The passport thing could easily be made more convinient. I used to travel a lot by night train between Denmark and France before Schengen had been fully implemented. The process was simple: the sleeping car conductor collected all our passports along with the tickets and stored them in safe during the night. When we arrived at the borders, the safe would be handed over to the border police who inspected them in their office and stamped them. If there was anything suspecious they would only wake up the owner of a specific passport. Always got a full night's sleep.

As a Romanian myself, I have to take some “shot outs” here: - you’re getting the 2nd class only on that paper because the other paper that you’ve received is your private room reservation which came in addition to the standard 2nd class ticket that you’ve got back before reaching Budapest - the cancelation of the train from Budapest to Vienna is based on MAV’s decision not CFR, MAV is operating the train between the RO-HU border and Vienna. - why haven’t you asked at the ticket office in Budapest Keleti to solve your tickets since you were on their main hub and they were the one responsible for running the train on that part of the journey?

Actually, this was quite the headline in Romania. Hungarian Railways really screwed us and their railways decided not to take us (with their locomotive as they were supposed to) to Vienna. Because of the delay you mentioned. It sucks but is most definitely not a regular occurrence (you had really bad luck) - the not making it to Vienna part not the delay part (that is quite common sadly).

This guy has the gall to complain about a ride in a Romanian train even after keeping all his organs smh

Only started the video, but the intro remediately remindend me on my journey 18-hour night train journey from Istanbul to Romania. It ended up in a 24 hour journey in a semi broken train, enough alcohol, closed borders, illegal taxis and great company. A journey I will never forget and in the end the best journey I haver had. Even if it ended in a 24 hour long adventure.

Romanian here, and I have to say that this might have been the most Romanian thing I watched in a while

Have to say Tom watching your struggles is quite entertaining, keep up with the good work!

You might have spent $175 on that trip and thought it was a nightmare journey, but it's a journey you will never forget, and that's what makes travel so interesting. Thinking on your feet when things go wrong. I did the Bucharest-Budapest portion earlier this year, and to be honest, my journey was a little less adventurous than yours. Great video.

I took the same train last week, in a sleeper... The train only went to a Hungarian town, Békéscsaba, because there was an accident. At midnight in Békéscsaba they got everyone off the train... From there to Mezőtúr by passenger train, from there to Szolnok by bus and then to Budapest by another train... from Budapest by Railjet (8:40 am, after 8h on bus and 2 on other trains) which was full of Dacia passengers so there was no seat on the train... now I am waiting for my compensation because a purchased service was not provided. This was the worst journey I have ever had.

Well, you surely got a rotten deal. Usually, it is not as bad as this: 1) Romanian Railways get delays... alot. There is no info on the train about that. No next stop, schedule... nothing. There are websites, and I even wrote an app for that, but still. 2) Your icket is collected for your convenience. After the borders (HU and AT), the conductor changes, but your attendant does not. He presents the tickets through the night. You get your ticket back normally, and if they forget, just ask. 3) The border crossing is insane but allows for both the RO and AT bound trains to be at the Hungarian Border Station at the same time. This is very important, as people may be denied entry in HU and can return immediately to RO (otherwise, they are stuck in HU). 4) I usually sleep up to the border, get woken up, sleep again, and get woken up again. I am a light sleeper, thoug, and have my Pass ready when I go to sleep. Passport contols may take some time, as reading those Biometric Passports can take like 30s. Also, physical room inspections are a chore. 5) Those showers never work... I have no idea why... 6) The "dining" car is decoupled at Arad. There is no meal service in HU / AT, and no breakfast or drinks. Always bulk up when travelling by train in the east. 7) The train got cancel3d by MAV (the HU state operator) due to a scheduling error on their side. By allowing the train to go to Wien, it would have runined the entire day on that sector (so I heard). Still not an excuse, and the fact that no information was provided is also a horrible situation to be stuck in. At the very least, you got dropped in the main station of Budapest... 8) When buying any night train ticket, you are buying two things: the right to go on the train and the accommodation reservation. The ticket to ride the train will always be 2nd class, equivalent to a seatter. For Single Sleaper, you must buy the Full Fare Flex ticket, hence the expense. Even in a 2-sleeper, you could get the discounted "Europa" ticket, but that is academic right now. 9) Be happy you got the standad ticket... theoretically, a train- bound ticket would not have allowed you to use the RailJet! In these cases, you would have had to get a stamp from a HU Conductor, that your original connectionis not possible, due to a traindelag or cancellation, at which point you may use the ticket as if it were flexible.

