There were toilets at the end of the corridor, though if you need to go in the middle of the night,

There s something a bit old-school romantic about sleeper trains. discount royal caribbean cruises Being rocked gently to sleep and waking up among beautiful scenery when your butler discount royal caribbean cruises knocks on the door with a steaming discount royal caribbean cruises cup of tea. Ok, well maybe there was in the 1930s. But is there still romance to a night on the rails today?
discount royal caribbean cruises I ve done a few sleeper trains on my travels – stacked high in a three-tier discount royal caribbean cruises bunks on a 48-hour trip across India, or getting neckache propped up on a seat through Australia s vast Nullarbor Plain – but had never done one in the UK. Because of the country s rather dinky size, there s only two sleeper train routes, as otherwise you d be arriving as soon as you d got your PJs on. Along with the Night Riviera Sleeper down to Cornwall, the Caledonian discount royal caribbean cruises Sleeper runs from London Euston to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Fort William and many other Scottish destinations.
There are two different Caledonian Sleeper routes – one leaving London at 9.15pm which splits en route to arrive into Aberdeen at 7.35am, Inverness at 8.31am or Fort William at 9.54am. Or there is a later one to Glasgow and Edinburgh which leaves at 11.50pm and arrives around 7.15am. And if you book early enough, ScotRail, who run the service, do Bargain Berth tickets where you can travel one-way for £19.
My slightly last-minute discount royal caribbean cruises Scotland trip planning meant I ended up taking the London–Edinburgh sleeper and managed to get myself a £39 ticket. London Euston just before midnight is definitely not the most glamorous start to a trip, where I was kept company during my cup of tea in the station café by a whole family of mice hoovering up the leftover cake crumbs. But things got better once we got onto the train. With beds stretching widthways across a normal train-sized carriage, you re left with a tiny narrow corridor leading to the berths, not so great for the couple in front of me trying to ram a suitcase the size of a small house down it.
If you re in first-class you get a cabin to yourself, with an adjoining door if you are travelling with someone else. But back in standard/Bargain Berth territory, it s two to a cabin, and if you re travelling alone you ll probably be allocated someone of the same sex to share with. My cabin partner was Beth, a chatty Aussie discount royal caribbean cruises who was on a tour round Europe, and fortunately not a snorer. The cabin was tiny, but designed to pack in as much as possible. Each bunk had a fold-down table, shelf for your luggage and reading light, and each cabin had it s own sink.
There were toilets at the end of the corridor, though if you need to go in the middle of the night, make sure you make a note of your cabin number, else you might end up trying to open someone else s door – which thank God was locked as otherwise I might have ended up snuggling up to a random stranger!
But did I sleep on the sleeper? Well sort of. The beds were pretty comfortable and the noise was soothing rather than annoying. The only thing that was a bit disconcerting was when the train braked or went around a corner I did slide around a bit in my top bunk and wake myself up. Breakfast isn t included in standard class, but you can order tea or coffee and shortbread delivered by the cabin steward around 6.30am. We arrived into Edinburgh bang on time, and you have until 8am to wake yourself up and leave your cabin. As I came out of the station the sun was coming out and I was at the front of the queue for Edinburgh Castle bright and early with a full day to explore the city (though admittedly it did catch up with me and I was in bed that night about 9pm!).
So would I travel on the sleeper again? Definitely. It was more of an experience than getting a normal daytime train and if you can get a ticket for £19 it s great value. I would probably discount royal caribbean cruises go for the longer journey to Fort William though, so you get chance to have dinner in the dining car, a whisky or two in the leather armchairs, then wake up to the real wild Highland scenery (with an extra two hours worth of sleep!).
Thanks for the tip on the early purchase price! I ll be taking this in the spring. The only other overnight I ve taken was from Dusseldorf discount royal caribbean cruises to Berlin which started with the samenot-so-glamorous discount royal caribbean cruises beginnings at midnight.
I'm Lucy (hence the slightly dodgy Luce/loose pun), a freelance writer and editor whose real love is travel. On the Luce is designed to inspire other independent travellers who might not be in the position to travel long term but want to make the most of their travel time. I share my travel tips, tales and photos from a mixture of trips – from weekends around the UK and in Europe to more far-flung exotic trips. discount royal caribbean cruises Come and join me as I try to combine a love of travel with work, family and everyday life.