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I used Polish mixed with Ukrainian. Polish language is very similar to Ukrainian, except for the alphabet - so they look drastically different as Ukraine uses the cyryllic, while Polish uses standard latin alphabet. But many words are similar and I had a lot more luck with Polish than with...

The bright side of things is that in kupe (2nd class with compartments) if you're on the bottom, the bunks open up to make up a storage place, so you're sleeping on the opening to your things. Up top, there is a big space that you would need to go up on the bed to reach. So if you're really...

Yes, this is first class. It is also communal, although I'm not sure if you could buy out a second berth and have it for yourself. In Poland the sleeper cars can be sold in three berths, two and one, so you could have a single there, but in Ukraine, Russia etc. I believe first class will only be...

Sure, but keep in mind that you can do 1st class on a 12 hour train for $20 ;)

And back at Lviv station: One extra thing: recorded train announcements in Ukrainian and English. I think they are beautiful! https://onedrive.live.com/?id=18AFF59C55598510!40779&cid=18AFF59C55598510&group=0&parId=18AFF59C55598510!32411&authkey=!AAaPz3_q1dGk9eY&o=OneUp This was definitely...

This is the bed that makes itself into two seats with a small table This set up is great. There are 4 beds on one side of the corridor and two beds on the other in a “compartment”, which really isn’t a compartment, because there is no doors, just a thin wall. The bottom beds open up and have...

The view on the platforms: And finally, our long train back to Lviv: This time, we were in the plackarta, which is the 3rd and lowest class on long distance trains in the east. The cool thing is that on those trains EVERYBODY gets a bed. There is no seated long distance trains as there is...

And the train station on the city side: In the city of Odessa, we’ve seen interesting things. One example of that is a cat sleeping at a kiosk ;) And the beautiful Opera building: Also, my first sighting of the Black Sea. I loved it. Now on the way back, the station building during...

The gorgeous station building up close… … and inside: The stairs lead to the waiting room, which also costs 10 UAH, just like in Lviv.

There is a timetable of this train on the toilet door with more important stations. And one more look at the corridor at night: Now after a very comfortable night of sleep, some views from the window nearing Odessa: Having arrived at Odessa, this is the view of the platform and the...

Arriving at a station: Not sure what this was, but it looks like the manual of the water heater.. This is the sink in the bathroom: And the toilet: As gross as it looks, it actually has something… weird. It has an automatically moving seat cover.. You can either wave your hand and it...

Inside the compartment, this time with some more light. The beds are not made – everybody has to make their own bed. In the morning, you have to return everything to the attendant. View down from the upper bunk: The tea has been served. Typically for the east, in glasses rather than mugs...

At every door there is a provodnik or provodnica – car attendant – which checks your tickets and ID. We had to show our passports to enter the train. Inside the 2nd class corridor You can see stylish curtains, which are rather characteristic of the eastern train travel. Our compartment...

Here’s the empty platform 1: We’re now headed to platform 2, our train departs at 20:40. Platform 2 is getting crowded with passengers headed towards the Black Sea.

And here’s platform 1 with a train to Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital. A view towards the station from outside: View outwards from the outdoor platform: Departing train to Kyiv, which carried about 13 cars. And behind that train, hiding was our train, Karpaty, headed to Odessa.

And here’s the view towards the main station building, which is considered to be one of the most important architectual pearls of Polish architecture from before World War One. The station building in all of its glory: Inside the building, with a view towards ticket offices. The map of...

Warning: There are about 50 pictures in this thread. It has always been my dream to take the Transsiberian Rail. Unfortunately, the costs are quite high – not necessarily just the ticket, but to get to Russia, one needs a rather expensive visa and transportation there is not the cheapest...

If you look a few posts up, there are clear explanations for why he was not speaking to anybody.

https://youtu.be/bSJEI5tc-Ys?t=2m40s- this is the kind of sound passengers of Polish trains are used to ;) The countries where you can open the windows (that's a bunch of countries with a decent amount of older cars still with opening windows) are not all that quiet. I definitely share your...

Europe is also sadly slowly but surely getting rid of overnight trains. Poland has very few now and most are seasonal. Germany have recently done away with a bunch of their lines. Some lines are truncated. The only place is east of the European Union - over there, overnights are still king. As...