Cool video! :) The timings of the border checks aren't random. Just look in the timetable. Romanian border check is from 1:44 to 2:10 (Romanian time) and Hungarian border check from 1:20 to 2:03 (Central European time). And while on the train you could - beside the timetable - just use Google Maps to see how far you are from the border. Being sensitive about sleep I actually don't take this train if I have the choice. There are 2 more night trains from Bucharest to Budapest (and Vienna is just a short jump from there) having better schedules and border check times.

This video was like a time machine to me. Apparently, these international night trains in central/eastern Europe haven't changed at all during the last 35 years. Everything you experienced could have happened on one of my many night train rides to Poland, Romania and Croatia during the 1990s and early 2000s: The special "international" ticket counter, the ticket being kept by the staff during the night, passport controls at 2 a.m., a rather slow train, etc.. The only new thing I noticed it's the option to get an electronic ticket. And the screens in the stations in Bucharest and Budapest.

I would recommend you the train from Berlin to Graz (Austria) via Vienna. We did it several times now, slept the whole time, breakfast there was very good. They gave us towels and 2 bottles of water, shower was working properly. The distance is running by ÖBB (Austrian railways). Very clean and friendly staff.

In 1990 I took the night train from Budapest to Bucharest. Woken up for the border check, but it didn’t tske long. It was about 15 hour journey. Had a great time travelling around Romania. Not the fastest trains, but they took you where you wanted to go. Bucharest was quite run down then, it's improved now.

As a child i would travel with father in a sleeping coaches from Warsaw Poland to Constanta Romania every summer . It took 3 days ( 2 nights ), did not have shower ( only sink ) lifting of a rail car at the USSR borders ( twice in one way ) in order to change the wheel units to different sizes , had number of delays standing in hot Romanian sun for hours in the cornfields and nasty border controlls including customs . Still , young man , i recall that time as the most wonderfull in my life .....

I'm sorry you had such bad luck with this train. I did it in 2019 and it was one of my favorit night train journeys (and thats saying something as I have done ~110 of them so far). I recomend buying an Interrail Global Pass next time you want to do such a long journey, it is almost always cheaper than single tickets, even with the necessairy reservations. The late night border crossings are really annoying (worst for me was Bulgaria to Turkey), but I almost just go to bed early, if I know one is comming, so I know I'll get my sleep. But luckily in the Schengen area it's no problem on night trains. If you want to do another special night train journey I can recommend all the Italian night trains, especially the one from Milan to Sicily. It is nearly 21h long and goes on a ferry 😅

Oh my god this is unbelievable timing! I just came with the night train to Bucharest from Vienna. I also booked the sleeper train but sadly the wagon was missing…. I guess it stopped with you in Budapest, because they said, that „there was trouble in Hungary“…😂😂😂 Always great seeing you videos Keep it up man!

The reason of the cancellation is, that this very infamous train (Dacia) is the first train of the day from Budapest to Vienna, which has quite good connections in Vienna, so the Hungarian Railways is selling a bunch of tickets for it. If the train arrives from Romania with considerable delay, they have to send a separate train to Vienna without waiting the romanian stock, not to miss the connections in Vienna. Theoretically the romanian part could be joined to later trains, but in the morning hours they are closed Railjet trains, and in the morning rush hours they could not always find a slot for an extra train. Therefore the decision that the passengers have to switch trains in Budapest is somewhat understandable - but the change should be organized better.

Mr. Never Again, try the Bucharest - Chisinau train. It is a former Soviet train operated by the railways of the Republic of Moldova. An unforgettable experience for someone who has high expectations like you.

