""It's a bit like a murder mystery party, isn't it?" a 70-something year-old woman with immaculate, Mister Softee-coiffed white hair whispers to her friend, who is sitting beside me. It's an unusually sunny June morning in Scotland, and the sound of bagpipes are carrying on the wind as we, a troop of some 20 or 30 strangers, step aboard the elegant cardinal-painted Royal Scotsman train in Edinburgh's Waverly Station."
"For the next four days, we'll all travel together on a moveable feast of Scotland's countryside aboard the Royal Scotsman. The train is one of several around the world operated by Belmond that have set out to recapture the glamour of older, slower modes of transportation. And like the iconic Orient-Express (whose original route has been revived by Belmond's Venice Simplon-Orient-Express), the Champagne flutes, suited servers, and glossy design of this locomotive hold a seductive potential for daydreams and drama."
"In today's age of slotting into your airplane seat and ignoring fellow passengers sitting mere inches away, it's a romantic idea-perching on a plush tartan sofa with intriguing new faces all around, and forgetting you have access to the internet as rolling countryside unfurls beyond the windows. It's precisely why we've all come. The journey-this train-is our destination."
A group of roughly twenty to thirty strangers boards the cardinal-painted Royal Scotsman at Edinburgh's Waverly Station on a sunny June morning. The four-day route travels through Scotland's east coast and Highlands, with stops in Inverness and Plockton on the 'Wild Spirit of Scotland' itinerary. Belmond operates the train and evokes old-world glamour with Champagne flutes, suited servers, and glossy design. Passengers socialize on plush tartan sofas, intentionally disconnect from the internet, and watch rolling countryside unfold beyond the windows. Twelve itineraries range from two to seven nights, framing the journey itself as the attraction.
Read at Conde Nast Traveler
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