Frances

Well Intrepid you've put me firmly in my place and I shall bow out of this thread.

BTilke

Intrepid, this thread may be "done", but I came across this article in the WA Post travel archives that sums up why we only travel in private sleeping compartments when we take overnight trains (we take day trains whenever possible).

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp...;notFound=true

GSteed

Poland. American teacher was working without permit. She was arrested, strip searched and jailed. Pickpockets are booked and released. Because there is no violence with this kind of theft no one gets too excited. We bought an automobile to avoid train travel. So far no problems. My last trip to Warszawa required a train trip. Boarding Lodz train I spotted the familiar crew of pickpockets. My wife and I waved them off! They have been working Centralia for at least three years.

UKUKUK

I doubt you can claim on the insurance unless you lie. She was asleep and therefore was not looking after her luggage properly. Whyt should the insurance pay out for her carelessness? I am sorry to sound cruel but this has happened to me before and I did not get anything from my insurance company. I would lie and say she got mugged at knifepoint for the bag (or something) otherwise I think you will be lucky to get anything. Personally I don't think you desrve anything. When I fell asleep and lost my bag on a train in Europe I did think what a fool I had been. Why should we pay ever increasing premiums due to stupidity like this? But then, when the insurance companies make their products so difficult to understand and include 100s of cases where they are not liable it is not suprising that consumers expect better service.

UKUKUK

And for all those moneybelt fans:

Do you not realise that the money belt is now so common that this is one of the first places a thief will look for valuables?

These things are now so common that they fail in every respect, other than they do keep your valuables next to your skin and so you will feel if anyone tries to remove the belt.

But if someone drops a Rohypnol in your drink or pulls a gun or knife on you, your sense of touch is not going to be a whole lot of use.

Also, (I know this doesn't count in every case) I have noticed a lot of travellers wear their moneybelt on the outside of their clothing which is essentially advertising "Hey look at me, I am a tourist in this place and I have all my valuables in this bag that is loosly attached around my waist&quot. Otherwise they have so much stuff in their moneybelt that one can see the outline of the moneybelt beneath their clothes.

The best way to travel is to make yourself look like a local or when this is not possible make yourself look like an expat who has lived there for ages.

ben_haines_london

For UKUKUK: In ten years of reading this forum I have heard plenty, but never yet of a gun or a knife. Could you helpfully say whether this happened to you, or whether it is an urban myth ? I ask, as many readers are over-scared anyway. Mr Steed, fir example, even hired a car.

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Daneille

I heard of some travel companions of my cousins were robbed on a train. They fell asleep only to wake hours later to find that everything they had had been stolen, and they had been undressed and redressed in each other's clothes. This happened in Europe. And was quite a scary story.

I was robbed on a train between Rome and Venice. Stupidly my companion and I fell asleep and I had my day pack stolen. About a month after I returned home the postcards that were in the bag (addressed but not stamped) were sent to all my friends and relatives with stamps stuck on them. A kindly soul - or a remorseful thief I'll never know.

UKUKUK

Ben Haines

I have never had a knife or gun pulled on me in Europe. But I have had a knife pulled on me on the subway in the Bronx, NY, when I was working in Fordham and travelling back to Manhatten. I also had a samurai sword pulled on me in Manchester, UK, when I was a student and my house was robbed by a gang (ok, so the latter was not on a train).

ben_haines_london

For UKUKUK. Many thanks for this speedy and clear reply. So, still another case of a train horror story that fell down.
For Danielle. Oh, I love it. Stripped and redressed them, eh ? And just the right source for an urban myth, too, travel companions of your cousins. Robbery on a day train, on the other hand, is not common but is perfectly possible, as you sadly have found. The lesson for others is if you are sleepy to travel in a saloon, not a compartment, so you are sure of neighbours who are awake. Another way is to take a compartment, but look fir one with fellow travellers who are awake. Though I give all that magisterial advice without doing it myself, since I have never been thus troubled in central Europe. By night, yes, a seats car is an invitation to thieves.
For all. You can make no contribution to a conversation if all you say is that you boarded, travelled, and left the train. It is good stories that live long lives. For example, the piece on night train hell from the Washington Post of 2001 still lives on net, whereas if the reporter had described a pleasant and uncrowded night in a 3-bed women-only sleeper her editor would rightly have spiked her piece. I have written an eminently spikeable piece on getting the best from sleepers and couchettes at http://www.twenj.com/tipsnighttrains.htm: how many will bother to read through all that stuff ?

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BTilke

Ben, the piece on the "night train hell" that I posted above dates to December 2002, not 2001, so it is less than a year old. The author's experience is pretty close to ours when it comes to couchettes v. private sleeping compartment and, living in Continental Europe, we travel extensively in trains.
You are also incorrect in your assumption that editors would spike good travel experiences on a budget such as couchettes. Newspapers and travel magazines run positive pieces all the time.

BTilke

Ben Haines, I read your essay and found another point of disagreement. You write that "Nobody wakes you, even at frontiers, as the conductor has your tickets and your passports."
In fact, you may indeed be woken at frontiers. On taking a night train from Germany to Milan earlier this year, we were all wakened by Italian police patrols when the train reached the Italian border. They came into each compartment with sniffer dogs to check all luggage. The conductor said that since the September 11 attacks, this procedure was routine--it doesn't happen on every run, but often enough.

Our experience is that whenever possible, take a day train to enjoy the scenery. If a night train is necessary, the extra expense to have a private compartment is well worth it.

On a final note, we HAVE been attacked by someone with a gun in Europe (Brussels). But not on a train.

UKUKUK

Ben

For UKUKUK. Many thanks for this speedy and clear reply. So, still another case of a train horror story that fell down.

What do you mean "fell down"?

ben_haines_london

For BTilke: Many thanks: I shall alter the note. This check at western frontiers has changed since I first drafted the note. I can see that your experience of couchettes is not my experience, nor that of many of the young people who write on the Lonely Planet forum for west Europe. Sorry for mis-remembering the date.
For UKUKUK: You are right. You did not say you had a story of someone who dropped a Rohypnol in your drink or pulled a gun or knife on you. So I cannot comment if in fact there is no such story. But I do still wonder why you raised the idea of such attacks. In this context, your entry suggested that you thought them possible. Well, indeed they are possible, but so are nights disturbed by a drunk nude with a violin, or by a nuclear attack from north Korea. All are possible, but really no help to the discussion.

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GeoffHamer

I haven't followed all of this thread, but I have to report that in 20 years of travelling on overnight trains in Finland, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Portugal and most countries in between, I've never had a problem in sleepers or couchettes. Perhaps I just look too poor to rob, or perhaps I just don't worry about urban myths.

Wootie

This type of crime could happen anywhere. A friend had her wallet stolen from her backpack at the San Francisco airport. A co-worker and her husband were mugged in NYC while on holiday. You have to be alert and street smart when you travel.

HeatherH

To Mr. Haines: The disturbances caused by drunk nudes playing violins happen all the time, but are not reported because they are enjoyed!

And sorry, I know I was no help to the discussion, but I WAS amused by your comment.