diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index e9fc737..a4a5cd3 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -14,3 +14,4 @@ sdist
 # Vim
 *.sw[op]
 *~
+.idea
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index e345425..a49608f 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -8,8 +8,4 @@ before_install:
   - sudo apt-get install nodejs; node --version
 install:
   - pip install -U coverage requests six websocket-client nose
-  - npm install -G socket.io@1.7.2
-before_script:
-  - DEBUG=* node socketIO_client/tests/serve.js &
-  - sleep 1
-script: nosetests
+script: bash travis_test.sh
diff --git a/socketIO_client/__init__.py b/socketIO_client/__init__.py
index fde3a91..f3daf3e 100644
--- a/socketIO_client/__init__.py
+++ b/socketIO_client/__init__.py
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ def __init__(
         self._wants_to_close = False
         atexit.register(self._close)
         self._transport_lock = Lock()
+        self.open_extra_packets = []
 
         if Namespace:
             self.define(Namespace)
@@ -61,7 +62,7 @@ def _transport(self):
         try:
             self._transport_lock.acquire()
             if not self._opened and not self._wants_to_close:
-                self._engineIO_session = self._get_engineIO_session()
+                self._engineIO_session, self.open_extra_packets = self._get_engineIO_session()
                 self._negotiate_transport()
                 self._connect_namespaces()
                 self._opened = True
@@ -73,12 +74,19 @@ def _transport(self):
 
     def _get_engineIO_session(self):
         warning_screen = self._yield_warning_screen()
+        session = None
+        remaining_packets = []
         for elapsed_time in warning_screen:
             transport = XHR_PollingTransport(
                 self._http_session, self._is_secure, self._url)
             try:
-                engineIO_packet_type, engineIO_packet_data = next(
-                    transport.recv_packet())
+                for engineIO_packet_type, engineIO_packet_data in transport.recv_packet():
+                    if session is None:
+                        assert engineIO_packet_type == 0 # engineIO_packet_type == open
+                        session = parse_engineIO_session(engineIO_packet_data)
+                        continue
+
+                    remaining_packets.append((engineIO_packet_type, engineIO_packet_data))
                 break
             except (TimeoutError, ConnectionError) as e:
                 if not self._wait_for_connection:
@@ -86,8 +94,8 @@ def _get_engineIO_session(self):
                 warning = Exception(
                     '[engine.io waiting for connection] %s' % e)
                 warning_screen.throw(warning)
-        assert engineIO_packet_type == 0  # engineIO_packet_type == open
-        return parse_engineIO_session(engineIO_packet_data)
+
+        return session, remaining_packets
 
     def _negotiate_transport(self):
         self._transport_instance = self._get_transport('xhr-polling')
@@ -381,6 +389,15 @@ def _connect_namespaces(self):
             if path:
                 self.connect(path, with_transport_instance=True)
 
+        # Dirty way to handle changed socketio sequence where along with
+        # open packet can come other packets. In 1.x versions open was
+        # always a single packet. With 2.x it is possible that the first
+        # XHR response can contain other packets along with open.
+        # Proper solution would require comprehensive rewrite.
+        for packet in self.open_extra_packets:
+            self._process_packet(packet)
+        self.open_extra_packets = []
+
     def __exit__(self, *exception_pack):
         self.disconnect()
         super(SocketIO, self).__exit__(*exception_pack)
diff --git a/socketIO_client/parsers.py b/socketIO_client/parsers.py
index 7e043a4..4ab5867 100644
--- a/socketIO_client/parsers.py
+++ b/socketIO_client/parsers.py
@@ -38,17 +38,27 @@ def encode_engineIO_content(engineIO_packets):
     return content
 
 
-def decode_engineIO_content(content):
+def decode_engineIO_content(content, bw_comp=False):
     content_index = 0
     content_length = len(content)
     while content_index < content_length:
         try:
-            content_index, packet_length = _read_packet_length(
-                content, content_index)
+            if bw_comp:
+                content_index, packet_length = _read_packet_length_bw_comp(
+                    content, content_index)
+            else:
+                content_index, packet_length = _read_packet_length(
+                    content, content_index)
         except IndexError:
             break
-        content_index, packet_text = _read_packet_text(
-            content, content_index, packet_length)
+
+        if bw_comp:
+            content_index, packet_text = _read_packet_text_bw_comp(
+                content, content_index, packet_length)
+        else:
+            content_index, packet_text = _read_packet_text(
+                content, content_index, packet_length)
+
         engineIO_packet_type, engineIO_packet_data = parse_packet_text(
             packet_text)
         yield engineIO_packet_type, engineIO_packet_data
@@ -121,6 +131,15 @@ def _make_packet_prefix(packet):
 
 
 def _read_packet_length(content, content_index):
+    start = content_index
+    while content.decode('utf-8')[content_index] != ':':
+        content_index += 1
+    packet_length_string = content.decode('utf-8')[start:content_index]
+    return content_index, int(packet_length_string)
+
+
+# Backwards compatible version to support socketIO protocol version 1.x
+def _read_packet_length_bw_comp(content, content_index):
     while get_byte(content, content_index) != 0:
         content_index += 1
     content_index += 1
@@ -134,7 +153,16 @@ def _read_packet_length(content, content_index):
 
