Friday the 13th

So how about that nonexistent D 491 from Belgrade to Istanbul via Sofia. Soooo funny. The Budapest to Istanbul section of my journey was always the most ambitious, it was supposed to involved over 35 hours of train travel across eastern Europe. The route suggested by all the websites would take me from Budapest to Belgrade on an overnight train where I would catch an 8am train that would arrive in Istanbul at the same time the next day.
I completed the first part of that journey, boarding a surprisingly empty overnight train after a 3 hour ride from Vienna. I got to the station and was making my way towards the international ticketing desk. I got my first inkling that something might be wrong when I say the train I was supposed to be taking on the departure board and it had a sticker placed over it. As I waited in line to approach the counter I heard two girls in front of me mention Istanbul and they weren't exactly bursting with joy at receiving their tickets.
I got to the counter and got the very short response that there was no train departing, despite being told on more than one occasion to travel to Belgrade and buy the ticket for the rest of the journey there. There was no real explanation as to the discrepancy. I thought for a moment and decided my best plan was to hope on the train departing in just a few minutes that was on its way back to Budapest. As fun as I'm sure Belgrade must be, I was more than a little upset, know nothing about the city, and could hardly pronounce anything on the signs up around me.
On my way back to Budapest I considered trying for the alternate route via Bucharest, leaving me still with two days in Istanbul, but then I read a guidance site for the trip more carefully and noticed that the return journey from Istanbul typically takes an extra day because of delays that make catching consecutive trains difficult if not impossible. That would leave me with 1 day in Istanbul for nearly 5 days of travelling. I decided to cut my losses and head back to Vienna where I could regroup and formulate a new plan. I eventually settled on spending a few days in Prague before continuing on to Budapest to meet my roommate for a few days.