Thompson says they went to a public pool and bathhouse \u201cbecause we needed to cool down. You kind of need to do that. We sat out in the sun and it was the first time we could enjoy it.\u201d <\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/N54SPWJ4UFACTLRSRWYAOXO2UI.jpg\")
A swimming pool on the outskirts of Vienna <\/p>\n
The humid heat in cities, however, is nothing compared to the boiling hot train carriages ferrying students and other travellers on hours-long journeys across Europe. <\/p>\n
Thompson says it was a \u201chorrible situation\u201d travelling from Berlin<\/a> to Prague<\/a>. They left their accommodation \u2013 a \u201chostel with 14 people with no fan or air conditioning\u201d \u2013 and arrived at the station to find their train had been cancelled because of the heat.<\/p>\n A train arrived destined for another station in Prague. Thompson was relieved to be in a carriage with electricity, working chargers and, most importantly, air-conditioning. <\/p>\n However, soon after leaving the station the train stalled for 25 minutes without light or electricity. They were then informed they needed to disembark. The tracks needed to cool down.<\/p>\n \u201cWe got off the train, and we\u2019re in a train station in a place I\u2019ve never heard of. I didn\u2019t know where I was, what country I was in, nearly,\u201d Thompson says. <\/p>\n At one point a woman stood up on a bench, among a crowd of football fans drinking and playing music, and asked: \u201cDoes anyone know where we\u2019re going?\u201d <\/p>\n A new train arrived, which was the original cancelled train Thompson was meant to get in Berlin. It was now so full that everyone had to squeeze into the small compartments or stand in the hallway. <\/p>\n This train stopped again for another 40 minutes and the windows couldn\u2019t be opened as they were broken. Thompson was told the train was \u201ctoo heavy\u201d with the number of passengers on board and additional carriages had to be added to the back of the train where \u201cpeople had to call an ambulance for a child who was sick because of the heat\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re all sat there, piled up in the corridor. The football fans still drinking and playing music which was fun for everyone. We were talking to English girls who were travelling like us. It\u2019s a good way to meet people. It\u2019s mad when you get into situations like that.\u201d <\/p>\n Overheated tracks, two broken-down trains and 12 hours later, they arrived in Prague. \u201cWe never thought we were gonna get there but it\u2019s such an experience,\u201d Thompson says. <\/p>\n Ella O\u2019Byrne, a UCD student from Dublin interrailing and travelling to Budapest, Hungary, says that you have to be \u201cvery careful\u201d when travelling in the heat. And in particular when you might be drinking alcohol. \u201cWe have to be careful to not drink too much because alcohol affects your body in the heat.\u201d <\/p>\n![\"Crowded](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IVJ2FR5FEZCR5KJG4CLBNQQXIE.jpg\")
Crowded corridors on the train between Berlin and Prague. Photograph: Alec Thompson <\/p>\n
![\"Mist](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/3YDYUFTSJVC2VPL6WEFRGPOUIM.jpg\")
Mist machines in Budapest, Hungary. Photograph: Ella O’Byrne <\/p>\n