We were robbed on a Ukrainian sleeper train. I say we, Steve was the unlucky one whose bag was stolen. It sucks because it could have easily been avoided. From this article you’ll learn from our mistakes and discover the simple tip that will save your baggage.
I'll share that with you (and how to read Ukrainian/Russian train tickets) in a moment.
Steve and I were leaving Odessa, a beautiful Ukrainian city on the Black Sea, to reach Dnipro. We’d been to the opera (tickets were €3) and seen the sights, but it was time to move on. We grabbed our bags from the hostel and headed for the train station. Much of the infrastructure in Ukraine is from the Soviet era and we were about to depart on an 11 hour sleeper train.
There are still a few coal-powered steam locomotives opperating.
We booked our tickets through this site, which is thankfully in English (as well as Ukrainian and Russian). You can pick up the tickets from the station before you board; e-copies aren't usually accepted but printouts often are.
Sometimes the staff ask for ID. The chances are if you’re visiting the country you’ll have a passport or driver’s licence, so keep it handy just in case.
The conductors collect tickets as you board, so remember your seat number! Take a picture of your ticket if you can’t remember it.
Unless you’re a whizz at languages and can read the ticket, he’s a breakdown of what’s important:
How to read a Ukrainian/Russian train ticket
- Train number: 148, Date/Time of departure: 24.06 16.20
- Coach number: 9
- Place of departure - destination: Kyiv to Cherkasy
- Seat number: 9
- Price: 71.39ГРН (about €2.20)
- Arrival date and time: 24.06 20:18
I figured a basic translation and phonetic pronunciation could be helpful in case you need to speak to someone:
Вагон (Vagon): Railway carriage
Квиток (Kvitok): Ticket
Плацкарта (Platzcarta) [roll the r]: Seat Reservation
Цена (Tsena): Price 71.39ГРН
Inside the Soviet locomotive
We got on the train at around 10pm and found our seats. We were in 3rd class, which is an open carriage of about 60 beds. They’re stacked two high, with storage above and below and arranged in compartments of four, with an extra row along the corridor.
On the left side, the table flips down forming your bed and you can store a bag underneath. You may have to curl up to fit in the space as Steve and I were too tall for them. The sections on the right are far more comfortable but your feet may still overhang like the lady’s here:
Steve was on the upper level; you have to climb to get in, so don’t book an upper level bed if you can’t make the ascent.
We were a little merry after the opera and weren’t exactly subtle on the train. It isn’t common to hear English in parts of Ukraine (though many of the young speak it) and we must have stuck out like a sore thumb.
We met a wonderful lady, Nika, who was travelling home to Dnipro. Nika said she had two tickets: one with us in berth (3rd class) for the first few hours and would swap to 2nd as it was more comfortable and safer. 2nd class is wonderful - they’re individual compartments for four people which have a door that locks!! The price difference is only a couple of Euros - I could see the appeal.
The old Soviet trains are magical. They're noisy, have a certain level of grime and live up to every expectation.
After the hosts bring your bedding, they come round offering cups of Chai, which they make using a coal-fed boiler! It was so strange to see an open fire inside of the carriage.
We had a lovely time with Nika but after she left for her upgraded cabin, we decided it was time to get some sleep.
From midnight, we had another nine hours until we’d reach Dnipro.
Shortly after waking, we gathered our things and Steve realised his bag was missing. My backpack was under my bed, clipped to the radiator and I slept with my rucksack and valuables. Steve’s were both overhead on the top level tied together. He’d pushed his rucksack to the back, under his backpack, so it was out of sight.
During the night, someone had climbed over us both and took his rucksack. They made off with his wallet, passport and camera (which had irreplaceable images from one of the frozen post-Soviet States: Transnistria).
We spend the morning with the police and felt pretty violated. Steve was surprisingly calm throughout and moved past it pretty quickly. He was annoyed mostly at the loss of his camera, as we'd planned to visit Chernobyl.
We shouldn’t have been so carefree and loud when boarding the train; we were just enjoying ourselves and drew too much attention. This was unusual for us, as for the following three months I spent in the country, pretty much everyone thought I was a local until I spoke.
How could we have avoided this?
Besides the obvious, this pearl of wisdom is courtesy of Nika:
Buy the ticket of the odd numbered seat in the compartments - not the corridor.
It’s that simple.
Odd numbered seats are on the lower level and if they’re in the main compartments, the storage is a sealed box under the bed. The only way to access it is by flipping up the seat. You can safely store your bags inside and sleep on top of them; it’s pretty much impossible to access with you lying on it. You can easily fit a 65L backpack and a second large bag in there.
From this day on, I always booked the seat underneath.
For the 19 hour, 1,000km Kharkiv - Lviv train, I splurged and booked a second class cabin. I’m really glad I did as I felt much safer with my luggage and in the height of summer, it’s a little less grim with the heat.
FYI if you have your passport stolen, your embassy can help you with temporary travel documents. This is what an emergency British Passport looks like:
So there you have it. Don’t be silly, book the odd numbered seat in the compartments and avoid larceny. If you can afford the extra couple of Euros, 2nd class is far more comfortable and has secure compartments with less bodies. Keep the above ticket guide handy and take a picture of your ticket before you board; the rest will be easy.
PS - Get insurance....
If you enjoyed this, you may also like: Popping The Hitchhiking Cherry: An Honest Retrospective Of My First Hitchhiking Experience; The Mistakes And What I Learnt.