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For roller derby, of course.
I was accepted as a nonskating official for a tournament in Graz, and there's a direct night train between there and Berlin, so I used that. The rolling stock on that route is older, so my options were a shared couchette berth (6) or first class (lol). Well, there was also sitting up in regular seats, but I am far too old for that shit. I could also have flown, but plane tickets were about a hundred Euros more than the berth I booked.
There is not much space between the beds when they are stacked 3 on each side. I think if I take a night train again, I will request a top bunk, even though ladders are annoying, because you can actually sit upright. And if you've met me, you know I'm not tall, so it's really cramped.
The cushion on the southbound train was uncomfortable and hard, and I think I slept a few hours. But another major factor in that was ... the electricity in the entire car went out before we even got to the Czech Republic, so it just kept getting colder and colder, and even with flannel jammies and a blanket and my scarf, I was shivering. Also eye mask and mouth mask is uncomfortable, but what are you going to do? Once we got to Vienna and everyone else in my compartment (and like the entire car) got out, I asked the conductor if I could move to a different car that had heat, so I spent the last 2 hours in a seat, occasionally napping, and getting great views of the valleys. We also had an hour's delay, but I made it to Graz, got coffee in a cafe at the train station, then went to my hosts' to shower, drop my stuff, and eat before taking a tourism walk through the central historic district.
Graz is cute, and I strolled around until I got too cold and it started getting dark. Also I was sleepy from not sleeping on the train. I had to ask people to repeat themselves so many times, because Austrian accents are so hard! But I felt better when Germans said they had trouble, too.
The tournament was fun. I had 4 games as ePLT and one as SK. I almost never SK anymore because I can do ePLT, and SK is a good place to put newbies. I'd still rather be on skates, because skating is so much fun, but sometimes you just don't want to drag your skates on a train.
The way back had a slightly newer car (probably substituting for the one I came down in), and we had electricity the whole way. There were delays again, so we got to Berlin at 8 instead of 7:30 (which is still pretty rude for sleeping on a train). I slept a little better but still not well. The cushioning was a bit thicker, though.
One of the people who came from the Netherlands said she had a capsule room in her train (from Amsterdam), which sounded really cool, but they aren't offered on my route. I'm planning on going to Malmö for World Champs in October, and I haven't decided if I'm going to fly or take the night train to Copenhagen (and then the commuter rail over the Öresund bridge). If some other Berlin folks want to night train and book a cabin together, that would be fun I think. But it's like an hour flight from Berlin to CPH. Undecided at the moment (also it's 8 months away).
I really like going to derby events and meeting officials from other countries and seeing people I only see at events. It's so much fun.
I was accepted as a nonskating official for a tournament in Graz, and there's a direct night train between there and Berlin, so I used that. The rolling stock on that route is older, so my options were a shared couchette berth (6) or first class (lol). Well, there was also sitting up in regular seats, but I am far too old for that shit. I could also have flown, but plane tickets were about a hundred Euros more than the berth I booked.
There is not much space between the beds when they are stacked 3 on each side. I think if I take a night train again, I will request a top bunk, even though ladders are annoying, because you can actually sit upright. And if you've met me, you know I'm not tall, so it's really cramped.
The cushion on the southbound train was uncomfortable and hard, and I think I slept a few hours. But another major factor in that was ... the electricity in the entire car went out before we even got to the Czech Republic, so it just kept getting colder and colder, and even with flannel jammies and a blanket and my scarf, I was shivering. Also eye mask and mouth mask is uncomfortable, but what are you going to do? Once we got to Vienna and everyone else in my compartment (and like the entire car) got out, I asked the conductor if I could move to a different car that had heat, so I spent the last 2 hours in a seat, occasionally napping, and getting great views of the valleys. We also had an hour's delay, but I made it to Graz, got coffee in a cafe at the train station, then went to my hosts' to shower, drop my stuff, and eat before taking a tourism walk through the central historic district.
Graz is cute, and I strolled around until I got too cold and it started getting dark. Also I was sleepy from not sleeping on the train. I had to ask people to repeat themselves so many times, because Austrian accents are so hard! But I felt better when Germans said they had trouble, too.
The tournament was fun. I had 4 games as ePLT and one as SK. I almost never SK anymore because I can do ePLT, and SK is a good place to put newbies. I'd still rather be on skates, because skating is so much fun, but sometimes you just don't want to drag your skates on a train.
The way back had a slightly newer car (probably substituting for the one I came down in), and we had electricity the whole way. There were delays again, so we got to Berlin at 8 instead of 7:30 (which is still pretty rude for sleeping on a train). I slept a little better but still not well. The cushioning was a bit thicker, though.
One of the people who came from the Netherlands said she had a capsule room in her train (from Amsterdam), which sounded really cool, but they aren't offered on my route. I'm planning on going to Malmö for World Champs in October, and I haven't decided if I'm going to fly or take the night train to Copenhagen (and then the commuter rail over the Öresund bridge). If some other Berlin folks want to night train and book a cabin together, that would be fun I think. But it's like an hour flight from Berlin to CPH. Undecided at the moment (also it's 8 months away).
I really like going to derby events and meeting officials from other countries and seeing people I only see at events. It's so much fun.
