Luxury charter travels around Scotland from April to October every year
The Belmond Royal Scotsman luxury charter train will begin its 2019 touring itinerary from Edinburgh Waverley, the departure point for every excursion in its programme.
Photo | Adam Zawadzki
Of the seven main tours that the train operates, the Scotland’s Classic Splendours and Scotch Malt Whisky Trail excursions are the first of the season, leaving on 11 April 2019.
Heritage Homes and Gardens, Grand Taste of the Highlands, Grand Western Scenic Wonders Northbound or Westbound The Grampians And Beyond and Clans, Castles & Isles make up the other five main tours.
The seven main tours usually follow three main routes. Scotland’s Classic Splendours is a 720 miles five days and four nights tour from Edinburgh to Kyle of Lochalsh and return including a journey on the Strathspey Steam Railway.
Western Scenic Wonders is a 660 miles four days and three nights itinerary from Edinburgh to Mallaig and return while Taste of the Highlands is a 540 miles three days and two nights programme from Edinburgh to Inverness and back.
Photo | Adam Zawadzki
At Edinburgh Waverley, the red carpet is rolled out and a piper welcomes passengers aboard before each departure. The Belmond Royal Scotsman also completes a Grand Tour of Great Britain excursion, taking place this year from 5-10 July 2019. This is their luxury offering at £11,000 per person for a twin cabin.
Highlights include unique views of the Forth and Tay Rail Bridges while off-train coach excursions to clay pigeon shooting, woollen mills and whisky distilleries are also included.
Traveling from the Central Belt of Scotland to the highlands and lowlands, the ten car train is able to provide an exclusive service by having a maximum of 36 passengers with three times as many staff.
Photo | Adam Zawadzki
Since 1985, the Royal Scotsman has transported passengers across Scotland to experience the history, culture and natural landscapes in style, comfort and pleasure, recreating the golden age of rail travel.
Five years later the original stock was replaced by a new fleet of Pullman cars complete with lacquer-polished wooden-paneling and private staterooms with en-suite bathrooms as well as an observation carriage.
Now in its 35th season, the Royal Scotsman experience continues to attract a high volume of customers. More recently, an eighth heritage car, the Bamford Haybarn Spa, was added to the luxury train set.
Formerly Orient Express Hotels Ltd, Belmond also operates the luxury charters British Pullman in England and Grand Hibernian in Ireland as well as Andean Explorer and Hiram Bingham in Peru.
In Scotland I attended Dunfermline High School from 2010 to 2016 and Edinburgh Napier University from 2016 to 2020, emerging with two Advanced Higher and five Higher qualifications from the former and graduating with an undergraduate bachelor of arts honours degree in journalism from the latter. After two years away from further education due to the coronavirus pandemic, I'm going to be studying the MFA Photography course at York St John University in England from 2022 to 2024. I've achieved The Duke of Edinburgh’s (Bronze) Award and received grade five level certification for electronic keyboard from Trinity College London. In my spare time, I enjoy reading, writing, watching television series, listening to music and going to the cinema as well as catching up with friends, travelling by railway and hostelling overnight and overindulging in food and drinks in a pub or restaurant then having to go to the gym to burn it all off again.
By studying journalism and photography, my aim of practicing photojournalism professionally will hopefully be once step closer. Both are partial artforms requiring the rest of the work to be undertaken by the audience, the specialism of photojournalism, however, providing each of its two parts with greater context. Exploring photographic techniques (aerial, timelapse, editing) through a variety of journalistic styles (features, poetry, songwriting) will allow me to develop my portfolio, hone my camera skillset and narrow my focus further in anticipation of working life. Without a global pandemic to deal with this time. Fingers crossed.
