The Off Topic Topic

[Josquius]

I wonder what it'll cost. Hopefully they can compete not too awfully with flying, taking into account a night in a hotel.

[The Brain]

When I was a kid I often rode the night train up north in Sweden in the winter. Magical to watch the snowy landscape pass by in the night. Slept like a baby. It certainly wasn't made harder by the soothing gadunk-adunk, gadunk-adunk, of trains in those days (before they "improved" the rails).

[The Larch]

So American lawyers have to spend half their time hunting  for their own work?

Why do you think they do those ads? 

[Admiral Yi]

Hence the term ambulance chaser.

[Josquius]

So American lawyers have to spend half their time hunting  for their own work?

Why do you think they do those ads? 

I always guessed that was a low class ambulance chaser sort of thing. We do get them in the UK too- albeit largely as huge firms rather than individuals.

[The Larch]

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.

[Admiral Yi]

My TGV night train had six bunks in a cabin.

[Sheilbh]

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

[The Larch]

That Ukranian 3rd class sleeping wagon looks like a real snorefest, literally speaking. 

[Josquius]

I've had plentiful express of overnight busses in Japan. Even a train seat would be a luxury for me. As noted the price is the thing.

Would love to try a night train sometime but they always seem to have just been taken out of business when I'm travelling somewhere.

[Admiral Yi]

So Slavic women are all hotties in their juventude, then turn into dumpy babushkas.  Has anyone observed this transformation in progress?  Do they spin cocoons and hide out of site while transitioning?

[Sheilbh]

That Ukranian 3rd class sleeping wagon looks like a real snorefest, literally speaking. 

Yeah. I mean that's also a risk in the 1st class cabin (only two beds ). My companion from Kyiv to Odessa was very drunk when he got on the train and then made me share his 500ml bottle of brandy, I assume his nightcap. He was quite a loud snorer in a concentrated space - at least in the 3rd class it was more distributed

The bigger issue was that some of the longer Ukrainian trains could get ripe. I was travelling in summer so they were pretty warm and I got on one - I can't remember where - but it had already been travelling for 18 hours from Mariupol and you could tell it was a small hot box that had been full of people for 18 hours

But that only happened the once, in general they were actually pretty good

[The Larch]

I've had plentiful express of overnight busses in Japan. Even a train seat would be a luxury for me. As noted the price is the thing.

Would love to try a night train sometime but they always seem to have just been taken out of business when I'm travelling somewhere.

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?

[The Larch]

That Ukranian 3rd class sleeping wagon looks like a real snorefest, literally speaking. 

Yeah. I mean that's also a risk in the 1st class cabin (only two beds ). My companion from Kyiv to Odessa was very drunk when he got on the train and then made me share his 500ml bottle of brandy, I assume his nightcap. He was quite a loud snorer in a concentrated space - at least in the 3rd class it was more distributed

The bigger issue was that some of the longer Ukrainian trains could get ripe. I was travelling in summer so they were pretty warm and I got on one - I can't remember where - but it had already been travelling for 18 hours from Mariupol and you could tell it was a small hot box that had been full of people for 18 hours

But that only happened the once, in general they were actually pretty good

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

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.

[Sheilbh]

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?

In general I hate nightbuses in Europe - I once did London to Tangiers which was pretty horrendous. This is a bit like Syt's issue - I can sleep anywhere but I can't read on buses or cars so pre podcasts/audiobooks/Spotify they were not fun.

Latin American night buses are very good.