THAILAND is the destination my teenage daughter - along with thousands of others - dreams of escaping to for a gap year before university.
So she turned a shade of green and muttered "so not fair!" when she realised, her middle-aged mum was going there while she stayed at home swotting for A-levels.
This trip to exotic paradise was a journey on the most famous and luxurious train of all , the Orient Express, which carried me in style across this fascinating part of South East Asia.
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I originally fell for the glamour and mystery of the train when I was my daughter's age and addicted to Agatha Christie's detective stories, her hero Hercule Poirot and her 1933 thriller Murder On The Orient Express.
So it was like stepping into the pages of her novel as I was welcomed on board the Eastern & Oriental Express. It would take me from Bangkok across hundreds of miles to see Thailand's former ancient capital and to visit World War II landmark, the bridge on the River Kwai.
I secretly feared my first sight of the iconic green-and-gold carriages might be a disappointment. I needn't have worried - it lived up to all my youthful expectations.
This train, and its 20 carriages with elegant dining cars and bars, totally captures the romance of the past, but combines it with the luxury of today.
The best part is the last car of the train, a wood-and-brass-panelled open observation deck with attached lounge and bar.
Travelling on the E&OE must be the best way to see the real Thailand.
Intriguing
Far from the glitz of Bangkok you catch intriguing glimpses of ordinary Thai life as you travel through a string of northern shanty towns before reaching rolling lush countryside, cultivated fields and a myriad of tiny villages.
All the way we were cosseted like royalty with gourmet meals, traditional English afternoon teas and cocktail hours, enlivened by having our fortune told and, fortunately, no one predicted murder on board!
The River Kwai bridge was for many passengers the trip's highlight with its poignant history as the most famous reminder of the `Death railway', built by Allied prisoners of war and native slave labour.
We crowded into the observation car as the train crossed the bridge, a replica of the original.
A cruise down the Kwai Yai river and a visit to the Thailand-Burma Railway Museum, at Kanchanaburi, with its views over the immaculately maintained war cemetery provided opportunity for quiet reflection.
Our return journey to Bangkok offered time to marvel at the power of a train to turn back the clock.
I may well surprise my daughter and return as an adult gapper to this wonderful country!
