The Night Train

Catching a train at midnight is not as easy as it sounds. But when the car that you are in is off the platform, it becomes even more complicated. Add to that the fact that you don't speak Romanian, and it could be a headache.

Thankfully, we had Bogdan to help us, show us where to go, and life our bags onto the train. The steps were about 4 feet off the ground. Not exaggerating. It was incredibly difficult to get up. The train was at the station for 15 minutes, so thankfully we had a little time. Bogdan got us safely on the train, and then the real fun began of discovering what a sleeping car on a European train looks like, and figuring out who our bunkmate would be.

There were four beds. Two at a normal level, and 2 that were about 8 feet off the ground. Addie and Tiffany had the top beds, and I had one of the bottom beds. The other was occupied by a Romanian woman who was not very happy about the 3 American girls making all kinds of noise in her sleeping wagon at midnight. And who can blame her.

We finally got settled in our respective beds, and spent the next 6 hours trying to get some sleep....mostly to no avail.

One of the perks of getting off the train early in the morning was that we got to see a beautiful sunrise.

 We arrived in Ploiesti (pronounced Ploy-esht) safely and got off the train with no problems. Eduard was there waiting for us to take us to our hotel.

All in all our experience on the night train was very good, save the lack of sleep. We were so thankful for Bogdan's help, and the smoothness of the trip.

Glad to be done with trains for awhile,
Ali