Boarding the British Pullman at London Victoria you get a bit of a feeling for the heyday of luxury travel when people went by liner across the oceans by taking such trains as The Golden Arrow in order to get to the port. Travellers today embarking on this overland journey to Venice get to enjoy a brunch of smoked salmon, caviar and scrambled egg accompanied with a Bellini or two as the train passes through the Kent countryside. You the board luxury coaches at Folkestone that go via the Channel Tunnel through to Calais. For our particular trip, due to rail engineering work in France, we joined the far more stylish continental Wagon Lits carriages of the Venice Simplon Orient Express (VSOE) at Bruges an hour and a quarter by coach after arriving at the French tunnel terminal.We were really fortunate that we were upgraded to a two room suite and given complimentary champagne on boarding at Bruges on account of our failed trip six months previous - sometimes things are just meant to be.

This is an indulgent way to travel. Most people on the train seem to 'have money' and just when you thought that you were doing very well in life you suddenly realise that others have probably done far better. You also get to see the different (stereotypical) nationalities too, from thong (flip flops) and jean wearing Aussies, to white trainer (sneaker) and jumper wearing Americans through to very formal and straight laced Japanese travellers. Our companions all have a different style about them and I guess they thought the same of the suit and jacket wearing 'stiff ass' Brits. Everyone did make the effort for the formal evening meal which was a relief especially as the white trainers were not to be seen amongst the evening dresses and black ties. You could travel from London to Venice by air for less than the equivalent of just one hour on the VSOE, or you could fly around the world for less than the overall cost, albeit not in this class of travel. That is not really what making this journey is all about as this is an indulgent and very special way to travel to Venice.

Having chosen the later of the two dinner sittings we took advantage of the piano bar, which was quiet as the earlier diners were at their seats. An eclectic mix of music was twinkled on the ivories from 'Dancing Queen' to 'Roll out the Barrel'. After a couple of cocktails, at €22 a pop, it was time for dinner in the Etoile du Nord dining car and even though the drinks prices were high it is on a par with some London hotels. The bar was full and standing later in the evening as the crossover between the early and late dinner sittings converged - we made the right choice. The VSOE has three dining cars, each one has a different theme and marquetry and you get the opportunity to be seated in two different carriages on the trip to Venice, one for dinner and one at lunch on day two. Dinner was, as you may well expect, an indulgent affair with a lobster and mushroom starter, venison for the main course followed by cheese and biscuits, a rather rich chocolate dessert, coffee and petit fours. The wine list was a tad expensive and our bottle of French red lasted beyond the meal as we needed to get full value from the €50 purchase (and that was the cheapest on offer) as we travelled through southern Belgium and into Luxembourg.

Having got to bed just before one o'clock in the morning it was not until somewhere north of Munich that we had continental breakfast served in our cabin. After breakfast the train continued through southern Germany passing Munich and onto Innsbruck in Austria before taking the Brenner Pass route through to Italy and onto Venice. The scenery on this part of the trip was very impressive even though it was a little overcast and wet.

With lunch being taken at 2pm there then remained little time on the VSOE, but only after we had eaten fresh scallops, braised veal with polenta and rhubarb crumble or cherry and chocolate meringue and all of this was washed down with a chilled bottle of French Rose wine as we continued through northern Italy - there goes another €50. It was interesting to listen in and hear that other people had bar bills, just for the restaurant car, far in excess of our relatively paltry amount - but they are the people that were clearly doing better than us!

So, it just remained for us to have afternoon tea served in the cabin before arrival into Venice although it was always going to be tough given our rather filling late lunch. We decided that there was no need to eat in Venice after our arrival and maybe we could even skip breakfast the following day as we had over indulged just a little during the previous thirty hours or so. Although that is what this journey really is all about - the art of indulgence. The final comments on our time on the Venice Simplon Orient Express must go to the team that served us from Rachel on the British Pullman, to Sheena on the coach transfer, Paolo, Pierre-Luigi, Donato, Alexandre (and the rest of the team) in the restaurant cars and the wonderfully charming Pierre, our cabin steward, on the continental train - all of them were brilliant and a credit to Belmond (the company that run the train). It was a really wonderful experience and one that is recommended to anyone who likes a little bit of indulgence, even if it is a one off 'trip of a lifetime' and for us hopefully it will not be a one off as we will start saving again.