Reflecting a bit on my adventures about finally getting on a train to St Pete, one thing that surprised me about the first train I missed (the one where I was about to get on the train until the guy noticed my ticket was for a different train and didn't let me on), was that he didn't seem to be interested in a bride from me. Oops, I meant to say bribe. I don't think he was interested in a bride from me either, but who knows. Or maybe he didn't understand. I asked him if 'Alexander Hamilton would get me on the train?' but I guess he wasn't interested in $10. I wish he would have let me on, but at the same time, I am somewhat relieved that he was following the rules, and not so willing to do anything for a few bucks.
Anyway, after eventually catching my breath, I finally boarded the overnight train. At this point in time, I thought that if something was ever going to go wrong to someone on any night train in Russia, it was going to go wrong to me that night. I already missed out on a night in St Pete and had to buy a second train ticket...so I was expecting the worst. I've heard about people getting robbed while they sleep, or even while they are awake. I've heard of really stinky cabin mates, or snorers, or straight weirdos you wouldn't dare close your eyes around. My train left at about 10pm, and was due to arrive around 6am. A lot can happen in 8 hours. That's 4 scary movies' worth of bad things.
Taking an overnight train takes a bit of mental preparation. It's more than just a couple hours sitting in a seat, listening to your iPod and staring out the window. It takes a serious traveller (and someone wanting to save a few bucks) to take an overnight train.
I've taken an overnight train before, between Krakow and Prague a couple years ago, but this time I was not mentally prepared. You have to think about what you're wearing, what you will sleep in, taking out your contacts, brushing your teeth, charging your phone, and generally trying not to feel dirty. The worst part for me was the stale air and hot cabin.
My cabin mates were a couple in their 50's, their son (maybe 30), and his son (about 4). These guys were clearly experts with the overnight train. They seemed to do everything very systematically. They laid out their sleeping clothes, brushed their teeth together, and all crawled into bed at about 11pm. And in the morning, they knew the process of stripping the bed and rolling up the mattress upon our arrival. They were all very polite and friendly, even though they didn't speak English to me. This immediately helped to improve my then very negative attitude about the trip so far. They helped me find a place to put my suitcase (under the mom's bed), get bed sheets from the car attendant (they must have thought I was an idiot for trying to sleep directly on the dirty mattress), and they let me keep the light on as long as I wanted after they started sleeping (or they were just being polite). And the best part is that they did not rob or kidnap me.
But that doesn't mean it was a perfect trip.
I couldn't sleep because it was so hot and stuffy. I tried to fall asleep around 11:30, but I couldn't. I could feel sweat droplets all over my body...behind my knees under my jeans, on my back, and on my forehead. I didn't want to bother my experienced travel mates by opening the window while they were trying to sleep. Since they didn't seem bothered by the heat, I figured it was normal. The last thing I wanted to do was to cause any problems by disturbing them on this so-far smooth trip.
At first I took off my socks to try to cool down, but it didn't really help. And my feet were super stinky, since I had been wearing shoes for the past 14 hours. At least I was on the top bunk, and the smelly air would hopefully not go down to the others.
The next logical move to try to cool off was to pull my t-shirt up, and fan my body. It's a bit tricky to do this without making any noise. And what I really didn't want to happen was them to hear the sound of my hand rhythmically beating my clothes against my body. Just think for a minute what that might sound like. Got it? Yea, I didn't want that. Anyway, it didn't help. Then I poured water from my water bottle on my stomach and face. Nope.
I needed to do something drastic. Remember that my suitcase is under the woman's bed? I thought about crawling down to get some shorts from my bag, but I didn't want to wake her up. Especially if she might wake up to see me standing over her bed! Then I'd be the one they tell scary stories about...you know, the creepy American guy who was standing over me while I was trying to sleep, all sweaty with a wet t-shirt and smelly feet.
So now I have a huge dilemma. Go down and risk waking her up (and being considered a creepy cabin mate you don't feel comfortable sleeping in the same room with), or take off all my clothes and sleep naked (and risk being considered a creepy cabin mate you don't feel comfortable sleeping in the same room with). In my mind those were the only choices. I decided on the less risky approach. I took my shirt off completely. Then I did the most relieving thing I could think of...I took my pants off. And laid on top of my sheets in just my underwear. And poured more water on my body. SO MUCH BETTER. I felt so good that I didn't care if they woke up to see me laying there mostly naked (actually I did care...I was really stressed!). Luckily, after a few hours of sleep, I woke up and put my pants back on before that happened. We'll just hope that none of them woke up during the night and saw me while I was asleep.
And now we will promise each other never to talk about this again.
More about St Pete soon...
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