Sleeping With Strangers

Odessa, Ukraine,  May 19, 11:17 AM

I'm in heaven.  Drinking my first coffee of the day at my favorite restaurant/cafeteria in the whole world -- Puzata Xata.   In Lviv, they have 2 locations where I eat every meal other than breakfast which is included with my hotel stay there but not here.

As you can see from the pictures this cafeteria is quite elegant. It has a million dollar view of the skyline and my full breakfast, which you can also see here, including coffee, cost less than $1.50. I kid you not!

I thought I was really going to miss Puzata Xata during this 6-day visit to Odessa but was delighted to find it also here and just a couple of blocks from my hotel.

My trip to Odessa from Lviv began with more than a modicum of concern as I planned to take the long 12-hour sleeper train connecting the two cities,  And I also planned to travel in third class.

Third Class?  Why pick a third class sleeper when travel here is so inexpensive?  Well, I wanted a lower bunk and they were all taken in 2nd class by the time I made my reservation.

And, if truth be known, I wanted to see how OK or not OK it might be, having found the 3rd class day trip (just seats no sleeping accommodation)  from Mukacheve to Lviv last year to be OK, although the uncushioned seats were hard, particularly so after 5 hours.

With a likely repetition of that trip in store later during this time in Ukraine, I have since purchased a plastic seat cushion which blows up to full size so it takes up very little space when packing.

The third class overnight sleeper is a real bargain.  For less than $5 you get a bed for the night, a nice cup of tea and you get to be transported  the725 km (450 miles) from Lviv to Odessa.

No, it's no 5-star hotel. Far from it.

But none of the 5-star hotels in Lviv offers the opportunity go to sleep in Lviv and wake up in Odessa!

In the picture, you can see my compartment on the right with 4 bunks.  Across the aisle, there are two bunks with the lower bunk starting out as two seats facing each other with a table in between which later folds down to form the bunk.

Boarding early I waited to see who would be sharing my compartment.  "Compartment" is probably not the right word as it is completely open to the aisle which is the 3rd reason I thought 3rd class might be preferable to 2nd class where the compartment is completely enclosed.

It seemed to me that sleeping in the company of complete strangers might be safer and therefore wiser in an open compartment.

As I waited, two 30 something guys entered the compartment and then a middle aged man.  One of the guys said something to me, in Ukrainian which I didn't understand but then figured he was asking where I was from, when, with a questioning look, he used the Ukrainian word for "Polish". So I told him in my limited Ukrainian that I was an American and asked each of them if they were Ukrainian.  Both said they were and we informed each other that we were all headed to the final train stop, Odessa.

At 8:40 PM, right on time as always in Ukraine, at least in my experience, the train departed.

The two guys had a lot of stuff with them including a lot of food.  I moved to sit on the left side of my bench (bunk) so they could sit across from each other at the table to eat their big meal.

They invited me to join them in a drink of vodka (I think it was vodka).  But, given I was still in recovery from sleep deprivation and jet lag and anticipating that with little sleep on this journey I would be in bad enough shape in the morning without a hangover, I thanked them for their invitation and with some reluctance declined

Some of the passengers made their beds right away upon boarding while others proceeded to do so an hour or so into the journey.

The conductor gave each of us a sealed plastic bag containing sheets, pillow case, and a towel.  Rolled up mattresses with pillows were stored overhead at the top of the compartment.   One of the guys pulled one down for me. At first, I thought it to be a blanket.
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Surreptitiously I watched as others made their beds, not wanting to appear the greenhorn I was.  At first, I made a hash of it as I got the sheet running crosswise but then figured out you simply line up the stripes on the sheets lengthwise with the mattress.

By 11 PM everyone had made their beds and were settling down for the night except for some talking on their smartphones.

Lying in bed I read a couple of pages of a novel on my Kindle but decided it didn't capture my interest and, as I was really more interested in getting some sleep, I began the effort to do so.

I knew sleeping wouldn't be easy given the strange environment and excitement of being on the train but there were bigger challenges with which to contend.

Very loud sounds of crashing and pounding came from the train's undercarriage  And the train swung in wide sweeps both up and down and horizontally.

I confess I was a bit concerned about the loud banging noises.  I couldn't and still can't imagine what was causing them.  If they were caused by a bad track it seemed we should be derailed. The noise was that pronounced.

However, as no one else appeared to be concerned I decided there was no reason for me to worry.

And as time went by, the track seemed to smooth out and the turbulence was replaced by a gentle swaying of the train and the familiar and comforting clickety-clack of its wheels.

And so.  I fell asleep.

During the night I woke up from time to time and then fell back to sleep.  In all I guess I slept a total of 4 or 5 hours.  While not my usual and desired 9 hours or so, I was grateful for what I did get. More than I got on the 8-hour flight from Washington to Frankfurt.

Indeed it is nice to be able to spread out and lie down flat as opposed to being scrunched up in an airline seat although my feet did extend into the aisle about an inch when I lay flat on my back and they got brushed by a couple of passengers walking by.  Better placement of the pillow, however, fixed this problem allowing me to move my body so my feet were completely out of the aisle, but just barely.

Around 6 or 7 AM  a few people started to get up.  The sun had risen and begun pouring through the window across the aisle.  As it turned out it was low enough on the horizon and perfectly placed so as to shine directly onto my face. Unable to position my cap to block it out I reluctantly roused myself, got up and retrieved my sleep mask from my backpack and so solved this problem.

By 8 AM most people had arisen.  We rolled up our pillows and mattresses and stored them in the overhead rack. And we folded up our sheets and pillow cases and delivered them to the conductor.

Finally, at 8:50 AM we arrived at our destination.  The final stop for the train.  Odessa with its magnificent train station.

The historic (for me) trip was over.


Tired and somewhat in a daze but quite happily, I carefully descended the steep steps of the train and walked with my crowd of fellow passengers to the station.

And as I did, I said to myself ----

Mission accomplished!


Well not quite.  I still had to get to my hotel, which turned out to be a more-than- expected. challenge.

But, that's a story for another day.

Thanks for reading!