Sleeper trains London-Scotland, any good/worth doing?

[silverfish]

Awesome urban thread. Trains, bunfights, bitching over relative merits of online ticketing systems, pissing in the sink, prejudice, and now the Pope. Awesome!!

*applauds*

Only on urban almost as spectacular as the swan drowning man racism thread

 

[Spymaster]

You're quite strange Bungle.

 

[Miss-Shelf]

I will be getting the sleeper back from inverness next week
*excited*
will report back
can't wait to piss in the sink

 

[extra dry]

It is less stress on a train, I m not constantly thinking of all things that can go wrong on a train/during a journey.

Where as on a plane my mind is in over load thinking of all the thousands of nuts and bolts which could bring the plane down or the guy, this happened in 2000, who sits besides me and says 'I'm glad you are not a Jew'

...anyway the train is great, usually you arrive in a city center or close as..the airport can still leave you a 20-30quid taxi just to get to a town.

Did the trip go OK would you recommend it to others?

 

[Reno]

i seriously doubt the pope flies coach, I'm pretty sure that he doesn't have to stand in line, never has to share the armrest with someone else fat, and I bettcha some cunt doesn't confiscate his colgate.

Also said pic is unaffordable for most of us......... dunno bout the pope

Doesn't the pope have his own pope-plane. I always think of him like Batman, with a themed vehicle for any occasion and a pope-cave under the Vatican.

I love sleeper carriages and took them in Europe in the 80s where and when they were affordable.

 

[Miss-Shelf]

I am on the sleeper *excited* but sharing with a stranger so no pissing in the sink

 

[kittyP]

I am on the sleeper *excited* but sharing with a stranger so no pissing in the sink

Oooh yay!

 

[claphamboy]

I am on the sleeper *excited* but sharing with a stranger so no pissing in the sink

I don't know, it could be an introduction to an interesting night.

 

[paolo]

Spymaster has lost perspective on this one I think.

A bit like someone squashing on to the tube every morning, and thinking the tourists on the windy open top bus are somehow losers, simply because the tube is faster and indoors.

I'm of the opposite view. I know who is having a better time, and it's not me on the tube. (And, I suspect, Spymaster doesn't find his flights very much fun either. It's a chore he probably wishes he wasn't forced to do.)

For others though, sometimes, it's fun to travel. It's not all about speed or a conventional view of comfort. And indeed, there's little correlation with affluence either - in some cases quite the opposite. Someone, say, going to Australia overland is likely to be considerably wealthier - in terms of cash *and* time - than someone flying, even if they fly first class. Spymaster is probably time poor and cash constrained.

My favourite sleeper trip was to Berlin. We had a new compartment, with our own WC & shower. As we were coming into Berlin, the carriage conductor had laid out another empty compartment for us to use as a private breakfast space. He served us whilst we watched a snowy Berlin come into view. When we arrived we wheeled our bags 10 minutes to our apartment near the station in the city centre.

It wasn't cheap, but you couldn't get an experience like that flying unless you went by private jet.

The Caledonian sleeper isn't quite as plush of course, but it can still be fun for those who aren't living the tedium of frequent travel on that route.

 

[kittyP]

We're are you going from/to Miss Shelf?

 

[Miss-Shelf]

Iam coming back from inverness. i went up to glasgow to see friends who drove me up to their croft on the coast in wester ross. then i got the train to kyle and pennimania picked me up and took me to skye. i have seen mountains , seals, wild goats,deer, lochs, much rabbits and sun. so sunny i kid you not. so lucky to have that experience. it has reset my head all that loveliness.

 

[Quartz]

I've used the sleeper service and it was ace. If you want a shower, you walk about half a mile, maybe less, to another station (I forget which) and use the showers there. Definitely get a berth rather than a sleeper seat.

 

[Biddlybee]

Iam coming back from inverness. i went up to glasgow to see friends who drove me up to their croft on the coast in wester ross. then i got the train to kyle and pennimania picked me up and took me to skye. i have seen mountains , seals, wild goats,deer, lochs, much rabbits and sun. so sunny i kid you not. so lucky to have that experience. it has reset my head all that loveliness.

