Midnight Train to Greece

This past week the Curtis's and us took an overnight train from Istanbul to Thessaloniki, Greece. We thought the idea of riding in a sleeper car for 12 hours sounded like a fun and the most effecient way to get there. At least one of those was correct. It really was an experience we will never forget and one that we will likely only experience once. First of all, the 12 hour ride turned into 15, with no way to contact the people picking us up to let them know we would be late. Second, we knew the train stopped at the border at 12am for customs, but we didn't know it also stopped every 30 minutes thereafter. This provided for a somewhat restless night of sleep and defeated the purpose of riding in the sleeper car. Thirdly, the rooms (which included two single beds big enough for a 5 year old) were extremely close quarters and provided plenty of opportunity to inhale each other's body odor which continued to rise due to the faintness of A/C.
For our return trip, we were on a different train. And thankfully it exceeded 30 miles an hour and managed to get us to Istanbul in time to make our return flight. It even came with a club car! However, the air didn't work at all on this train, causing us to keep the windows open and take in the sweet smell of diesel fuel all night. All and all we made it to Greece and back, but we decided we may be too old for a backpacking trip across Europe.