julies

I just can't sleep on planes unless I take Ambien, and even then there is no guarantee. I'm thinking about an overnight train journey. Will I just be setting myself up for more of the same?

alanRow

I find it virtually impossible to sleep on plane but have no problem sleeping in a sleeper

Christina

no, I don't think so.

I can't sleep on a plane, but that's because you can't lie down. I can't sleep in a sitting position, even if reclining-sitting. Plus, you can't really move very much as the seats are so narrow.

This things don't apply on a train, as you can lie down. I've had a sleep car, not couchette, and I would personally never book a couchette. NOt only are they narrow bunks with perhaps little head room, but you can be in with total strangers unless your party is somehow taking up the entire room.

Anyway, it should be better than a reclining tiny 17" wide seat on an airplane. But, the train can be noisier and you might have disturbances if there are stops (mine did not, and I slept fine in a private room). Not to mention sleeping with a bunch of strangers who could snore or get up and odd hours or whatever.

tcreath

I can sleep on a plane, usually with the help of Ambien, but I had a very difficult time sleeping in our sleeper on our overnight journey from Vienna to Florence. The train stopped too much and I just found it, overall, to be very hard. DH didn't sleep at all. Had I discovered Ambien before then, I would have most definitely taken one! Still, I really enjoyed our overnight journey. There is something romantic about traveling Europe by night in the privacy of your own sleeper compartment, regardless of how compact it may be.

Tracy

chepar

I can't really sleep on planes - more like a series of short 45 minute naps, totaling no more than 3 hours of actual sleep time.

I had no problem falling asleep on an overnight train, though. We were in a T4, which though was private for us 4 people, was probably similar to a couchette. Two bunks on the bottom, the two on the top that pulled out of the wall. It wasn't the best night's sleep I had, but was 100% better than any experience I've ever had trying to sleep on a plane.

suze

I can't sleep on plane, never have, doubt I ever will.

But I do OK on overnight trains in a private cabin.

I wouldn't want to try a couchette because you are in with 3-5 strangers (you being number 6) and the bed is more like a bunk.

Rather the wagon-lit (2-person I'm not sure it's called the same in all countries) is private with a comfortable bed, sink, window, the bottom bed flips up into a couch. We bring along a dinner picnic or just go directly to sleep depending on the time we board.

suze

oops should have said, in a couchette you could 1 of 4, or 1 of 6 depending on configuration.

TexasAggie

I can't sleep on a plane well at all but I do pretty well (with Ambien or melatonin) on trains.

Cicerone

I agree that if you have a first class sleeper for 2 persons or no more than 4 people who really are good friends, this might just be liveable, if the price is really really good compared to flying betwee the two points; but some things to consider as well:

1. Time of year. In summer the existence and functionality of the air conditioning system may make the trip unpleasant. You could be either freezing or boiling.
2. Bathrooms. These can be in a pretty unpleasant state. I know from your other post that you are going from Warsaw to Dusseldorf. This is about 11 hours or in some cases more. Could be a long trip if you don't want to use the bathroom.
3. Dining car. there may or may not be one, it may be fully booked for dinner. Bring your own meal just in case.
4. Luggage space. With a 2-person first class car you may be OK. In anything else, esp like a couchette you are sharing there is very little luggage space. More so in summer when everyone is travelling.
5. Neighbours. A memorable night train last year from Zurich to Venice involved Germans in the next car signing for about 3 hours. (Young people, lots of beer involved, the singing occurred from about 11 am to 2 am). It was fun for like the first 45 minutes.

I find plane journeys more restful for several reasons: less turbulence (usually), no clanging noises when making stops in the middle of the night, no jarring stops between stations to wake you.

Now I love trains, and I love train journeys (don't get me started on Indian trains and train journeys), but really do NOT like night trains. I took a few last summer in Europe after like a 20-year hiatus thinking they would be "fun" and an adventure and really they were anything but. I was exhausted the whole next day after each trip. Plus, you don't get to see any scenery. If you can break this up into day trips of tolerable lenght that might be a fun way to get between points.

hopscotch

I have no problem sleeping on planes or trains. Before getting on the train visit a local market for some wine, cheese, and bread and make a nice evening snack.

