We were in Paris in November this year and took the overnight train to Rome. We had a sleeper but the train was freezing cold and no one came in to help us with the bed. Did we miss something? The food car was colder than our room. It was our first trip to Europe and we're completely ignorant travelers.
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23626 posts
Probably nothing, just some bad luck. Did you say anything to the conductor? Should have. What were the other people doing or saying?
Posted by
Tilburg, Netherlands
2829 posts
That night train is pure crap.
It is better to travel during daytime on trains that are:
- up to 20 years newer than the old sleeper carriages
- safer
- faster (running much of the trip over high(er) speed lines)
Posted by
Redding, CA, USA
1568 posts
I will avoid a night train at all cost. We took the night train from Paris to Zurich. Had to have the window open for air and heard all the train noise.
Posted by
OP
27 posts
We didn't say anything to the conductor, probably because we were too confused, or stupid. There was a door in our tiny compartment that I thought was a bathroom (I thought I was in the train from North by Northwest I suppose) I kept jiggling it and staring...until it angrily jiggled back. Turns out it was a connector to the next compartment. oops. Anyway, the train WAS crap, it was freezing, the other passengers stayed in their compartments, but since it was so cold and we had no beds made up and could not sleep my husband and I wandered into the food car - which was even colder than our compartment. The workers all looked very apologetic and they had on heavy down coats and we could all see our breath. It was awful. Next morning my poor husband was struggling to get our bag pulled through the unbelievably narrow hallway and I asked one of the conductors to help him. The guy was so sweet and two of them help wrench the luggage through. It was awful.