posted by Catherine on Mar 30
It felt like being in an Agatha Christie novel – but in a slightly smaller room than they show on TV!
I recently travelled overnight on a train from London to Edinburgh in a sleeper car. It was a lovely gift that someone had brought me as I was going on about a visit to the city for ages.
However, the journey I made a few years ago to the Cairngorms was a bit more boring and a lot more carbon-emitting!
I had decided to drive there from Hampshire, and it had taken me over 10 hours of driving up motorways to arrive. And, of course on arrival, I was so tired that I had a shower and fell asleep – thereby wasting a lot of my first day!
However, on the train – The Caledonian Sleeper – I was able to snuggle up in a cosy bed for the whole night and arrive in the centre of the city bright-eyed and bushy tailed the following morning – ready for a full day of sight-seeing.
The Train:
It was 13 carriages long and still had the 1st class division, but as it was part of the whole adventure – seeing them settling down for an evening meal at their cute little tables didn’t put me off.
We got to our cabin and found a delightfully cheery man waiting to check us in on the platform. He welcomed us aboard, checked our tickets and then asked the ‘most important question’ – What do we want for our complimentary breakfast in the morning!
He explained that there are toilets in every carriage, as well as a dining carriage if we didn’t want to go straight to sleep or got peckish in the night! He also explained how the catch on the door worked - but I never managed to figure this out on either journey!
We stepped into our cabin and although it was a bit snug, it had everything you would imagine for the journey. It had 2 bunk beds decked out with crisp white bedding, 2 fluffy pillows and a bedside light each as well as the main cabin light. There were plenty or coat hangers on the wall for your clothes (with their own little seat-belts to stop them flapping about).
Each bed had a table flap coming out of the wall about mid way down and a solid shelf along the end of the beds to put your bags on – and in my case some overnight nibbles, drink and a good book!
The lower shelf was wider as it had a flap that lifted up to expose the sink with complimentary soaps and toothbrush sets as well as 2 hand towels! There was also a full length mirror, a button to call the attendant and a window.
All in all it was just what I was hoping it to be! And I couldn’t wait for the return journey either! It felt as though – even though we were leaving Edinburgh – that there was still a whole part of the trip to look forward to!
And, it was my first holiday of the year, and it was eco friendly! I’m definately starting as I mean to go on!
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