Thank you for sharing Herman

I'm glad you enjoyed the video, and I agree about train trips. Thanks for your comment!

That must have been a wonderful experience! Thank you for sharing 😊

Thank you very much!

teşekkür ederim, evet bu tren yolculuğunun en güzel yanı. Uçuşta sadece havalimanını ve gökyüzünü görebilirsin

Thanks for watching!

Optima express is not standard. This is one of the last extremely long-running services. Much of Europe has high speed trains instead.

Thanks a lot 😊

Welcome 😊

Thanks for the comment, glad you enjoyed it

Merci pour votre commentaire, on partage la même passion alors. Malheureusement j'en ai pas plus pour le moment, mais je prévois retourner à Istanbul cet été en passant par Bucarest, et quelques autres projets. Bonne journée

Thank you :)

Glad you enjoyed

thank you!

Thank you! 😊

Thanks 😊

Many many thanks

Thanks for your comment! Yeah, I'm not so much satisfied with it myself. After some research of reasonable interwar national boundaries, I went with the Historical National Boundaries. Retrieved from the Data Repository for the University of Minnesota, doi.org/10.13020/146x-1412. At least someone noticed ^^

Teşekkür ederiz, isviçreden selamlar

@@felixonrails Cevabın için çok teşekkür ederim.Uzun yıllar Zürih’te yaşadım ve aynı zamanda İsviçre vatandaşıyım.Zürih’e sık sık gelirim.Trenle ve uçakla seyahat etmeyi severim.Umarım Zürih’te karşılaşır kahve içeriz.İstanbul’da yaşıyorum.Yolunuz buraya düşerse misafirim olun.İstanbul’dan selamlar

I guess it's a mix of both, maybe? Even powerful for a diesel locomotive, it's still far from electric traction, and it is a pretty steep gradient.

Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it! Will be more clear about it in coming videos 😊

Yes indeed, going via Bukarest is much cheaper, but I really wanted to try Optima Express too. Maybe this year I’ll try another route 🙂

Yes, you're right. By the way the "Orient Express" between Paris and Vienna is operating again since a year or so. All the best

Danke! Sowohl im Schlafwagen als auch in den Liegewagen sind die Toiletten im Gang und geteilt.

Crossing the Alps via Bernina to get to Istanbul is also awesome

Yes, thanks for the hint - I realized that unfortunately just shortly after publishing the video. For payment, it can't be the phone connection as we had perfect 4g connection.

True, and the Couchette cars are - as to my knowledge - owned by GfF Crailsheim how rents them to Optima Express among others.

Yes, only the dining car is Slovenian.

Mostly with DJI Pocket 2, some iPhone too

Yes, not only Sirkeci, but apparently also Haydarpaşa! It's great news and works are in full progress. The line to Sofia and Bukarest are restored. There were no trains for a few years to Belgrade and Budapest anymore afaik.

Nah, that's alright. We like to make videos, but we aren't videogenic (is that a thing?) so filming each other is also pretty awkward and looking at the phone is a bit distracting when filming 😉

yes it is!

It really is, but not all trains on the journey would be useable with it. The Optima Express doesn't accept Interrail or Eurail unfortunately.

The 61 81 70-70 003-2 WL AB30 ex P is a former SNCF / CWL sleeper, so my guess is France, but I'm not sure.

Your question puzzled me, and I did some research. The P sleepers from CWL were built in the 1950s and indeed with a licence built Budd Company process. The rolling stock construction company Carel et Fouché, who built these sleepers (and a lot of other French rolling stock) produced in licence for Budd Company in France since 1935. I never knew, thanks for the interesting question.

@@felixonrails My pleasure.✌

Teşekkür ederim. Sadece şantiye için mi ya da Pendikte artık hizmet vermeyecek?

@@felixonrails Tam bir bilgim yok ancak şuan da Gebze'den faaliyet veriyor.

@@mkaandemircan1279 Tamamdır, teşekkür ederim bilgi için

Very good question. I’d assume that Serbia also provides Transit Visa, since you don’t exit the train at any point and you won’t spend much more than 24h in it. But probably Optima Express will know about it better

The Optima Express is a private carrier that sadly doesn't accept interrail. Enjoy, it's going a great trip, though it's unclear today if the through coach from Budapest is going to get in service again. Maybe you will have to travel to Bulgaria first.

The Optima Express runs from May to October I think, not the whole year unfortnately

@@felixonrails ok thanx

Probably Paris - Vienna on the Nightjet, then Vienna - Bukarest on the Dacia and last the through coach from Bukarest to Istanbul Halkalı.

@@felixonrails The through service from Bucharest to Istanbul only operates in summer, no? The rest of the year it seems you have to use a series of trains to get to Bucharest.

You're right, no idea how I got to think it is a Regiojet. Thanks!

(and the regiojet isn't by öbb, but a (czech, i think?) private operator)

that must have been on 27th of june at 3:40 pm last year. I was not able to record it unfortunately - or more corrrectly, I recorded it with one camera - but by accident I deleted the footage

@@felixonrails thanks a lot

Zürich istanbul treni yok

Once you start, it's difficult to stop. But the arrival in Istanbul was very welcome, indeed.

Yes, I understood. I have no clue how I came up with Regiojet 😅

Ali Sabah - Sabah

Sure! Which ones? the map?

Yes, the map:)

@@henrikwessels3843 I created the map as background in QGIS, depending on the location. Then I animated the maps in Apple Motion by using the custom maps as background and by adding the lines as animations.

