The night train, glamorous vehicle of dreams, or the poor man's replacement for plane travel?

I guess that depends on how much you want to spend.

I took a night train (the 'Rialto' from Paris to Venice in July of 2002.This service, called Artesia, is a joint effort by the SNCF and Trenitalia. I was travelling in a group of 5 with one Italian speaker (my grandmother) and one French speaker (me).

The ride was along the lines of a nightmare for most of us. Let us analyze:

BIG PROBLEM NUMBER ONE (the only one, really): Artesia has four comfort levels. The top and most expensive (Excelsior) gives you most of a car to yourself with either two twin beds or a full size bed.for honeymooners: a hotel suite on wheels. There are also 2-bed couchettes, 4-bed couchettes, and 6-bed couchettes.

We reserved 5 places in a 6-bed cabin, as with only one French speaker we didn't want to get separated. The Artesia brochures at Paris Bercy mentioned a baggage car.

This baggage car did not exist. Moreover, some poor French lady had a reservation in our cabin, making our cramped space a little worse.

Let me take a moment to explain just how cramped this was. Picture a room with a 7 foot by 7 foot floor and about nine feet of headroom when it's empty. Now, add three bunks to two opposite walls, and cut out some floor space for the door (above which thankfully some suitcases fit). Shove six people and their suitcases inside.

I fled as soon as possible.

Since this was an international journey, our passports were taken by the staff. This particular train stopped for passengers at Dijon and Chambery on the way down, and it passed through Switzerland, stopping briefly in Lausanne.

I was looking forward to a night of boredom, but while walking through the train, I noticed two people, a Russian girl from San Francisco, and a guy from Sao Paulo, speaking English, smoking cigarettes. I asked for one, and while I smoked it, an American girl showed up. We spent most of the night talking, smoking, and drinking cans of Birra Moretti. It seemed like the train was full of kids on a People to People tour, but they had a curfew and thus we did not speak.

COMFORT (or the lack thereof): Artesia trains, being half-French and half-Italian, have cars owned by both the SNCF and Trenitalia. I cannot speak for the Italian cars, but sleeping is impossible in an SNCF 6-bunk cabin, although the fact that I had suitcases for a footrest and a pillow may have had something to do with that. The lack of air conditioning, the 14 cigarettes I smoked, and the hard naugahyde bed didn't help.

THE MORAL: Shell out for as much comfort as you can afford. Or don't travel with your family.