That sounds lovely Miss-Shelf

 

[Miss-Shelf]

Yes it was

and back on the topic of sleeper being worth it -i didnt sleep v well but it was very comfortable to travel such a long way lying down rather than in the daytime with so many people and crowded seated trains and changes of train. it gave an extra day of holiday and was simple and peaceful

 

[kittyP]

I am very very jealous of your whole holiday!!

I have not seen mountains for far too long

 

[Biddlybee]

You will soon I'm sure missy


We got the Night Riviera a few weeks back, and was good to have the whole of Sunday down in Cornwall, and was a great experience. I did sleep a bit, but really not enough. Went straight to work from the train and felt a bit odd all day

(didn't wee in the sink either)

 

[quimcunx]

http://www.scotrail.co.uk/londonsale


They've got a sale on.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Just back from the Night Riviera Sleeper, it was late, but an awesome way to get home:

And here's the sink I pissed in...

 

[Spymaster]

I've seen more appealing prison cells.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

I've seen more appealing prison cells.

It was small, but allowed me to spend a full day on the beach in Thurlestone, a nice, boozy dinner in Hope Cove, put the kids to bed and still be in London for Monday morning. There's no other way to do that unless you have a chauffeur.

 

[laptop]

I've seen more appealing prison cells.

The Night Riviera is cool.

Not as cool as the old Mk1 Caledonians... Any pix of the new ones?

 

[neonwilderness]

It was small, but allowed me to spend a full day on the beach in Thurlestone, a nice, boozy dinner in Hope Cove, put the kids to bed and still be in London for Monday morning. There's no other way to do that unless you have a chauffeur.

I did Fort William - London a few weeks ago. Managed to do a full day exploring the highlands and then made a 10am meeting in Brighton the next day. The cabin was a bit dated and a bit rattly, but a few drinks in the buffet before bed sorted that

 

[Spymaster]

I did Fort William - London a few weeks ago. Managed to do a full day exploring the highlands and then made a 10am meeting in Brighton the next day. The cabin was a bit dated and a bit rattly, but a few drinks in the buffet before bed sorted that

Did you have one of those super-value £230 berths all to yourself?

 

[neonwilderness]

Did you have one of those super-value £230 berths all to yourself?

Yeah I had a solo berth. IIRC it was about £150 which wasn't too bad as I'd have had another night in a hotel to pay for otherwise.

The standard berth was cheaper, but I was willing to pay a bit extra to not have to risk sharing a tiny room with a stranger

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Yeah I had a solo berth. IIRC it was about £150 which wasn't too bad as I'd have had another night in a hotel to pay for otherwise.

The standard berth was cheaper, but I was willing to pay a bit extra to not have to risk sharing a tiny room with a stranger

Always worth the extra, imagine sharing with Spy? *shudders*

 

[Spymaster]

You'd be perfectly safe. I'd rather boil my bollocks than travel overnight on a UK train.

 

[Bungle73]

I've seen more appealing prison cells.

It's a train. What are you expecting? A 5 star luxury suite?

You'd be perfectly safe. I'd rather boil my bollocks than travel overnight on a UK train.

What are you afraid of?

 

[Spymaster]

What are you afraid of?

I'm not afraid of anything, but my years of comfortless traveling are well behind me. Unlike others, I also don't consider train journeys particularly romantic or enjoyable unless I'm on The Blue Train or The Orient Express. For me, the choice between a 50 minute flight (even allowing for travel to and from airports) and an overnight train journey is a no-brainer.

 

[kebabking]

oo no, an overnight train journey on the sleeper offers the chance of an encounter with a glamourous Russian called Natasha who is, for some reason, utterly entranced by the minutae of the inner workings of a NATO HQ and who finds my jokes hillarious. sitting in a Sleazyjet germ tube for 50 minutes merely means that i'll sit next to an office supplies sales manager call Gerald who will regale me with tales of his latest triumph. and then catch flu.

 

[A380]

I used to love sleepers, but the last time I got one, with a woman from work we got lots of hassle from another man on the train. He was a quite big chap who'd been causing me problems earlier; he actually tried to force his way into our compartment. It got worse when he tried to bite me and I was appalled to see he had razor sharp metal teeth fitted. Luckily I was able to smash a bedside lamp and push the still live filament onto his metal teeth which stunned him enough for me to throw him out of the window.

Fortunately he didn't die though as, ironically, later on he helped me escape from Hugo Drax's space station by freeing my trapped space shuttle.