I just do not understand why many people on this forum are so afraid of sleeping in a couchette with 3 or 5 total strangers. Do you think the strangers are going to bite you?

Sue_xx_yy

hopscotch

It is not that I am afraid of sleeping with strangers. I am afraid of NOT sleeping with strangers.

I can bearly abide the snoring of people I know and love. Whereas I might just commit homicide after being kept awake by someone with whom I have no ties of affection.

Christina

I'm not "afraid" of it, I just don't want to.

I don't like even being around people that much in close quarters, definitely not a bunch of strangers whom I don't even know (and whose personal habits could be disgusting). I don't want to be around strangers in bed, it would be mentally uncomfortable for me and I couldn't sleep.

It is not because I am afraid. Really, why should people do things like that if they can well afford not to?

ilovetotravel29

I have never travelled on a train sleeper, but like you, have a hard time sleeping on a plane. I can fall asleep in a car or the eurotrain, so I think it may be easier to fall asleep in the sleeper of a train car.

Maybe it is the steady rythym of the train that lulls one to sleep? Unlike that semi-weightless feel of an airline...and uhm, yeah, the horrid turbulence.

suze

hopscotch- I'm not "afraid" but I think of my cabin like a small hotel room. I wouldn't invite 3 to 5 total strangers to pile on in to one of them with me -LOL. Maybe for people who are used to staying in hostels or if you have several friends you are traveling with it wouldn't be so bad.

ilovetravel29- While the steady rhythm of the train may in fact lull you to sleep at times, it's the screeching brakes clanking and jerky stops and starts that might wake you up during the journey -LOL.

ilovetotravel29

I slept fine on the Eurostar despite the stops.

hopscotch

Girls, sorry to have offended. I'm a 6'1" 200 pound plus geezer so we have different perspectives on life. I just take my space like everybody else in the train compartment. Have you ever traveled in close quarters with Brits? Watch them and you learn quickly how to keep your space, and even take more than your share. Of course I don't do that.

I don't think of the train compartment as my private hotel room. I think of it more or less as a college dorm room. Throwback. I traveled throughout Europe for 30 years before I ever stayed in a hostel. Now I love it. You actually meet people! Real people, not desk clerks and room porters. Carry your own bags. Leave your shoes at the door. Get free internet. Wash you own clothes. Hostels are home on the road.

By definition strangers are people you don't know. In two minutes you can know them well enough to know if this person is going to remain a stranger.

Many overnight trains have compartments reserved for women. In first class you wouldn't even have to ask. With a Eurailpass you go first class. Many compartments have a wash basin, some have a toilet, and a few even have showers. Contreakfast is often served in your chamber. My reservations indicate male so females are not put in the same compartment. You will never hear me snore.

Homicide, as you know, is a crime. If you kill me for snoring I will prosecute. You can always ask the conductor for a different compartment. I do that and there is no problem except there is usually a lot of bureaucratic paperwork getting your compartment changed. Patience pays.

I am finished.

hopscotch

Darn computer sent my last comment while I was editing:

"Contreakfast is often served in your chamber." should read:

"Continental breakfast is often served in your chamber."

suze

hopscotch, hey no offense taken.

And I like "Contreakfast" better, kind of a continental trekking type breakfast.

grsing

I can't really sleep on trains or busses (whenever I do doze off, it's basically curled up in the fetal position, somehow wedged into the seat so I'm semi-laying down. Haven't tried sleepers, but I could sleep reasonably well in couchettes. Not the best sleep of my life, but I wasn't dead the next day by any means. What journey is it? The one couchette I had a real problem sleeping in was Venice to Vienna, because it's basically a roller coaster ride through the alps, which isn't terribly easy to sleep through.

ilovetotravel29

Hopscotch--I have a friend from London who always says geezer and I asked him if he meant old person and he said no...that geezer just means a bloke. So everytime I hear him say geezer, I immediately think of some older gent with a cane!!