Nightjet – Brussels to Vienna

Brussels. I have to say I was definitely excited about the overnight train segment, but we knew it was the wildcard of the trip. With 17 hours on the train, we booked the private sleeper compartment. After a rough start on the platform trying to board the right car, our cabin was nicer than we expected. A bit tight, but workable. I thought it would be fun to pack a picnic style dinner (fresh bread, ham and cheese). A bit disappointing, but it was good considering the alternatives on the train menu. We were just finishing our first movie at about 9:15pm (4 hours into the journey) and we heard a commotion outside, curses flying. We finally figured out they were giving us 5 minutes notice that our car had a technical problem and had to be removed from the train AND we needed to leave the train at the next stop – IN GERMANY. No details on why, just get packed and get off. We were told we could not move to another car on the train to continue to Vienna as they were fully booked. None of the staff members had details of what we were supposed to do to get to Vienna. So we all packed up, maybe 30 total passengers in our car, and exited into the freezing cold. We saw a few people just jump onto the next car…never to be seen again. 10 of us bonded trying to navigate Koln station in Germany (an Austrian family, a Scottish couple, siblings from Singapore and us).What a dump, honestly, it was like a movie set for a zombie double feature. Very sad, but scary as hell. To be continued…in Germany.