Any reactions to overnight train sleeping accommodations....couchettes? Curious if anyone had good or bad experiences with them? What about noise? comfort? value? ability to get any real sleep? How did you feel the next day? What was distance of your overnight train ride? thanks, ton amie
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We know the Paris/Italy routes pretty well. i think it varies depending on where you%26#39;re originating/going. Some routes have less options.
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Taken the Paris-Milan train train last week. Left at 20H and arrived at 08H the next morning. A little stuffy but overall it was a fun experience waking up in a diffrent country :)
Reserve the top bunk so that you can go to sleep whenever you choose to.
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Couchettes can be fun if you are traveling with children and make it an adventure or cultural experience.
I am only familiar with second class and am a light sleeper. That%26#39;s why today I prefer to fly.
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Its been a long time since I couchetted - last time I slept on a train in was Grand Class on the rtainhotel from Poitiers to Madrid. Even with all that luxury, I still arrived feeling like I hadnt slept for a month.
For some reason, on a train I always sleep best sitting - the stops and starts dont worry me so much, and I feel I genuinely have an excuse for feeling rubbish. I have Eurail%26#39;d many times - including in the days when the only pass was a 15 day pass that HAD to be taken consecutively, hence 15 overnights on trains in a row. You never feel quite human. (I hardly ever feel completely human but that is a different matter).
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I%26#39;ve done quite a few overnights in my time - everything from sitting up on those hard scratchy-fabric-covered or vinyl-upholstered seats from the bad old days, to first class private cabins. And I%26#39;ve done the fifteen cities in eight countries in fifteen days nonsense too. I actually sleep better on a moving train than almost anywhere else. (My other two preferred places to sleep are on a racing sailboat or in a tent with only a mattress-pad between me and the ground. I have been told I am a bit strange....)
If you want to arrive at your destination looking fresh as a well-presented gin %26amp; tonic, and ready for a Papal audience or a breakfast meeting with a business maggot (Oops! I Mean magnate, of course!) a couchette is probably not the way to travel.
But I kind of like the couchette experience, and if I am travelling that way it is always second class. It takes me right out of my normal routine and puts me in close contact with my fellow-travellers, whether they are foreign tourists (like me) or locals. Somehow it makes me reflect on WHY I am travelling and what I want to get out of - and put into - the experience.
Does that make sense?
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IrishRover:
perfect sense!........thanks to all of you. ton amie
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I used to do the couchettes routine when I was travelling the rough way as a student and wanted to save a hotel night. Since then, no way: unless you sleep like a log regardless of the noise, smell, safety conditions, I would strongly recommend against it. I know that for Americans trains are an exotic experience, but reserve yourselves for a good ol%26#39; TGV day train. We are now blessed with an array of reliable low cost airlines in Europe, and even the traditional airlines, thanks to LCA competition, have become really affordable. So, unless you want to sample the folklore and/or you have a fetish for dubious Birkenstocks, try to skip couchette trains.
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Bob: Thanks for your honest appraisal of the %26quot;sleep-cheap-chouchette-method%26quot;. As a high school French teacher, I regularly chaperone my students through Europe. They are looking into a trip at Easter, 2007, which would include an overnight train. Although I am having second thoughts, I stiil think it would be a cultural eye-opener. oh well....Ya never know...thanks again, ton amie
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Do a quick search for %26quot;overnight train%26quot;, there have been plenty of questions about how best to get from Paris to Venice, Barcelona etc.
I love the whole over-night train thing (as much as Bob hates it if you look at our Barcelona related views) and would have thought that for a group of youngsters it would be fine .. they have a bit of freedom about when they go to bed, feel independent etc. and you know they can%26#39;t disappear or get into any real trouble.
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Ceejay...........Very interesting comments....merci mille fois, ton amie
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