A couple of weeks ago I had to make a trip to Macedonia to deliver a car and so I needed a cheap way to get back to Belgrade. I also wanted an experience, so I chose (instead of a bus) to take the night train from Skopije to Belgrade. I had heard horror stories for colleagues bout the night train and how terrible it was so I thought lets try that! The train leaves at 8pm and arrives at 6am. This choice was made because I knew it would result in a great blog. You know wacky characters on the night train, suspicious people, finding the answer to the question: Why are you on this train?
Things started out great. I arrived at the train station and it was deserted other then a few loiterers. The station is kind of run down, and very seedy looking. I thought ok this is a great start. So I bought my ticket and reserved my bunk in a 6 person sleeping car (see hoping to meet some new people who will create at great story). I still had a couple of hours before the train left and there were no restaurants or cafes at the train station so I wondered across the street to the bus station. The bus station was teaming with life, back packers, families, well dressed people waiting to go places. Now I am a little worried, these were the people I wanted to meet, so who was taking the night train? (remember the loiterers)
After a long prayer and an espresso it was time to head out. I went to the platform and boarded my train (circa 1960, very communist) and found the ticket guy. He showed me to my car and told me I had the whole thing to myself (good for my comfort level, bad for blogging). I left the door to my car open hoping to discover those great characters. I met two families who chose the night train because it was cheap, and the kids could sleep and a couple of British students who new it would be easier to sleep on the train. That's it and those people were not very interesting. Turns out I was the interesting guy. Why was the American alone on the night train. All the border people kept coming buy to ask me that exact question. So who knows maybe I am the subject of some Macedonian or Serbian customs officer's blog. All in all the train was a great trip (if you are not hoping to write a great blog). It was clean, the bunk was relatively comfortable and the 10 hour trip went pretty quick because I slept.
2 comments:
Sometimes, no news is good news. :) I too found my train rides in Eastern Europe to be uneventful, although there's often still the mystique of the rails to enjoy. In the 1990s one rail route we took into Eastern Europe was still known as the "Orient Express." The train looked quite rattle-trap, particularly sitting next to the sleek white French TGV trains in Paris.
I'm taking a train from NC to NYC in a few weeks. I decided the strangest "characters" I could meet would be on a Greyhound, so I'm taking Amtrak.
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