I used a couple night trains this summer (including Bucharest to Budapest) and on my first one I was the same as you, staying awake for the border control between Turkey and Bulgaria. But I learned my lesson after having a 3 hour delay between the Turkish control and the Bulgarian control to just go to sleep and not stay up for it, its really not worth it, they wake you up and check it. Always abit stressfull when they take your passport for like an hour but you always seem to get it back. Later in my travels on the train from Bucharest to Budapest I just slept and only got woken by the border control when they needed me and I slept great for almost the entire journey, I kinda love these trains A less fun journey was the one train from Sofia to Bucharest, this one went during the day and there where only 2 carriges that went all the way to Bucharest, the rest of the train consistet of carriges from farious railways comming and going, sadly no buffet car for the entire 12 hour journey. The train was empty during the high season so I had the hot, no AC compartment from a carrige that used to belong to the east German railways by myself! Halfway on the journey we waited for 3 hours in the sun for a coach from Istanbul that was delayed, meanwhile we where baking in full sun. Once it arrived we continued our journey, at the border crossing a 'guard' with a 'official' T-shirt that looked more like he was supporting a foorball team apeard to take my passport, the control did not take too long. Then on the Romanian side he re apeared with a Romanian T-shirt this time to take our passports again for the Romanian border control. After this only 3 hours to go! From this point I was really confused becouse on the map it seemed like we had straight tracks from Ruse to Bucharest for like 120 km or something. And the tracks where indeed straight, but apperently so poorly maintained that we only could go over them with 10 to 20 km per hour at a few points! We arrived in Bucharest with only a 2 hour delay, which was not even caused by the Bulgarian railways but the delayed Turkish carrige. One fun thing to know, a FlixBus went multiple times a day, was half the price and took half the time but I wanted to do only rail. To sum up, I love traveling by train, especially in Eastern Europe and the Balkans but you always need to be patient and just kinda go with it (cautiosly), delays are more the norm then the exception so always be flexible and I would try to never have same day connections from these trains if they are not frequent or are long journeys.

You still got lucky. On Monday, a freight train derailed in Hungary, so Dacia-Corvin, the sleeper train is really messed up right now, even more than it was before. The damage is insane, it's gonna last for like 2 months. An almost identical accident happened just like 2-3 months ago, they only recently finished fixing it.

After graduating school some friends and I took the same night train during our Interrail trip but only from Budapest to Sibiu. Went all surprisingly well. Unfortunately we didn't know back then that Romania wasn't part of the Schengen Area. So we were somewhat surprised that we were woken up twice that night for passport controls.

Couple of remarks: -The carriage attendant collecting the tickets and returning them in the morning is standard procedure on international night trains. They then show them to the guard who is actually responsible for checking them. Especially when the train is run jointly by the served countries' state railways, the guard will change at the border and they would have to wake you up to check your ticket again if you got to keep it. -Nowadays, on most European night trains, all accomodation levels are classified as second class. This allows you to book any level with a 2nd class Interrail pass for example.

Don t complain you made a full romanian experience. 😅

Tom. We love your channel! You present such interesting travels and you seem to take all the bumps with such grace and humor. Travel is a great experience but can at times be such a challenge. Also disregard the negative comments…they are just a few people who seem unable to appreciate the positivity life can bring. Best wishes from the US for many fun travels ahead! 😊

I used to travel to Romania from Budapest with the sleeping train, best sleeps i ever had. There is something romantic how the train is slowly rocking you to sleep as you listen to the monotonous noise, especially when it's raining or snowing.

Imagine this happens on a daily basis for any Romanian railway operated train. But after 30+ years of this, you kind of get accustomed to it I guess 😉

Never say never! It's your fault that you didn't inform yourself before the trip. My 14 year old nephew did the same trip and did great! Success! Next time will be better!

So many lessons to learn here. 😀 If you plan to have a shower, always carry with you one or two 5-gallon solar shower bags ( black heavy-duty plastic bags with a small shower head at the bottom ). On a summer day, you can have lukewarm water - 100 to 105 degrees (or 40 Celsius) - in about 3 hours. But that's not the point here. When you board the train, you check if there's water. If the water is there, in the evening you fill up your bags and place them into the shower room. You have to reserve your water cause most of the old trains have only a central tank and you might not get any if you wait until 2 am for a passport stamp. After Turkey's snub on Sweden, the EU decided that Romania and Bulgaria must be admitted this year into the Schengen area and even be compensated for discrimination (they met the criteria in 2011). So, you might be luckier next time.

My girlfriend and I will be travelling all the way from Germany to Constanta for holiday on this very train in exactly one week 🫠 I hope the experience will be better, we also have a first class ticket. Hopefully the train runs all the way and we will definitely shower right after depature :D

Last year I went all the way from germany to Ankara and back by train and interrail. I can really recommend it! But you always have to account for the night trains to be late, which is normally no issue as you can sleep and chill and will stay in the next city for at least 1 night. Sadly no of my trains had any restaurant at all 😢. I even went from Budapest du Bucharest on the night train in a normal seat 😅. Best train is from Bucharest to Istanbul! Very scenic and nice turkish sleeper cars!

