I wasn’t sure whether the idea to take the Caledonian Sleeper from London Euston back home to Perth in Scotland with my 18 month old little boy was a stroke of genius or whether I’d actually lost my mind. My toddler and sleep certainly don’t go hand in hand… I’m still waiting for the time he sleeps through the night for more than one night at a time.
But my thinking was, that he’ll surely fall asleep at some point, and at least we’ll have our own space to read every book in the bag or have cuddles. We’ve done a lot of travelling between London and Glasgow over the past year and a half, and the one thing that gives me anxiety is the mad rush to the train at Euston. The past couple of times I’ve used the Virgin pre-boarding service which is amazing, but the trains are always packed so you’re guaranteed to have someone sitting next to you. And with a wriggling toddler on your knee for at least 2.5 hours until you reach the north west it just isn’t that relaxing! So my latest crazy idea, was to get on the sleeper.
My only previous sleeper experience was in India which I absolutely loved. There’s something rather magical about getting comfy and cosy on the train and being rocked to sleep.
As the date of our sleeper experience got closer my excitement started to slowly turn to nerves. What if he screams all night? What if he keeps trying to get out the cabin? What if I feel claustrophobic?
Turns out I needn’t have worried about any of these. The train rocked Little A to sleep and kept him asleep for 8 hours! The beds were super comfy, there was hot water to have a wee wash and the duvets were lovely and warm.
Here’s what I learnt travelling on the Caledonian Sleeper with a toddler.
At the time of writing, there are new trains on the Lowlander routes (London to Glasgow/ Edinburgh) and the old trains operating the Highlander (London – Inverness/ Aberdeen). I can’t wait to try out the new trains because I was so impressed with the old one!
When waiting at Euston I was surprised at how many families there were closely watching the boards for the platform announcement of the Sleeper. I got chatting to a lovely American family who were taking the train up to Fort William. Their kids were so excited about it.
We were due to board at 8:30pm but it was running late (I’m not entirely sure how because it wasn’t arriving from anywhere…) so we didn’t end up getting called to board until 8:50pm (when we were due to depart) Little A was getting a bit grumpy and tired by this point, luckily he was distracted when we got to the platform because he loves a train and thankfully Euston has plenty.
When the platform was announced, everyone made their way there calmly which made a nice change. Once on the platform we joined a queue which is based on your destination. The train splits en route with half going to Inverness and the other half to Aberdeen so its pretty imperative you end up in the right part. We checked in with the friendly staff and then headed for our carriage.
Getting on the train was fine, but once on board, it is narrow. I was travelling with a small stroller – a Mothercare Nanu and we fitted in the vestibule fine but there was no way we were getting down the corridor to the cabin. My tired brain was trying to process the best way to get to the cabin with our backpacking bag, Little A and the stroller. At this point, the lovely American lady magically reappeared so she stayed with Little A while I quickly dumped the bag in the room. I then took Little A out of the stroller and she collapsed it and brought it to the cabin. It was so very much appreciated! Had Little A not been quite so tired he would’ve let me take him out of the pram and he could’ve stood or walked to the cabin. One of the best things about getting on the train was not feeling that panicking rush to sort yourself out super-fast so you can get out of the way of everyone else. The sleeper is so much more relaxed.
Once in the cabin, the stroller fitted underneath the bottom bunk which gave us a lot more space. The cabin is a really neat use of space because while there’s not a ton of space, it’s definitely enough to serve its purpose.
Little A was finding it all very fascinating so it was easy to get his pj’s on while he was distracted. I’d packed a separate small bag (and put it inside my backpack) that I could just take out easily to save unpacking the whole thing. It was then a quick trip to the loo – I didn’t want to leave Little A in the cabin on his own so figured I get ready for bed at the same time. There’s a little sink in the room to do your teeth etc. You get a little towel on your bunk which was handy too.
We then snuggled into the bottom bunk for some stories and as the train pulled out of Euston, Little A drifted off to sleep. He’s used to sleeping in a proper bed so I wasn’t worried about him falling out. It was a bit narrower than what he’s used to I popped the backpack beside the bed and put a pillow on the top just in case he did roll onto it. Turns out he was so comfy that he barely moved all night!
With him snoozing away happily I climbed up onto my top bunk and read a magazine. It was bliss, I hadn’t done that in ages because normally once Little A’s asleep, that’s the time to tidy everything up. It was such a treat to relax and read.
While I woke up at points in the night, like when other people got on (the walls are paper thin to the adjoining cabin) or when the train separated (it was quite the jolt), Little A slept blissfully. To be fair, there were ear plugs supplied in the little amenity pack but I didn’t use them in case I couldn’t hear the little one.
I set my alarm for 5:10am as we were getting to Perth at 5:40am, got dressed quickly, packed up and then watched the beautiful Perthshire countryside go by through the little window. It was a rather lovely start to the day. There are quite a few stops scheduled but if there aren’t any passengers getting off, the train doesn’t stop. This gave me a slight panic because I was assuming we hadn’t stopped in Gleneagles yet so were still a wee bit from Perth, leaving plenty of time to get sorted. But when I recognised the Tesco, just a wee bit along from Perth Station, I started to panic. Eek. I took the stroller out to the vestibule, threw the backpack on my back and scooped up Little A, who wasn’t best pleased to be leaving his cosy bed. A steward then came along to make sure we were up and to help us off the train.
On the platform at Perth we were greeted by a lovely lady from the Caledonian Sleeper lounge. We didn’t need to use it but as the train had arrived early, the lady took us to the warmth of the entrance to the lounge to wait to get picked up. I wish we’d had some time to enjoy the lounge because it sounded lovely. Next time.
Overall, I would definitely recommend the Sleeper as an easy way to travel with kids. Just being able to go at your own pace and have your own private space made it so much more relaxing than regular train travel. It felt really special too with the little amenities and magazine. It was definitely a lot more of an experience rather than just getting from A to B as quickly as possible during the day. Plus, next time I need Little A to sleep all night I know what I’ll be booking.
Get us outside 