I don't want to talk about the process of buying our train tickets from Bratislava to Prague, other than to say that when it comes to people trying to cut in line in front of you, you're damned if you do and damned if you don't.
The whole experience is a nightmare, and, the next day, on the train, when the conductor informs us that our tickets are good for some trains to Prague, but not for this one, we're not much surprised. We are surprised at how easily the shakedown goes: we don't have any Slovak crowns remaining, but we do have some Austrian shillings. He smiles and asks for a hundred for the two of us, which works out to $3.50 each. No receipt.