I remember commenting on your Flixbus video too, but here I am again. I also took this ride from Budapest to Bucharest. After that I decided to visit all the major cities along the line, travelling from Hungary each time one stop closer than the last. It was great fun, but I knew what I was getting myself into.

I love how you‘re staying so calm?? I would have cried the whole time tbh

The delay on the Romanian-Hungarian border was probably because of the Ukrainian refugees. Every day thousands of them come to Hungary via Romania, similar numbers through the Hungarian-Ukrainian border. They are taken off the trains (day and night trains) at the border and have to be processed because they enter the Schengen zone. Normally they either have to take the next train if they want to travel further west. Sometimes the Hungarian railway company runs a special train just for the refugees from the border to Budapest. The night train from Bucharest is often late, normally if the delay is more than an hour there is a replacement train between Budapest and Vienna. There are hourly trains to Vienna and the ticket is honoured on the next train, the only problem people might have is finding a seat. Often most of the seats have reservations, so people have to stand for nearly three hours.

In the 90s I traveled several times by train from Poland through Budapest to Italy. I used two night trains: Warsaw-Budapest (Express "Bathory") and Budapest-Venice ("Venezia-Express"). In both sleeping it was impossible, because each time it crossed three borders during one night, and each with full passport control (there were pre-EU times :-) ). The best were border officers glowing flashlights in the eyes :-), and another six stamps collected in my passport after each night. What state borders did I cross? For the first train: Polish-Czech (Zebrzydowice-Petrovice), Czech-Slovak (Cadca) and Slovak-Hungarian (Sturovo-Szob). For the second train: Hungarian-Croatian (Gyekenyes-Koprivnica), Croatian-Slovenian (Zagreb-Dobova) and Slovenian-Italian (Seżana-Villa Opicina). At some time, an additional attraction was a blackout on the train while traveling through Croatia (due to the civil war in former Yugoslavia). Anyway, there were very interesting routes, especially from Budapest to Venice (journey along Balaton, Slovenian mountains, very exciting "downhill ride" from Villa Opicina to Trieste).

What? WHY on Earth would you wait for the border crossing? Back in the 1990s when I still travelled on overnight trains, that would never have occured to me. I just gave my passport and ticket to the conductor and went to sleep.

The train attendant did not steal your paper ticket. At most railway companies that provide sleeping and couchette car services, it is standard procedure for the attendant to collect your ticket and reservation before you go to sleep, and return it to you upon waking up or before you leave the train. There are a few reasons for this practice. Firstly, the conductor requests all passengers' tickets from the train attendant in the sleeping car to ensure a peaceful and uninterrupted sleep for everyone onboard. This helps guarantee a comfortable journey. Secondly, the conductor's responsibility is limited to the service area of the railway company they work for. In the case of long international trains that traverse multiple countries, the conductor may change at the border station. For your journey, the conductors and railway companies were CFR (1st conductor), MÁV-START (2nd conductor), and intended to be ÖBB (3rd conductor). Another reason for collecting tickets is that the train attendant needs to handle paperwork associated with each ticket. They are required to copy certain information from the ticket as part of their administrative duties. I hope this explanation clarifies the situation. Greetings from a former Hungarian train attendant.

Oh that shower scene was epic. “I feel so clean now” 😅😂😅😂😅😂 love your content, and I’m sorry you arrived to BUD in a less than ideal situation. Hope and wish that your next journey here will be a much more pleasant one! Stay safe and healthy - and keep bringing us great vids 😎😉

Love this video Tom. And yes, you always make having bad luck so entertaining. Thanks for making us all smile 😄

Despite the hassles it still resonated as a somewhat romantic journey. 😌

Tom, I love your videos, but I especially love how you take on all the bumps in the road with the utmost grace. Keep on keeping on!

Well, at least you got a video out of it that was a heck of a lot more interesting than the similar vids from other people I've seen making this journey WITHOUT the hiccups ;)

The perks of being an eastern european , hungarian, romanian whatever, is that train delays, cancellations, out-of-order showers are just part of every day life and most of us just shrug it off without being too much angry about it :)

It’s not your fault. I’ve take taken trains in both Hungary and Romania and they are both poorly run counties and rails. I’ve had similarly bad experiences on trains there.

