My very first trip to Europe I flew into Zurich with my Europass in hand and caught the train to Munich. On the way the train pulled into a station which was apparently in Austria. Much to my dismay, I was informed that I didn't have a ticket to be in Austria and it cost me 25 SF to stay on the train. Then we backed out of the station and was back in Switzerland and then onto Germany. Never did figure out that one. After enjoying three days in Munich, I went to the train station, again with my Europass in hand and purchase the additional ticket for an overnight 2nd class sleeper car. Boarding at midnight, I found myself with three college age students. From Germany, Norway and Italy. Thank goodness the young German student understood English and they let me sleep on a bottom bunk instead of the third after I explained I would need to visit the restroom in the middle of the night. After getting settled in and dozing off, we stopped at a station around 1:30 a.m. A knock at the door and on went the lights waking everyone, with the conductor and a uniformed Austrian informing me that I was not legally in Austria. O.K., I get the picture, even though I wasn't visiting Austria, my Europass wasn't valid there, even passing through to my next legal country. I figured they were also targeting this middle aged American woman, so I just looked at them and asked how much? Paid another fee and the train continued on to Italy. The conductor felt so bad that in the morning he shared his personal expresso with me, being the gallant Italian he was. On my way back to Zurich, believe me, I doubled checked to make sure that the train would not be going through Austria. Needless to say, I've never returned to Austria again.

Debbie in NC