overnight trains.

When Pierce isn't booking overnight train compartments (complete with beds),
I book the kind that look like this:There are 6 in a compartment
(2 rows of 3 seats which face each other).
You can recline them
and then 2 chairs connect and make one bed.
Well, if there are 6 people in the compartment...
then this really doesn't matter.
Because when you recline them,
if you are 5' 10'',
then you're too tall to sleep comfortably.
I have had some horrific
overnight train experiences.
Remember this?

When I took the overnight train to Pisa
to meet Peff a couple of weeks ago,
I found my assigned compartment,
and much to my surprise,
there were only 2 people inside:
a very pleasant Eastern European couple.
I had packed a 2 lb. bag of trail mix for the ride
and had Season 6 of Lost ready to go on my iTunes.

It was a completely wonderful experience.
And I was just downright shocked by that.
The couple was totally normal.
We each had our own "bed".
And I was fully rested when I awoke.

The train ride back from Pisa was a different story...
There were 6 people.
It was horribly cramped
and disgustingly hot.
But then halfway through the train ride
2 of the girls got off a stop
and so I got a "bed" to myself.

1 lb. of trail mix on the way there,
1 lb. on the way home.
My dream life.