That reminds of a story about an Indian couple travelling Europe. SO, obviously, within the Schengen countries you do not need additional visas, something foreign to said couple. So, they crossed Eu border by train and ended up in another country. Confused over what to do next, they talked to the next police officer they found, because the couple was sure they couldn't just continue their journey without any further control. Explanations didn't work, so the easy solution was to use an official looking, but totally irrelevant, stamp to put on the back of their train tickets (in order to not cause confusion with the tickets or official passports). Source: I know the police officer in question.

How things have changed. Maybe 30 years ago I got stuck in Gibraltar for a few days having returned by ferry from Morocco, because the airport was closed due to weather. No problem for most, as they just bus passengers to the bigger airport in Spain. But a problem for us, because we had run out of entries on our Schengen States visa. It also used to catch a lot of people out on the trains, with people not realizing their passports would be checked mid journey when crossing the borders.

Real question: What year? I notice there are lot of stories online about "20 years this crazy thing happened to me in India", but now no more. Example: You can do eVisa for India travel. Super easy online. Most train tickets you can buy online or via "concierge" (minor fee). Hotel booking? Yeah, that too, even smaller places via Internet "aggregator" websites. Travel in India is not so backwards as people think!

I think the funniest and most embarassing story I have about travel in India: The first day in downtown Mumbai, I go to the train stain to buy a ticket for a Churchgate station a few stops away. Honestly, I have no idea what the price will be, but I assume 20-30 rupees. I only have 100 rupee notes. I go to the ticket window: Lady tells me: "5 rupees". I gasped, and looked at my 100 rupee note. She rejects my 100 rupee note! (She was not disrespectful; said: you will take all my change! Wait here; after next person, I can sell it to you.) Next person pays with enough change, then me. All good. We both laughed. To put that in perspective, that is about 2-3 Euro CENTS to ride the train!

Isn’t train ticketing online now? I know my 75 yr old dad just does it at home on his laptop.

Edit- echoing a comment further down. I got an Indian visa. It was done online and was emailed to me in 24hrs.