 
 def _read_packet_text(content, content_index, packet_length):
+    while content.decode('utf-8')[content_index] == ':':
+        content_index += 1
+    packet_text = content.decode('utf-8')[content_index:content_index + packet_length]
+    return content_index + packet_length, packet_text.encode('utf-8')
+
+
+# Backwards compatible version to support socketIO protocol version 1.x
+def _read_packet_text_bw_comp(content, content_index, packet_length):
     while get_byte(content, content_index) == 255:
         content_index += 1
     packet_text = content[content_index:content_index + packet_length]
     return content_index + packet_length, packet_text
+
diff --git a/socketIO_client/tests/__init__.py b/socketIO_client/tests/__init__.py
index 41d68f4..dc3c2b8 100644
--- a/socketIO_client/tests/__init__.py
+++ b/socketIO_client/tests/__init__.py
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ def test_reconnect(self):
 
     def test_reconnect_with_namespace(self):
         'Reconnect with namespace'
+        self.socketIO.disconnect()
         namespace = self.socketIO.define(Namespace)
         self.assertFalse('reconnect' in namespace.args_by_event)
         self.socketIO.connect()
diff --git a/socketIO_client/transports.py b/socketIO_client/transports.py
index 105591c..01145db 100644
--- a/socketIO_client/transports.py
+++ b/socketIO_client/transports.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 pip install -U websocket-client""")
 
 from .exceptions import ConnectionError, TimeoutError
+from .logs import LoggingMixin
 from .parsers import (
     encode_engineIO_content, decode_engineIO_content,
     format_packet_text, parse_packet_text)
@@ -31,7 +32,7 @@
 TRANSPORTS = 'xhr-polling', 'websocket'
 
 
-class AbstractTransport(object):
+class AbstractTransport(LoggingMixin):
 
     def __init__(self, http_session, is_secure, url, engineIO_session=None):
         self.http_session = http_session
@@ -57,6 +58,7 @@ class XHR_PollingTransport(AbstractTransport):
     def __init__(self, http_session, is_secure, url, engineIO_session=None):
         super(XHR_PollingTransport, self).__init__(
             http_session, is_secure, url, engineIO_session)
+        self._log_name = "XHR_PollingTransport"
         self._params = {
             'EIO': ENGINEIO_PROTOCOL, 'transport': 'polling'}
         if engineIO_session:
@@ -75,6 +77,7 @@ def __init__(self, http_session, is_secure, url, engineIO_session=None):
         self._http_url = '%s://%s/' % (http_scheme, url)
         self._request_index_lock = threading.Lock()
         self._send_packet_lock = threading.Lock()
+        self._bw_comp = False
 
     def recv_packet(self):
         params = dict(self._params)
@@ -84,9 +87,17 @@ def recv_packet(self):
             self._http_url,
             params=params,
             **self._kw_get)
-        for engineIO_packet in decode_engineIO_content(response.content):
-            engineIO_packet_type, engineIO_packet_data = engineIO_packet
-            yield engineIO_packet_type, engineIO_packet_data
+        try:
+            for engineIO_packet in decode_engineIO_content(response.content, self._bw_comp):
+                yield engineIO_packet
+        except UnicodeDecodeError:
+            if self._bw_comp:
+                raise
+
+            self._info('Failed to decode packet, dropping to socketIO 1.x')
+            self._bw_comp = True
+            for engineIO_packet in decode_engineIO_content(response.content, self._bw_comp):
+                yield engineIO_packet
 
     def send_packet(self, engineIO_packet_type, engineIO_packet_data=''):
         with self._send_packet_lock:
@@ -115,6 +126,7 @@ class WebsocketTransport(AbstractTransport):
     def __init__(self, http_session, is_secure, url, engineIO_session=None):
         super(WebsocketTransport, self).__init__(
             http_session, is_secure, url, engineIO_session)
+        self._log_name = "WebsocketTransport"
         params = dict(http_session.params, **{
             'EIO': ENGINEIO_PROTOCOL, 'transport': 'websocket'})
         request = http_session.prepare_request(requests.Request('GET', url))
diff --git a/travis_test.sh b/travis_test.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..2aa15fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/travis_test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -e
+
+VERSION=1.7.4
+echo "Installing socket.io version $VERSION"
+npm install -G socket.io@$VERSION
+DEBUG=* node socketIO_client/tests/serve.js &
+ID=$!
+sleep 1
+nosetests
+
+echo "Stopping node server with PID $ID"
+kill $ID
+
+VERSION=2.1.1
+echo "Installing socket.io version $VERSION"
+npm install -G socket.io@$VERSION
+DEBUG=* node socketIO_client/tests/serve.js &
+ID=$!
+sleep 1
+nosetests
+
+echo "Stopping node server with PID $ID"
+kill $ID