Initially I had planed to get around India on the trains like the locals but it turned out to be almost impossible to get tickets so we were left with only one long overnight train and that was from Goa to Kochi. As it turned out, this was lucky because one was plenty for the others to experience travelling like the locals.
I was unable to get first or second class tickets so got A/C class 3 which was three bunks on each side and open to everyone who walked past.
Sadly I was in the cot which was next to the carriage door and each time someone came through the door (constantly throughout the night) – they bumped into my feet which were sticking out a small way from the end of the shelf I was on.
This, together with the noise of the train, the people walking past my bed and the carriage door which didn’t close properly – meant that I had virtually no sleep. There was a chief petty officer of the Indian Navy underneath me.
He and his wife were returning to Kochi from working in Mumbai. There were very friendly and we chatted even though his English was terrible. We sat together on his bed when I folded mine down.
At one particularly long station stop I went to the constantly open external door and bought a couple of fried bananas for breakfast. Arriving at the hotel at 11:00 we were all tired and smelly and ready for the luxury I had booked for our last stop on our India trip.
Once on one of these trains is enough for us.