The Off Topic Topic

[Sheilbh]

I don't think I'd be very comfortable sleeping with somebody I don't know in such a cabin... 

Yeah - so that means you'd need to pay for two berths

Regarding the drawback of travelling in the summer, when I lived in Rome I was visited by a friend who was doing his Erasmus in Southern France. For his trip back to France he took the night train between Rome and Milan with a friend, and he says it was possibly his most miserable experience in his life up to that point, as the heat made it unbearable to sleep.

I can imagine.

I hope the new line of night trains in Europe are at least appropriately air conditioned/heated.

[The Larch]

I don't think I'd be very comfortable sleeping with somebody I don't know in such a cabin... 

Yeah - so that means you'd need to pay for two berths

Regarding the drawback of travelling in the summer, when I lived in Rome I was visited by a friend who was doing his Erasmus in Southern France. For his trip back to France he took the night train between Rome and Milan with a friend, and he says it was possibly his most miserable experience in his life up to that point, as the heat made it unbearable to sleep.

I can imagine.

I hope the new line of night trains in Europe are at least appropriately air conditioned/heated.

Yeah, some operators tend to put their oldest and crappiest trains on the night routes, so the experience can be less than pleasant.

Then again, this was in the middle of a bit of a heatwave in June, so a bit of excruciating circumstances apply.

[Josquius]

Night buses is something I've sworn off, I've taken a bunch of them over here back in the day and it's possibly the most uncomfortable method of transportation for me. Then again some buses have fancy premium options nowadays that might make sleeping in them much easier. I've also read that Japanese night buses are a good option for cash-strapped tourists, do you vouch for that?

They work, they get you where you want to go for a fairly cheap price. The people on them tend to be young people rather than societal dregs (as is sometimes the case on British night busses).
I'd say for going to more out of the way places like Shimano they're great. For Tokyo-Osaka or the like though then as a tourist the shinkansen is part of the experience in itself.
Also heavily depends on your size. The seats are setup for Japanese people. I'm 190cm so they could be pretty uncomfortable.

[celedhring]

Madrid local police giving Batman a ticket.

https://twitter.com/policiademadrid/status/1305579568355565570

[DGuller]

For the night train fans, do you guys get a cabin for that kind of trip or just try to sleep in a normal seat? Are they worth it? I'm the kind of person that is able to sleep rather easily on public transport, so long trips are kinda easy for me, but it's been a long time since I last took a night train, and I've never slept on a cabin the very few times I've done that kind of trips.

So Caledonian express I always used to get a cabin because it gave you access to the restaurant/bar cabin (which used to have an outstanding selection of whiskys ) - if you got a normal seat you had to get your drink and go back to your seat

In Ukraine I got first class which was a cabin (2 beds) and 3rd class, which basically looks like this:

So it's not really a seat, everyone has a bed which you can fold up or down.

Can't remember for Paris-Berlin. But I'd normally be willing to pay a little extra if I can lie down

Ooh, platskart.  That brings back memories.

[Syt]

Platskart Another lovely German loanword from the age of industrialization in the Russian language.

[Maladict]

I've never been able to sleep properly on a night train, but I'd still prefer it to flying. I draw the line at overnight/long distance buses.

[celedhring]

I've never been able to catch sleep on a moving vehicle. One of my biological curses.

[Barrister]

I've never been able to catch sleep on a moving vehicle. One of my biological curses.

See, one of the things I hate about the current pandemic is I have to drive instead of taking the LRT.  I am at the end of the line so I would get on the train that just arrived from the opposite direction so I could find the perfect seat (window, forward facing, not near a door, west side of the train so early morning light doesn't shine in your face) and get an extra 20 minutes of sleep while I commuted.

[crazy canuck]

Why can't you do that now?

[Barrister]

Why can't you do that now?

I'm not getting on public transit during Covid.

[The Brain]

Why can't you do that now?

Sleepdriving is frowned upon.

[Sheilbh]

I've never been able to catch sleep on a moving vehicle. One of my biological curses.

I don't always include it on CVs but sleep is one of my great skills - I can do it anywhere, however light or dark, loud or quiet.

My only weakness is if it's very hot.

[Duque de Bragança]

My TGV night train had six bunks in a cabin.

There are no TGV night trains with bunks. Must have been a Corail.

From Paris to Marseille, it's only three hours long nowadays anyways.
Night TGV used to exist, were cheap, but since one could only seat it was hard to sleep. I remember the  cheap ones (35-40€ for 800 km) between Irun/Hendaye to Paris when returning from Portugal (technically Puebla de Sanabria/ Póvoa de Seabra through the crossroads of the world Zamora).
I can sleep pretty well on night trains, depending on the ambient. Anything but overnight/long distance coaches...

Used to go to Wacken festival, north of Hamburg by the Paris-Hamburg/Berlin night train.

[Barrister]

I took the VIA rail train a few times from Winnipeg to Saskatoon and back.  This was way back in the early 90s.  The train only ran every couple days, and one way it was an overnight.  Sleeping in an upright chair isn't fantastic but certainly makes the miles fly by.

I'd love to take another trip by train some day.  Unfortunately VIA is really uneconomical - the cost is nearly the same as flying,  but takes much longer, has inconvenient schedules, and not always great reliability.