The next day was an early morning castle call--for those who wanted, you could get up at the break of dawn to photograph Eilean Donan Castle. No going in, just a photo drive-by. Beth, you will be not shocked to learn I took a pass. This is the castle that is shown on the wrapper of the Walkers Shortbreads. As I knew I'd be taking a package home for the office, why get up to get a picture?

In fact, I got quite lazy that day. The afternoon was a trip to Ballindalloch Castle. But I was curious as to what really happens when we're off the train, so decided to take a "day at sea." Apparently, it is not legal to have pax on board when they do a track switch, but this was Scotland, where rules are meant to be gotten around, not followed. So the crew simply tipped me when to go hide (and where to go so I could unobtrusively watch the action) when the time came. I have to say, I got a real kick out of this day. I was the only passenger to stay behind, and had to keep begging Brian and Ian, the two waiters, to go relax and not try to serve me. However, I did wind up having a nice chat with Brian, who is from Poland, and was on his first RS trip. Very sweet young man.

The next day was pouring rain. It had been raining pretty much the whole drip, but this was a hard, bucketsful, rain. It was the day for our lodge outing, where we had a choice of golf, fly fishing, hiking, or clay pigeon shooting. The fishers went forward--hey, they were going to get drenched anyway, but the rest of us begged off and instead just did a bus tour of the extensive estate, then settled by the lodge fire to hear the stories of the lady of the manor. I'd been looking forward to the clay pigeon shooting, but, alas, it was not to be.

We then returned to the train for a stunning ride through the highlands, to Dunkeld at Glamis Castle. Again the bus met us here (basically, the bus followed the train around, so it was the same bus with the same driver each time. the driver, like everyone else, was a darling). Fortunately, the weather had calmed and so we had a wonderful tour of this circa 1300s castle, and marvelled at its history. Its most recent claim to fame is that it is the childhood home of the late Queen Mother.

Alas,this was our final excursion. Back to the train to complete the circle and once again cross the Firth of Forth to arrive back in Edinburgh.

Facilities. Ah! Here's the part I bet you were wondering about. Here's the thing: it's a train. No matter how beautifully it is appointed, and how wonderful the service, it is still a train. Which means that, as trains go, it is luxurious. But it is not a luxury hotel or even a luxury cruise ship. The cabins are pretty, but they are tight. My twin had two beds--one at the foot of the room and one along the side. A small nightstand separated them, and there was a desk between the bed at the foot of the cabin and the door. on the other side of the door was a closet--decent-sized but not huge.

And then there was the bathroom. It was compact. As I learned was the Scottish way, I was given one bar of soap (the hotels where I stayed did this too) to cover both the washbasin and the shower. But not to worry. If you were standing at one, you could easily get the soap from the other without stretching.

That being said, it was all it needed to be, and met my needs just fine. One thing, though, the sink is one of those old fashioned ones with one spigot for hot and the other for cold. So, to get a happy medium, you had to fill the basin.

If I had to pick a theme for the cabin, I'd call it "the illusion of control." The shower had a knob to give you the illusion that you could control the temp of the shower. Ha! In my room, you had two choices--very hot (fortunately not scalding) or no water. Others' rooms offered cold or nothing. Still others actually were able to control the temp.

Heating for the room was the same. There was a thermostat, but it bore no relation to the temp in the room. The heater was under one of the beds. And if it wanted to be hot, it would be hot. If it wanted to be cold, it would be cold. That's it.

There is no air conditioning in the cabin, but that was not an issue, as the weather was pretty chilly the whole time. The crew told me that it never is an issue--if you're hot, just open the window. And, yes, that's how I controlled the temp when the heater decided it would be hot.

The one thing you could control was the heat of the towel warmer in the bathroom. Fortunately, my stewardess showed me how to adjust it when she took me to my room. When it's on full blast, you could (and would) burn your arm on it, since the bathroom is tight enough that there's no avoiding it. Apparently, few others knew about this, because there were a lot of burned arms the first morning. But they soon learned. So, be warned--if you take this trip, turn the towel warmer way down first thing.

All this sounds like whining, and I'm sorry for that. It actually was pretty funny. I just want to make sure that anyone contemplating this trip knows that you aren't getting what you may be used to on a luxury cruise. It's very easy to adapt and enjoy.

Am I glad I did this trip? Absolutely! It was great fun. Yes, it's expensive, but there was a good discount for it being the first trip of the season. And if it was a shakedown trip, I sure didn't see any of the flaws. Plus, if you can book a single cabin, no single supplement! So, for the solo traveler, the price is not bad.

Would I do it again? Maybe. There's other things I want to do first. Would I recommend it? Absolutely. I had a blast.