Sometimes the journey is as good as the destination.
Such journeys rarely involve a plane (too much waiting around), a car (too many tedious motorways) or a boat (one word – seasickness), but travelling by rail is another story.
As I stood on the platform at Aberdeen just after 9pm, I was looking forward to getting into my cabin on the Caledonian Sleeper.
Boarding the Caledonian Sleeper and waking up in London
I’d done this journey once before as a teenager and remembered being gently rocked to sleep by the shoogling carriage, magically waking up at King’s Cross refreshed and ready to begin my day.
After having a couple of beers in the Club Car, it turned out that I’d romanticised the memory a bit.
Our tiny Club Room had bunk beds, a sink, a fold-out table and even an en suite toilet and shower.
It was well equipped with sockets and the Arran Aromatics toiletries were a nice touch, but I couldn’t get over how tiny it seemed – it all looked much bigger when I was 14.
My 6 foot 2 inch boyfriend had to fold himself into the bottom bunk while I felt comparatively roomy above (being only 5 foot 3).
The rattle of the tracks was a lot louder than I had expected so I appreciated the eye mask and earplugs provided.
I tossed and turned for a while but must have slept soundly as the next thing I knew, someone was rapping gently on our door. Breakfast was served.
Perfectly cooked eggs royal arrived at our table in the Club Car as we sped through Milton Keynes. It felt very civilised.
At the back of seven, we disembarked at Euston.
Starting the weekend the only sensible way – with a pint
One of the perks of travelling by sleeper is that those travelling for business can make it into the office by nine, but as a tourist who had already eaten breakfast and whose hotel room wasn’t available until 4pm, we weren’t sure how we’d fill these early hours.
Instead of dropping our bags at the hotel, we decided to visit friends who live in West London for a coffee and a shot of their shower (we didn’t attempt the one on the train).
We called ahead and they were happy to see us, even at such an early hour.
As a thank you, we decided to take them out to lunch and ended up on the other side of the city at Goose Island Brewpub in Shoreditch.
It’s very cool and very… London, if you get what I mean. The onsite brewery supplies a vast selection of craft taps at the bar and the menu is very burger heavy, though with a great selection of vegan options.
We spent the rest of the afternoon ducking in and out of pubs before meeting up with another couple of friends for sushi in Roka in Soho.
This was another very London experience. The place was packed and is apparently highly exclusive. My friend had to ask a PR-savvy colleague to “name drop” in order to get us a table.
Sadly, it was wasted on me. I love sushi, but a whole afternoon of drinking pints had me, let’s say, a touch merry.
So £600 later, we stumbled out full of fish and sake after, I have been told, a great dinner.
Feeling at home in Mayfair
It was a relief then to wake up in relaxing surroundings the following morning, on the top floor of 44 Curzon Street – one of Mayfair’s most famous addresses.
Our apartment had a decent-sized lounge, a small but sleek kitchen and a large bedroom with en suite.
The décor was a little dated but I felt the chintzy lamps and drapes were in keeping with the high ceilings and traditional feel of the building.
Looking down on the street below and seeing chauffeurs parked up in black Mercedes made us feel like little country bumpkins.
Fresh croissants on the counter and milk in the fridge were very welcome because, as is always the way when you visit London for a long weekend, we had a busy day ahead.
Green Park tube station was less than 10 minutes’ walk away, and from there we made our way north to Watford.
Visiting the Boy Who Lived
Apart from Hogwarts and maybe Privet Drive, Watford is the closest thing Harry Potter has to a home.
This is where all the movies were filmed by Warner Brothers and the studio is now open to the public.
We spent four hours with our mouths hanging open in awe, wandering through the actual sets and props used in the films.
We boarded the Hogwarts Express, walked up Diagon Alley, visited the Slytherin common room and marvelled at the prosthetic wizardry involved in turning someone into a goblin.
Hungry but unwilling to pay the inflated prices of the studio café, we headed back into the city on a train and looked forward to dinner that evening.
On the agenda was a six-course tasting menu at Six by Nico, a restaurant chain founded by chef Nico Simeone in Glasgow – which has recently launched in Aberdeen.
It’s best known for its affordability – our tasting menu was just £37, which feels like a steal for what we got, especially in London.
We had monkfish, truffle mac and cheese, hazelnut ragu, flat iron steak and more.
Just a girl in Notting Hill
The next morning we decided to explore the colourful neighbourhood of Notting Hill.
At the weekend these streets are usually crowded thanks to Portobello Market, but today was Monday and the pavements were quiet which suited us bumpkins just fine.
It’s a wonderful area to just walk around and see all the brightly painted houses.
My boyfriend and I spent most of the time having a very serious discussion about what colour we would paint our multi-million pound Notting Hill house when we got round to buying it (lilac is the top contender).
Then, blink and you miss it, we were back on the Caledonian Sleeper again that night heading home to the Granite City.
This time, sleep came easily to me. Though I am convinced that the train tracks in England are much quieter than our Scottish ones.
Travel Facts
The Caledonian Sleeper runs every day from London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Aberdeen and Fort William.
44 Curzon Street by Mansley offers a range of one, two and three-bedroom serviced apartments with self-catering facilities.
