Slept in the corridor again until we all had to get off the train for three hours to go through that border routine again, although it didn't cost of £5 to get out.

Back in Greece, the hatred from the locals became evident again and we had to continuously defend our seats from Greeks who thought they had more right to them. One bloke even started to throw all our luggage out of the compartment and things got very ugly when we did the same with his. The guard came to try and sort things out, but he instantly took the Greek’s side and we had to leave in a barrage of abuse.

There was a guy in the carriage that was the most intelligent person I had ever met. After all the excitement, he got talking to me for the whole journey. Although it was all very interesting, I must confess that I hadn't got the vaguest clue what he was talking about. Totally over my head!

The train was going to Athens. Since most of us wanted to head north through what was then Yugoslavia, the train emptied out at Thessaloniki. The train wasn't until the following morning, so everyone had to settle along the front of the station for the night. Since we were all in the same boat, everyone made the most of it and it was a good evening.

Come the morning, I thought I would reserve a seat as the journey that was to follow is supposed to be one of the worst. I had to cash a travellers’ cheque to do this which left me with a load of Greek currency that I didn't need. Imagine how annoyed I was therefore, when we got to Belgrade and they took half the carriages off, including the one with my seat. The arrogant Greek bastard who did the reservations must be well pleased with himself.

I had a seat reservation and I still ended up in the corridor, which was seriously crowded. We ended up right by a toilet that was giving off one of the most foul of smells. No only that but the floor of the toilet was covered in foul smelling liquid and every time someone went in there, they left smelly footprints where we were trying to sleep. We barricaded the place shut and anyone who wanted to use it would just have to make other arrangements. Mind you, the train was going slow enough for you to jump off, find a bush and then catch it up again.

Unlike those two Spanish morons, the guards found the state of the corridors hilarious and worked their way along the train chatting to people and laughing about it, albeit in Yugoslavian. Later on another guard came along who had obviously been picking up various phrases from different nationalities. He would look at your passport and then say something appropriate to you. I say appropriate, but he was obviously the victim of someone's idea of a joke, as what he was saying to the English was far from appropriate. From his mannerisms he obviously thought he was being polite.

After trying and failing to get some sleep, two English girls and I passed the time playing various word games, including the classic "Yugoslavian trains are.....".