I went for a 12h journey from western Romania to eastern Romania last summer and it was actually quite good (just a 1h delay). I paid 80 euros for the private sleeping cabin (without shower) but there where no bar on the train.

Sorry you had a bad experience. I've taken that train in the other direction and we did make it the whole way, although a few hours delayed. My advice is definitely go to sleep, don't wait up for the border crossing! They'll wake you up with the knock, don't worry 😂

I use to love taking train rides in the 80's and 90's from Bucharest to Cluj or Budapest

Always a good day when you upload, another highly enjoyable video 😊

I done Budapest to Timisoara and glad I done day trip for it rather than a night train as it sounds a grim trip.

This reminded me of why my travels on romanian trains always involved a considerable amount of wine

Thanx for another train video. :) You are sort of my role model when it comes to train journeys. 😊 I hope to one day travel further by train myself. From the south of Austria (where I live) to, maybe, Tallin, or Scotland. Something like this.

I've taken the Vienna-Bucharest train several times in both directions over the last ten years or so - they're wonderful old-style trains, very solid. A single compartment is a great luxury. I love running through the Romanian countryside, seeing how everything is gradually modernising. Just bring your own food and drink, allow for several hours' delay, be happy to reach Vienna or Bucharest whenever you get there. Both are great cities in their own way. But above all don't get on the train with unrealistic expectations!

I took the train in the other direction a few weeks ago and I loved it. Never had problems to sleep while awaiting the border control. If you do it again, you should try.

Well that’s dampened my enthusiasm for sleeper trains, I think I’ll take that one off my bucket list, nice post

175 USD for a train ticket from Bucharest to Vienna? Wow, I must admit, to me as a Swiss, this sounds extremely cheap 😅 But anyway, be happy for all the things that didn't go as planned for these are exactly the kind of memories you'll never forget and you will cherish. From all my journeys I remember those the most that didn't go as smooth as planned 🥰 Thanks for bringing us along with you!

"Gara de Nord" is the biggest train station in the country. It wouldn't be so bad to get it better designed so that international tourists don't get confused. I've seen a lot of train stations outside Romania and, as a foreigner, I could always find my way around. Even in this clip you can see the sign for "INTERNATIONAL TRIPS" had the biggest font written in romanian and others in foreign languages underneath. Nonsense. As an architecture student in Bucharest, Gara de Nord is particularly frustrating. I can see this misunderstanding happening even if Tom found a couple of his romanian viewers (such as myself and others I see on here) and asked them for details about this route, prior to the trip. Folks here are inclined to say "that's one of the safest routes you can take!" - safe in terms of being sure you arrive there on time, having some comfort on the way there - depending on the ticket, most will suggest the highest comfort one (truthfully, the others are terrible in my opinion - and you'll end up frustrated) and that's because delays for this trip really are a rarity. What an unfortunate experience. Not to say that this isn't bound to happen every so often, so it's better to plan ahead. I'm sure you know this, but it's best to plan for the exceptions! :) Looking forward to see more of Tom's adventures though!

i also take a sleeper train von Bucarest to Budapest - it takes 16 hours

Oh you so crazy Tom. What a trip!

I traveled a lot with my parent's in transylvania in the early 90s. Sometimes the road was gone 😅 and i mean the main road. That was the last time my parents drove down there i the night 😁. At least there is a train :)

It’s always fun to see your adventures, good or bad. I thought for sure you were going to tell us the toilet backed up or something. I’m glad you made it safely.

Hey Tom, wonderful video! All the best from Switzerland :)

As a romanian, I applaud you for your patience. Our railroads and trains are the worst.

Good post! Just subscribed. Your vids are humorous and enjoyable. It is definitely hard to sleep knowing you will soon be awakened.

Oh well, I spent 3 days on a coach with no toilet non -stop Athens to London in the early 80's so your train journey sounds like luxury to me!!! Lol

As an English Germophile, I bloody love your videos.

I was WONDERING how you got back from the FlixBus trip! And you ANSWERED!

"We're out of Coach class boys" to "back where we belong" took me out 😂😂😂. I feel bad for laughing.

Love your sense of humor!