@@felixonrails Thank you very much

Wir sind dann 2-3 Wochen in der Türkei geblieben und anschliessend zurückgeflogen. Dieses Jahr werde ich versuchen, via Bukarest zu fahren, aber der Kurswagen Bukarest Halkalı scheint ja auf der Kippe zu stehen.

5 Days

Ja, man kann die Fahrtkarten auch Online einige Tage im voraus buchen. Es gibt genau einen Zug am Tag, Abfahrt um 8:20 in Edirne, Ankunft 12:29 in İstanbul (halkalı). Wenn du online buchst, dann musst du aufpassen, dass du Istanbul mit kleinem i suchst und nicht I, weil das sind im türkischen Alphabet zwei unterschiedliche Buchstaben. ebilet.tcddtasimacilik.gov.tr/view/eybis/tnmGenel/tcddWebContent.jsf

@@felixonrails Danke für die Antwort, kann man in Edirne auch Fahrkarten am Schalter kaufen?

Eigentlich sollte es mögich sein. Das gilt als Regionalzug und es gibt eigentlich immer einen Schalter oder einen Kiosk für Fahrkarten. Aber der Zug ist immer rappelvoll ab Çerkezköy, daher würde ich lieber einen Sitzplatz vorher buchen.

@@felixonrails Okay Danke

It was two years ago, so probably it was being in construction. Happy to hear that the situation is much better today, thank you!

I didn't know that, thank you!

@@felixonrails Only joking. 😀

about 400 € per person 🫠

Yes I agree, unfortunately in some areas especially Serbia the network is in dire condition

Of course a long way to go. America and the west ruined that magnificent country and now eu boss said that the west is blooming garden and the rest are -jungle .

Thanks! I considered it, but then decided that I'm glad enough that there is a service as Optima Express and I consider their efforts and hardships to be worth overlooking such a goof as a delay

Sure! We booked the tickets for Italy through www.trenitalia.com/en.html for the ÖBB on www.oebb.at/en/ The Optima Express www.optimatours.de/?lang=EN and the TCDD train to İstanbul on ebilet.tcddtasimacilik.gov.tr/view/eybis/tnmGenel/tcddWebContent.jsf Do you need anything else? all the best from Switzerland!

Thanks for pointing it out 😄 Btw. Türkyie isn't a new name at all- it's the Turkish name of the country that it requested to be used in other languages as well ;)

Thanks for sharing! The special AB30 Sleeper is there, but it has different restaurant car. You can see it 27:22, when we were in Jesenice, they changed it.

À peu près 400 € par personne en total. 600 € pour le compartiment privatisé de l'Optima Express.

Eh oui, on voit tout de suite que c’est une voiture restaurant des ÖBB

Have you seen the topology of the new station of Sirkeci that is currently being competed? It's a shadow compared to the station that Sirkeci used to be. The access is a single line, there are fewer tracks - and the tracks to the ferry don't even have a proper turnout track! Anyone who has a basic understanding of railway operations sees that what the ministry is rebuilding is a toy rather than a proper station. Ask anyone from TCDD.

@@felixonrails 1- Yeah T6 project is a joke. There is no need to point elephant in the room again and again. 2- BUT: Marmaray project's main focus was building and linking "the new" underground station to the main line which was accomplished 10 years ago. The rest of stations that were closed down have less passanger traffic. New T6 line will easily overcome the demand on this renovated stations. 3- Neither Sirkeci nor Haydarpaşa train stations have enough space to handle the train traffic that will be brought by the ongoing intercity or high-speed train projects, and these stations do not have any capacity expansion opportunities. Assuming that these stations are outside the existing Marmaray train line, nothing better can be done topologically, as you say. 4- The best thing that could be done in these circumstances was to add high-speed train access to key stations on the existing line, which had already done. 5- Sirkeci - Haydarpaşa WILL provide YHT access in near future. I think you do not have this info. 6- I am 28 years old and as someone who has been to Sirkeci Station nearly fifty times, I cannot see any difference other than the rail layout of the train station and the current construction site situation. I wonder how many people will notice this difference when T6 opens and the renovation of the station is completed. If you came to Sirkeci Train Station in its new state for the first time, how much would you notice it? I think not at all. 7- When you see the finished version of the station and realize that there will be no difference, will you admit that you made a mistake? I do not think so. :( 8- If you say "what's left of it", anyone who has "basic" knowledge about buildings will understand that the building was demolished which is false and shallow comment to say the least. 9- "Ask anyone from TCDD." I think you should to it rather than me. Do your research before criticising and making pretentious comments about where you went.

Sizi incittiysem üzgünüm. Bina hakkında değil tüm tren istasyonunun kullanımına dair bir yorum yaptım. Bina çok güzel ve tabii ki yıkılmamıştı. İyi günler dilerim

@@felixonrails Its ok. There is no need to apologize. I wasnt trying to be mean. Keep up the good work.

it's not the same ... than what?

Tabii ki bu Orient ekspresi değil. Başlıkta "kendi kendine yapılan Orient Express" yazıyor değil mi? 🙃

Thanks captain obvious

what the hell are you talking about?

i talking about cash restrictions in EU for example on fasfood or produkt shops there is a sticker "no cash card only"@@felixonrails

I've never seen this anywhere in Italy, Austria, or anywhere.

so than it was faking kremlebots fake... thanks for the true info@@felixonrails

What? 😅

Ja leider. Wenn man zwischen Slovenien und der Türkei halbwegs flott fahren könnte, dann wäre die Strecke in weniger als der Hälfte der Zeit zu bewältigen. Es ist eine schöne Reise - aber keine sinnvolle Alternative zum Auto oder Flugzeug.