Having had a long weekend in Belgium, our time split between Brussels and Bruges, we opted to fly there and get the train back, taking three completely different rail experiences. Three train hops from Bruges - first the Intercity Belgian Rail train from Bruges to Brussels Midi (just under an hour); second - two hours on the Eurostar from the same Brussels train station to London St. Pancras International; followed by the new overnight Caledonian Sleeper service from London Euston to Edinburgh (scheduled to take just under seven hours).

When I found out that there were going to be brand new trains introduced onto the Caledonian Sleeper route I thought this was so exciting, especially as the initial marketing made it all sound so interesting, especially with references to a hotel-style service by ICMI.

The Train Suite Shiki-Shima (Shiki-Shima means the island of four seasons) is an ultra-luxe residential train in Japan, run by the East Japan Railway Company, JR East. You can read all about it here and check it out on the train company website. Not only is this an amazing way to see the Japanese countryside by rail, the train company organises activities both on the train and sightseeing trips off when it stops at various stations across the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido.