Note: This is a scheduled post of our Summer Holidays in Scotland (9th to 25th September, 2022)
Breaking News … Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II has died at the age of 96 in Balmoral, Scotland according to Buckingham Palace.
It was 18:30 on 8th Sept, 2022. I was busy packing for our maiden 15-day trip to Scotland and was very excited at the prospect of the trip especially when hubby and I had been planning – and fingers crossing – for a seamless vacation 3 months prior. The news of the Queen’s death, although sadly received, jolted a surge of anxiety.
We’re to leave for Scotland the next day. The first thing that came to mind was, “what will become of our holidays?”
It’s All About … Trains and Stations in one Evening!
It’s Friday, 9th Sept, M and I left the house at 15:00 for our train journey from Leuven to Brussels South Station. There was a large congregation of people at the station, more precisely, holiday-makers waiting for the check-in turnstile to open to board the Eurostar to London St Pancras International.
Our ETD was 18:52. A serene arrival awaited us at London St Pancras International as we saw frames after frames of photos and posters in the Underground, shops, streets – practically in every nook and cranny – of the late Monarch, QEII.
From London St Pancras International, we took the Underground at King’s Cross to London Euston Station.
It’s been almost 6 hours since we left Flanders and we’d been IN and OUT of train stations and we had not yet arrived at our final destination. We still had to board our last and final train to Glasgow with an ETD of 23:50 !
Thank goodness the open space at London Euston Station was a breath of fresh air, literally speaking.
While our best buddy is our cellphone when time passes by at snail speed, dining in at Nando’s seemed to get the clock ticking at supersonic speed.
It was a short and quick dinner but it ticked the box of passing our time idly while waiting for our most long awaited Sleeper Train.
The Caledonian Sleeper Lowlander: London Euston to Glasgow Central
Le moment suprême est arrivé! This was the moment we were looking forward to. Our first experience in a Sleeper Train. How cool was that … 🤔
The Caledonian Sleeper is a gateway of overnight rail service with the comfort of travelling between London and Scotland. I bet most Scottish and English travellers have used this mode of commutation, but the level of comfort is subjective …
By the way, there are 2 routes, (1) the Caledonian Sleeper Highlander route that runs between London Euston to the Highlands of Fort Williams, Inverness and Aberdeen and (2) the Caledonian Sleeper Lowlander route that runs between London Euston and Glasgow Central or Edinburgh Waverley.
We took the Lowlander route to Glasgow for approximately 7 hours journey.
First impression? Very impressive, indeed. Very long train with split coaches that carry passengers to Edinburgh and Glasgow. It’s critical that passengers board the right coach either Edinburgh or Glasgow because the train will ‘split’ at a certain point of time in the wee hours of the morning. Be warned that you do not wake up in the wrong city 😅
We boarded coach K heading for Glasgow Central Station.
While the exterior was impressive, the interior was “What?!” Super narrow corridor. That was my first impression. Ha ha ..
We had the Club Room with an en-suite bathroom and shower inclusive of breakfast. Not going to lie, the room was tiny with bunk beds, a small sink or washbasin with a hidden foldable table under the sink that could be pulled out making the room very KonMari.
The first task we had to fulfil upon checking in was to place our orders for breakfast and indicate our preferred time of room service. Since we would be arriving in Glasgow at 07:20, we had no choice but to have an early breakfast at 06:00. We could have ordered a traditional Scottish breakfast of Haggis, sausage, baked beans, tatties, tomatoes, mushrooms and toast, but my 6 am tummy says “No can do!” It’s a shame because I would love to try the Haggis brekkie 😀
Instead, we ordered (room service) the Muesli Yoghurt, Orange juice, and coffee/tea. My tummy was still digesting from the Nando’s grilled chicken some 8 hours earlier …
Claustrophobia?
Hmmm … our first experience walking into a compact travel capsule. I won’t say it’s a minimalist way of travel at all, because we had the ‘comfort’ of a hotel experience on rail, however, I will not recommend anyone who has claustrophobia to travel with the Sleeper.
I slept on the lower bunk with a view of the ladder to the upper bunk, a tiny washbasin, a window and the door leading to the ensuite toilet cum shower.
The toilet is a shower room as well. When the cover is lifted, it’s a toilet complete with a toilet roll and flush. When the cover comes down, the space becomes a shower. Cool innit?
Freebies and Creepy-Crawlies
The Club Room included Scottish freebies of hand and body lotion, conditioning shampoo, hand and body wash and a bottle of pillow spray! There’s also a sleep kit containing ear plugs and eye masks.
Due to time constraint, we didn’t use any of the items except for the hand and body wash and the pillow spray. In hindsight, I should have sprayed the entire bed! To be honest, I could not sleep a wink despite how tired I was. Felt some creepy-crawlies were sharing my bed the entire night. I was so awake that I counted the Sleeper stopped 3 times. The first stop was for half an hour from 02:17 to 02:47. My guess was that the Coaches to Edinburgh splitted ways. The subsequent 2 stops were shorter for a 10-minute stop each.
Glasgow
A peek out of the window looked promising with acres of green pastures and mountains. I was looking forward to my Scottish experience already 😉
The Sleeper arrived on time at 07:20 at Glasgow Central. It’s only then I realised we were in the UK listening to another level of the English ….ooops, sorry, Scottish or Glaswegian language and accents. Time for us to bring our ears closer to the speaker’s mouth. Ha ha ..
Glasgow, here we come … Slàinte Mhath! 🥃
By the way ... 
One thought on “Part 1: Scotland – The Caledonian Sleeper Lowlander”