few things more snug than drifting off to sleep with the motion of the train, have done a few overnighters on my tod and loved them. Keep valuables under your pillow/ in sleeping bag for extra snugness.
not-bono-ever
meh
It’s love /hate for me - and I have done them for decades. Invariably a convenient way to utilise time and stuff during a compact travel schedule but invariably erosional as you cannot keep it up for too long. The idea of dinner suits and cocktails in the bar and playing high stakes poker with a one eyed man in a fez at sunset is quickly replaced by the reality of necking vodka and chewing roasted garlick with unwashed blokes who are returning from a hunting trip to Siberia
Spymaster
Plastic Paddy
I guess you’d also get a certain buzz out of waking up and finding out you haven’t been robbed or murdered, so there’s that too.
miss direct
misfungled
I've been on sleeper trains before and enjoyed it a lot - one from Istanbul to Ankara, and one from Ankara to Kars. But both times was in a two berth with a friend. Plus restaurant car, fridge etc. This was the only logical choice for this trip since the one bus per day arrives at 3am, didn't fancy that on my own with no Bulgarian money. This train is meant to arrive at 10:30am and I can walk to my hotel.
teuchter
je suis teuchter
Wait a minute. Aren't you the poster who did get robbed on holiday, then had a jolly walk around town sharing joints with the malefactors and depending on their help to find the way back to your hotel?
Edit. The above for Spymaster
If someone is inept enough to get lost and mugged in one of the world's most popular tourist destinations then it's probably best that they don't attempt to travel on a night train. In fact for me part of the appeal of night trains is that generally they are not used by these kinds of amateurs whose travel skills amount to searching for flights on expedia.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
have you ever been mugged or lost in popular tourist destinations, teuchter? i include london in this.
not-bono-ever
meh
Never been done on a sleeper - the carriages are usually run as a personal fiefdom by the stern attendant, who will make sure you are safe and keep you supplied with tea and biscuits if you wish. Outside the tourist sleeper routes : krakow to Prague is one with an iffy reputation that may not have basis apart from anecdotes - I would be more than happy leaving my stuff and be unconcerned about thievery
Spymaster
Plastic Paddy
Yeah, that was me. If you could call it a robbery I suppose. There’s a difference however, between having a situation forced upon you and offering yourself up on a silver platter!Wait a minute. Aren't you the poster who did get robbed on holiday, then had a jolly walk around town sharing joints with the malefactors and depending on their help to find the way back to your hotel?
Edit. The above for Spymaster
And look at that thing, ffs! It’s not a sleeping compartment, it’s a pokey little rabbit hutch with a couple of fold down shelves to sleep on. If you didn’t wake up alive in that you might consider yourself fortunate.
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Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
you get yourself into a tizz every time you find a toilet door that doesn't lock so it's virtually inconceivable that you wouldn't get yourself into a right auld mess every so often
miss direct
misfungled
I’m on the train I had a bit of a melt down on the platform as have been feeling sick for a few hours, the walk to the train station was like a horror film and the cabin was about 50 degrees. But now we’re moving, the air con is on and I have two female cabin mates, both also foreigners travelling alone. One older Australian woman travelling the world after retiring, and a German student.
I had a bit of a melt down on the platform as have been feeling sick for a few hours, the walk to the train station was like a horror film and the cabin was about 50 degrees. But now we’re moving, the air con is on and I have two female cabin mates, both also foreigners travelling alone. One older Australian woman travelling the world after retiring, and a German student.
Mrs Miggins
Eternal
Great choice of book for a train journey
Mrs Miggins
Eternal
We need to know what your picnic consists of.
The39thStep
Urban critical thinker
Just need Christopher Lee to get on at the next station
miss direct
misfungled
Grapes, rice and chicken, cheese, Jaffa cakes, crackers, apples. Feel sick though so have only had a few grapes.
miss direct
misfungled
My phone will only work as far as the Bulgarian border.
teuchter
je suis teuchter
I'd like more detail on this bit.
miss direct
misfungled
Ok, well the train line is under construction. In a couple of months it will run right next to my flat, which will be cool. But for now, the train station in Istanbul is 25km from the centre, there’s nothing around, and you have to walk in pitch darkness with barking dogs surrounding you, over rubble and railway lines to get to the platform. Not nice at all.
davesgcr
Reading books
Think of the Amtrak sleeper in "Trading Places" ...Great film BTW ....
Spymaster
Plastic Paddy
Sharing a compartment with Jamie Lee Curtis might make the whole thing just about bearable but 99% of the time you're going to get a smelly old bore like Teuchter!
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