OK, I watched the PBS special last night with David Suchet drooling over the various aspects of the Venice Simplon Orient Express. I’m now convinced, I think this would be my dream trip:
Lots of comfortable places to sit
Private cabins (for 2, apparently, but it can be booked for just one)
3 luxurious dining cars, plus bar car
Only about 13 passengers per sleeping car (if I understood the math correctly, 160 passengers on 12 cars).
Your own steward, plus tons of other attentive and friendly staff.
Wonderful scenery and destinations (although, oddly, I didn’t see any reference on the website to Prague as a destination, which is where he ended up).
Beautifully appointed everything - Lalique glass decorations, inlaid marquetry, woodwork polished to within an inch of its life, etc.
On the other hand: toilet at the end of the car, and no shower.
The longest round trip in the most luxurious accommodations appears to be around $26K per person, for about 14 nights. So the chances I would actually do this are slim. Also, I think my SO would be bored (you can’t go shopping on a train).
What about you? Does this appeal to you at all (let’s leave aside the cost, for the purposes of this thread). Or have you already done it?
Roddy
I have … almost. The British Pullman section of the Orient Express runs day trips, including one which is a murder mystery trip. I took my mum for her 60th birthday - she’s 72 this year, so that gives you the date.
The train for this one goes from London to Brighton, you get off in Brighton and visit the Pavillion for another scene in the drama, then back on the train for the trip home and the denoument. It was similar to thisbut I can’t seem to get a direct link to the company at the moment for some reason.
It was absolutely wonderful. The train itself just looks like something from an Agatha Christie - like a classic British country house. I remember being immediately struck by the fact that the train seats were proper wing-backed chairs. The table linen and the silverware were exquisite, the service was impeccable without being in the slightest bit intimidating. The food was great, not the best I’ve ever had, but by far the best I’ve ever had on any form of transport
We had a wonderful, unforgettable time, not hampered in the least by the fact that we won the murder mystery game. Our prize was a special Orient Express edition of Murder on the Orient Express, what else? We asked all the cast to sign it, and only a couple of them bridled when we asked them to sign it in character rather than with their real names!
It’s not quite the full shebang, I know, but my overall impression is that this is not just a really nice train. I’ve done the Gold carriage on the Rocky Mountaineer, for instance, which is a really really nice train. This is something different - I do keep coming back to this impression of a lovely old British country house which just happens to be long and narrow and moving rather gently along a track. If I had the money I’d do a ‘proper’ journey on it like a shot. I’d love to do a proper sleeper journey on a train anyway, and to go to sleep in (albeit not very spacious) luxury and wake up in Venice, or Prague, or wherever - what could be a better waay to do that?
He wouldn’t be bored for long. A murder would take place, you’d all be suspects, and get grilled by a funny little Belgian fellow with a knack for solving puzzling murders (and this would be a doozy!)
I watched the special too – Suchet seemed genuinely impressed – and I’d definitely take that trip. Heck, I thought plain old Amtrak from Iowa to Seattle last summer was damn special!
Will it be possible for the train to go all the way to Istanbul again, someday? Is it politics or economics that limits the route?
I thought it was interesting that stewards handled everyone’s passports, so passengers aren’t bothered by border checks. Was that just in the old days or does it still happen – passport checks at European borders? I thought you guys were sorta one big ol’ friendly place nowadays.
I’ve actually ridden on the Orient Express, but at a time (1980) when it was just a train, before it got restored. We went from Paris to Linz Austria on it. Sleeping cars consisted of bunk beds, and thee were still passport checks at border crossings.
Not in all borders; not all countries are part of the EU and not all are part of the Schengen Treaty and the two don’t overlap exactly and there are still times when, even if you’re going to another country that’s “no passport needed” you do need to show photographic ID (for example, landing from a plane).
I liked taking the trenhotel from Burgos to Paris and back, have done it twice. This is the luxury version, I’d love to do it specially if I could stop along the way, spend a few days, get back on… like a road trip but with someone else driving for me at night while I sleep on something which resembles an actual bed well enough.
