The SwedesWe were booked in on the same boat that night. Four beautiful Swedish girls and us. In my head, the e-mails home telling people about it were writing themselves.When we got to the beach it seemed only right and proper that we sit together - anything else would have been just rude. We were going through the motions, exchanging stories and the like. They were two weeks into a one month trip around Europe. Karim and I went for a swim, and it was only when ...

EliasWe got the train to Athens, and arrived that evening. Then we got a night train out at midnight, that would get us up and around the corner of Greece to Alexandropolis, the closest Greek city to the Turkish border.The Greek train was worse than the Italian trains on a bad day. We had to literally fight to get any space in a carriage, and when we had, there was hardly any room. Karim and I, being gentlemen, and smokers, volunteered to go and sit in the restau...

I Have Never Not Stolen MalibuWe arrived in Alexandropolis at four in the afternoon, after having been on the train for 16 hours. We had tried to sleep in the restaurant car, but then got moved on. Then we found an empty carriage and slept in that. Ten minutes later, we were shouted at until we left there too. We had to go to the other end of the train. At eight in the morning, we finally got some sleep.A couple of hours later, we hit upon a rather splendid idea....

The French Connection: The SequelHere's a funny thing. After three nights in Istanbul, who should we meet on the train? The French Connection, and the Oz Girls! We all just decided to leave that day. Maybe not a huge coincidence when you consider only one train ran each day, but still. Small world.The train broke down several times on the way back. One time we were waiting for two hours for another engine car. The locals ("Refugees", as Karim called them) all...