Help! Another Night Train Question - Villach to Rome

Sure! Do your tickets say they're actually in two different cars? My experience has been that the cars can be mixed - 2-person comp's next to a 4- or 6-person comp't. If they are in different cars, you can walk between them - either this video or this one show a bit what the cars look like. The first one shows the side aisle that you walk down, and the second one (starting at about 1:20) shows the (red) doors at the ends of the cars. (Don't freak out about the Turkish toilets on the Turkish train; your train shouldn't have those) I would suggest making TWO copies (at least) of your e-tickets; usually, if you don't have a ticket for the sleeping car(s), you can't get in/you'll get kicked out...That keeps the riff-raff out. You don't want to have to worry about a language hurdle when trying to go b/n the two comp's. Your tickets will show what cars you'll be in; follow RS' instructions on how to find your car on the platform, so that you don't have to wander through 6 cars to get to yours :-( And Always Ask someone in uniform on the platform if you're not sure what to do!

The train is all connected, though the cabins may be separated by quite a distance and number of cars. A conductor will settle you in to your cabin and ask about wake up times, so explain the arrangement to him/her and they will make sure all is well. Perhaps this is your preferred arrangement, but another option would have been all six in one couchette.

Eileen, Thanks for the video links. Those were helpful to get an idea of the inside of the cars. The copies are another good tip. I'll be sure to do that regardless of my final sleeping arrangement. Unfortunately, the OBB website wouldn't allow me to ticket 6 people at once. It would error out at 5. So I had the bright idea of splitting the tickets into 2 separate orders. But after I snagged the first 3 person sleeper compartment, I quickly realized that it was the last one available when I went to book for the rest of my family. So now I'm sort of in limbo as I have a confirmed sleeper for 3 and am left with booking a 4 person couchette for the 3 remaining. Now knowing what the inventory is, I would have preferred to just cram into a 6 couchette with the entire family, but I don't think that's an option at this point without taking a hit canceling the sleeper reservation. I guess it is still an option...just need to weigh the cost of the cancellation. If I'm reading the terms and conditions correctly, I think I stand to lose %50 of the ticket price if I cancel. Probably worth it for the piece of mind of all of us together the entire time. Ahhh the joys of traveling. LOL. I'm already stressed and I haven't even left my house. Best regards, Eric

Eric, You do appreciate that there may be a fourth person in the couchette, right? You can't hold on to a fourth place even if you do reserve it without a fourth person traveling..... Jim.

Jim, Yeah, at first I thought I could buy a 4th throw-away ticket to ensure the entire couchette to ourselves, but then I did see a few posts that said that didn't matter. So no use trying that. So I ended up booking another route: Salzburg to Venice and spoke with the OBB telephone rep and am confirmed for 2 3-sleeper compartments. Then I'll take the high speed train from Venice to Rome. When I'm sure everything is good to go, I'll go ahead and cancel the original reservation I made from Villach to Rome. The operator mentioned that I would pay a 10% cancellation fee which isn't too bad. Now I'm presented with another question, which I'll ask under a separate topic. Thanks to all for the help. I really appreciate it. Regards, Eric

"Ahhh the joys of traveling. LOL. I'm already stressed and I haven't even left my house." As soon as you get settled into your airline seat, all of that just...goes...away...ahhhh...then you realize that... ...I'M GOING TO EUROPE!!! You'll get it all worked out ;-)