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Waking up on a train

Do you need a alarm clock?

Posted by
2773 posts

No, when we took a sleeper car the porter came around and knocked of the doors. But if it would make you feel more comfortable, you could take a small travel alarm.

Posted by
389 posts

I'm just nervous enough to like them but the conductor will wake you about 10 min. before your destination most of the time.

Posted by
221 posts

I wouldn't rely on the conductor entirely, I say take an alarm clock too as back up. My travel stories include an absent conductor and we barely got dressed and out the door from a sleeper car from London to Edinburgh in time before the train pulled away.

Posted by
852 posts

Hi Logan,

Everyone is right, I am sure. The sleeper car attendant will not let you miss your stop.
I would take an alarm clock. I know that if I rely entirely on someone to wake me, I will awake every 30 minutes during the night ... and what a nuisance that is !
Sleep well and have a great trip. P.

Posted by
852 posts

Hi Logan,

Everyone is right, I am sure. The sleeper car attendant will not let you miss your stop.

But I would take an alarm clock. I know that if I rely entirely on someone to wake me, I will awake every 30 minutes during the night ... and what a nuisance that is !

Sleep well and have a great trip. P.

Posted by
7209 posts

After all, the attendant is "not your Momma" and "not your maid".

Posted by
40 posts

On a recent overnight from Munich to Venice, the porter woke us 45 minutes before arriving. Once arriving in Venice, we still had an additional 10 minutes before the train left.

Posted by
479 posts

If you're not a deep sleeper or aren't incredibly tired then you're not going to have your best nights' rest anyway. But if you're a deep sleeper then it's best to bring the alarm clock. But keep it small, like a wrist watch. You may have other people in your schlafenwagen who aren't getting off where you are. And those people don't want to hear an air horn at 6 AM if their stop isn't until 10.

Posted by
389 posts

But Kelly's experience is an exception. Into Paris the train is going to stay a while, but if you are getting off before the terminus you will have about 1 minute to get off (maybe 2) I know the Europeans are all standing at the door when we stop so I want to also. Into Brussels this summer (terminating in Paris) we got off and before we could organize ourselves off the platform the train was leaving. We did get the wake-up call at 10 minutes (I don't know how many cars he had to awaken) but we had set the alarm and were already gathering and checking for our stuff. There were 6 of us so we had a whole compartment. If you were with others who were going on to Paris this might be a pain.