Trip Report - ÖBB overnighter

My overnight sleeper experience was massively improved today by my realising that the train departed Westbahnhof at 8:56pm, not 9:56pm. That could have been awkward.

This was my first time getting an overnight sleeper train for the purpose of getting from A to B (yes, mum, there was "that other one", never to be spoken of again). I had no idea what to expect, and bought a whole bunch of food beforehand. I stocked up on dinner with a noodle box, and stocked up at the train station on a few different pastries, as well as some fruit.

When I arrived about 20 minutes before departure, I was confronted with a weird-looking ticket, until I realised that 403 referred to the carriage number. Why they aren't just 1, 2, 3 I don't know. I'd booked a 3-seater sleeper for myself. Once I found the correct compartment, I discovered that while it was fine for me, it would be a little cramped if three people booked into one compartment:

My room for the night

I also discovered that breakfast was included with a sleeper room. Great - my pastries live to fight another day!

The breakfast menu

There was a single conductor for each carriage, meaning that there was one conductor for about every 20 passengers. Further down the carriage was a family of Americans. The three daughters were going on a lightning tour of Europe as a post-graduation holiday - just like me. I talked to them for a while after we left Vienna, talking about what we had all done and what we were doing next.

There were quite a few stops between Vienna and Venice. Most of them were short two-minute stops, but there were a few longer stops as well - in Salzburg for an hour and a half, in Villach for an hour and in Tarvisio Boscoverde for 25 minutes. At about 11, I sat down and ate my noodle box for dinner, after the conductor brought around a small fruit salad:

Noodle box for dinner

It's now half past nothing in the morning, and we've been in Salzburg for about half an hour. The station is actually quite busy early in the morning, with several trains to other places in Europe:

Half past nothing in Salzburg

After the conductor turned down the bed in my compartment, I settled into a fitful sleep. I didn't get a whole lot of sleep, but it was still better than nothing. I had to get up a few times to silence some creaking noises supplied by the wardrobe and window shade.

At about 5:30 in the morning I lifted the window shade to some absolutely spectacular morning fog in the north of Italy:

The rolling Alps in the morning

The conductor told me there would be a significant delay between Udine and Treviso as there was track work going on. Breakfast ended up being a solid spread, with yoghurt, hot chocolate, juice, bread rolls and various spreads:

Breakfast translated to the plate/tray

Once we passed the Alps, we started getting into flatter Italian countryside. As promised, we crawled very slowly between Udine and Pordenone. The delay ended up being over an hour and a half - lucky I didn't have to be anywhere in a hurry!

The bridge connecting Venice to the mainland is a fairly long one - it gives you a good indication of just how isolated the city is. We pulled into the station and disembarked to searing sun, which was better than the spits of rain in Udine:

Made it to Venice!

I took the water bus from the station to my accommodation in Zattere, on the south of the island. At €7 for a one-way trip, I will be making the 25-minute walk to the train station on the way back.

See everyone from Venice tomorrow!