Sleeper Car nightmare
5/29/06
I suppose the preceeding and next 12 hours represent my first day on the pilgrimage. I´m in Pamplona at the moment sitting in the bus station café. This is the city famous for the festival of San Fermin (the running of the bulls) and for the love that Hemingway held for it. Last night at 10 pm I left the Barcelona-Sants train station prepared to arrive in Pamplona at 5:30 in the morning. What I wasn´t prepared for was the particular flavor of insanity upon which some European trains are designed. Imagine the small seating compartment you´ve seen in movies (think Harry Potter Hogwart´s Express). Three seats on each side of the compartment, one access door leading to the corridor (which has a bathroom at each end). I hadn´t expected this; I had expected seating more similar to Greyhound bus lines in the US. But, I thought, I might end up with some interesting people. What I didn´t anticipate was that the seats are what´s known as ´sleeperettes´, i.e. they fold down into half beds. ´Well, that´s great!´ you say, ´A half bed is better than none.´
BUT! WHERE DOES THE OTHER HALF BED COME FROM?????????? HMMM....??????
The person sitting across from you........
Please take a moment to reflect upon this arrangment.
You´re in a compartment with five strangers and one is sitting across from you. When it is decided to turn the light off you lay out your sleeperette, your neighbors do as well, and so does the person across from you.
When this configuration was explained to me by the first two people to arrive in the comparment my first question, naturally, was: ´Where do all the feet go?´
They both adopted a semi-queasy uncomfortable look and silently nodded assent when I caught on and said: ´Whoa! Whooooooaaahhaooooo!! No Way! You´re telling me that you both fold down your half beds and cozy up together on a space the size of a fucking camper bed, with your feet in each other´s faces?!´
I was horrified. I have a very high threshold for invasion of personal space when it is unavoidable. But this was outrageous. What band of idiots thought this was a good idea?
More later.....holly out....
I suppose the preceeding and next 12 hours represent my first day on the pilgrimage. I´m in Pamplona at the moment sitting in the bus station café. This is the city famous for the festival of San Fermin (the running of the bulls) and for the love that Hemingway held for it. Last night at 10 pm I left the Barcelona-Sants train station prepared to arrive in Pamplona at 5:30 in the morning. What I wasn´t prepared for was the particular flavor of insanity upon which some European trains are designed. Imagine the small seating compartment you´ve seen in movies (think Harry Potter Hogwart´s Express). Three seats on each side of the compartment, one access door leading to the corridor (which has a bathroom at each end). I hadn´t expected this; I had expected seating more similar to Greyhound bus lines in the US. But, I thought, I might end up with some interesting people. What I didn´t anticipate was that the seats are what´s known as ´sleeperettes´, i.e. they fold down into half beds. ´Well, that´s great!´ you say, ´A half bed is better than none.´
BUT! WHERE DOES THE OTHER HALF BED COME FROM?????????? HMMM....??????
The person sitting across from you........
Please take a moment to reflect upon this arrangment.
You´re in a compartment with five strangers and one is sitting across from you. When it is decided to turn the light off you lay out your sleeperette, your neighbors do as well, and so does the person across from you.
When this configuration was explained to me by the first two people to arrive in the comparment my first question, naturally, was: ´Where do all the feet go?´
They both adopted a semi-queasy uncomfortable look and silently nodded assent when I caught on and said: ´Whoa! Whooooooaaahhaooooo!! No Way! You´re telling me that you both fold down your half beds and cozy up together on a space the size of a fucking camper bed, with your feet in each other´s faces?!´
I was horrified. I have a very high threshold for invasion of personal space when it is unavoidable. But this was outrageous. What band of idiots thought this was a good idea?
More later.....holly out....
posted by Holly at 2:06 AM
2 Comments:
holly, did i ever tell you about the time i locked myself in the bathroom of a train? i must have been 8 or 9 and it was the most embarrassing moment of my life to have a complete stranger find me crying and banging on the door. trains suck
jenny
hey holly,
my family and I were nearly robbed on a sleeper train while traveling from Spain to France. I say nearly robbed because we didn't properly lock our compartment and theives came in to steal stuff, but one of us (not me) woke up and they ran out. It didn't occur to me that this would happen so my wallet way lying in plain sight next to me on the little pallate. Fortunately, they didn't notice it.
...no feet though.
Lorrie
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