Thanks for the video. I am taking the night train to Romania in a few weeks. Hopefully, now that Romania is in Schengen, they've fixed it, and it'll be a smooth ride. Going to make video about the trip too ;)

Lets go!! Love your Storytelling good one

Back in 2018, I was close to taking that train from Budapest to Bucharest (having already trained from Vienna to Bratislava and then Bratislava to Budapest). I didn't feel so at ease with staying overnight on a train that looked as though it was still in the Soviet-era, so took the hour flight from Budapest to Bucharest for the same cost as the overnight train (it was around £150 then).

Romania and Bulgaria will likely join the Schengen zone soon, so that will solve many of the problems you experienced. I would rethink "never again".

This is an exception what you experienced. Do this trip again and the chances are it'll be much more comfortable and worth the time and money

I took a night train from Vienna to Sibiu six years ago. It’s vital you check the timings for intermittent stations so you avoid trains that cross the border at unearthly hours. But you know that now!)

Wow that is so appalling! I am so sorry that happened to you. Thank you so much for sharing your experience so hopefully others may avoid repeating it.

Hi ! This train has always been notoriously unpunctual. This is 25 years of experience. No, I didn't travel on it, I just did a technical inspection in Keleti. He was rarely only 15 minutes late. . In this case, it is considered accurate . Nowadays, it's more of the category of uncertain late arriwed What happened here was that the train was so late that ÖBB no longer took it over from MÁV. This is standard procedure. Thus, the MÁV traffic control had no other solution but to stop the train at Bp Keleti. It is here because the conditions for further travel are the best here. Also, it is possible to store CFR coach's here. In this case, your ticket is valid for the next train to your destination.

Your experience actually sounds dreamy, what with the bed and everything. Not sure if it was exactly the same route, but we took a night train from Medias to Budapest with similar experience 18 years ago, with similar memories of it being amongst my worst train rides ever. - We couldn't prepurchase tickets because because we weren't starting in Bucharest. Sleeper cars were not available for purchase at the Medias ticket office. This was also before Romanian railways had internet ticketing. - Our seats were occupied when we got there, and in fact the car we were in was solidly packed. I think somewhere someone was selling standing-room-only tickets. - Roughly 2-3 hours at border control. Had exactly zero sleep that night. But ultimately got where we were going, so I guess that's just how it goes sometimes.

Love the Video, last summer I made the same journey from Vienna to Bucharest but in coach. We had to change trains two times and sleeping was definitely not an option because all the lights stayed on and some romainian fella wanted to share his love for polka withe the whole compartment. Over all an awesome experience, 4/10 would still recommend!

And here I sat thinking "oh but at least it was probably cheap, right?" 175 bucks, fuck me.

I went with nightjet from Munich to Venice (wanted to go on from there to Florence) . 2 beds cabin. Waking up next morning I realised that the train had stopped short after Munich in Rosenheim and that it wasn’t to go on … Apparently we had stood there the whole night without anybody from ÖBB telling us how to go what about the tickets and so on. Just by accident we and other passengers realised that on the opposite platform a train was going to Bologna… and so our travel continued, we finally arrived in Florence in the evening …

I did it the other way (Budapest - Bucharest) last year, doing a day train from Budapest to Arad (first town in Romania) and then the Arad to Bucharest sleeper operated by Astra Trans Carpatic. About 70 euros for a similar room, shower worked, very clean and new coaches and border already crossed. In theory a good 8 hours of sleep ahead. But.... Romania is the land of jointed track and rough pointwork. You know the old school dum-dum-dum-dum as you travel along the tracks that you don't get on mainlines in Western Europe? Yeah, that's the Romanian network. I think I got 30 minutes of 'sleep' all night....

Just came back from Romania yesterday, also with the Dacia and only 40 minutes late. BUT on the way to Romania we had a delay of 10 hours due an accident near Szolnok in Hungary, it even made news on Romanian ProTV.

I took this same train in December, except my final destination was Budapest (intentionally). I booked the entire room, it was the same arrangement of a upper and lower bunk and a bathroom/shower. The car was however much older, the mattress wasn't mattressing the way it should and of course the shower didn't work either, the heat would intermittently shut off and the only power socket was in the bathroom. Most disappointing, there was no bar car as I saw on your trip, the conductor did say he had a bottle of whiskey he would share with me which I politely declined. It wasn't a bad ride though, everything was on time, I barely remember the passport checks, just slept with my passport and handed it to whoever needed it and the scenery out the window what I saw of it looked spectacular with many inches of freshly fallen snow, if I do this trip again I will do it in the daytime.

Great video, hope you enjoyed Vienna one of my favourite cities. I took a Nightjet train last month and booked a private sleeper and got downgraded to one with just seats at least it made it to Hamburg. Obb mark all their private sleeper tickets as 2nd class tickets as well. I did Vienna - Munich on a sleeper last year also and although there were no document checks the police checked the compartments at the border crossing.

I use to do those trips across Europe and sometimes the sleeping car attendant would take in passports and tickets overnight to show the border guards and they wouldn't wake you up.By coincidence that happened to me on a Brasov to Vienna train which terminated short in Budapest.It was very dangerous as some of the passengers got off in the throat to Keliti Station and walked down the tracks with trains coming and going! Very disorganised with the Austrian sleeping car attendant constantly pointing out how disorganised Hungary was(he didn't lay into Romania as I recall).

Ah, the authentic CFR experience. Ticket lady yelling at you, nothing on the train works, delays, get stiffed out of what you paid for, and swear to never use them again. Until 10 years later when you think "they're probably better now" but no, they're not. They never will be.

Twice I did ride "Auto Trains" from Malmö in Sweden and to Luleå and Umeå. They had rented the trains in Germany and for some years it was a possibility. We had 1. class tickets and sometimes people from the lower grades came to look at our fine conditions! It was special to see the growth become lower as we came close to the Polar Circle! Sadly not enough wanted to go back again on trains, so it only lasted few years.

So interesting to see how your nighttime experience compared to my daytime one in the opposite direction. It's a lot easier in daylight and quite interesting to watch them shunt the train, look under every seat with mirrors and the dogs outside!

I took this train a couple days ago From Arad to Budapest in a Seeting Carrige, The Bodercrossing From Hungary into Romania was everything Else than smooth we gathered about 70 minutes Deley in Lőkösháza. On the way back everything Went smothly the train Pulled 10 Minuten late into Arad And we arrived on time in Budapest. Eventough i had just a Seating Carrige i could sleep verry Well, the Hungarian And Romanian borderguards Just woke me Up i gave them my pass they ceckt It And then they we're Off and i could sleep again

What a bad experience you went thru, Tom. 👎😖 I did not expect CFR to be that much unreliable and unscrupulous. Thanks for this lovely made trip report anyways, it helped me much to go on and overthink my plans to take a night train from Bucharest to Vienna. Wishing you much better luck on all future travel! Simone 🙋

It‘s funny to see this video, as i took the exact same ride in the opposite direction last summer and could predict all of the things happening, before they occurred, because I experienced exactly the same.

The "kickoff" at Budapest happens, because CFR can't keep to the schedule in 80% of cases. And since trains to Vienna depart Budapest once every hour, it would be hard for traffic workers to put two trains at the same time, onto an already busy line.

That's why domestic flights and coaches in countries with poorly developed railway networks still exist and are quite popular. Don't belive me? Here's comparison on a Sofia (capital of Bulgaria) to Varna(biggest hub on the seaside) journey. By train it takes you about 7 and a half hours, starting at 15 euros, By coach it's 7 hours, starting at 7.5 euros, And finally a ryanair from sofia to varna, starts at 14 euros for a one-way trip if you book it early enough. Around 100 thousand people flew from Sofia to Varna in 2022, which is massive numbers.

Love these videos so much!

ah yes the Romanian experience! one of my friends actually took the same train in december like 3-4 years ago, and they ran into some mechanical problems and were stuck in the middle of nowhere in -15 degrees for 20 hours. They could not leave the train because they were literally in the middle of nowhere and after 20 hours of waiting they all received half a plastic cup of hot tea. Growing up in Romania I'm not surprised about anything in this video haha

I would have considered that all an exciting adventure. Things always go awry so just enjoy the bar.

i personally LOVE taking that exact train, with my friends all in a sleeper carriage (or w strangers, i dont mind). And for the boarder control: i just sleep w my ID card ready and show it to them when they knock. usually it takes so little time that i get almost uninterrupted sleep...they do usually kick us off in budapest tho

I have taken a lot of cross-border night trains in former Soviet countries, as well as between Russia and Finland, and Serbia and Montenegro. And would always greet the border guards half-asleep & half-dressed.

Well thats my train next week, i just hope it punctual in sighisoara bc i don't know a single word of Romanian.

Just come across your channel, I love it!