Up in the air

When a strike threatened the Caledonian Sleeper service last week, I decided not to take any chances (i.e. eliminating the possibility of a rail replacement bus service) and booked a flight back to London. Amazingly, it was a good price - much cheaper than the rail ticket. It also gave me another evening in Inverness with Mum, Dad and Rory, which was fab.

However, travelling by sleeper is far, far better than flying and my travelling companion, Fred's dad, agrees. With the train, you can pack whatever you like in whatever bag and in as many bags as you like, and appear five minutes before departure, complete with a bag of food and drink brought from home. You don't have to take off your jacket, shoes and belt, or have to be patted down if you beep. You also don't have to share a confined space with lots of other people, some of whom cough and sneeze as the season demands. Yep, the sleeper is the only stress-free way for me to travel to the Highlands. As it was, the strike didn't happen, but the floods were a concern. The sleeper usually makes it through, though.

Heath and I concurred with our flight vs rail observations and we arrived in Gatwick where Fred met us. Inverness was sunny, but Gatwick was very grey and dreich. Ah well. It was good to be home with the menagerie. We broke out the red wine and geared ourselves up for the big day tomorrow.