Got up in time for my checkout but had 7 hours to kill before my 15 hour train journey to Chiang Mai. I thought im going to have to buy some clothes and another backpack, malaria tablets the lot. I'm not living out of a s***ty carrier bag any longer.

The luggage situation is still t*** up. 25000 bags still stranded at heathrow, i'm just having myself on, it's gonna take two weeks for them to sort it. An hour later, sorted, I have new t-shirts, malaria tablets so I don't die in the jungle from the mozzys, and a new backpack.

All I need to do now is make my way to the train station at 7pm for the sleeper train. This should be interesting. I headed to the train station, new bag, the lot, I felt like I was backpacking, well sort of.

Once I got to the station it was just absolute manic, I eventually found where I needed to go and headed to the platform whilst inhaling around 300 trains engine fumes. I got on the train, I thought this is what it's all about. The seating arrangment was normal, 2 seats either side facing each other. I got to my seat and thought where the hell do we sleep. As after a few minutes 3 Irish girls got on board and one was opposite me and the other two on the opposite side! I think we were all a bit puzzled.

But 10pm came and these guys came round and set they had to set the beds up, we got up and let them get on with it. The two seats opposite folded down to make a bed then above they flicked a latch and the top bunk came down, like bunk beds, complete with privacy curtain, nice touch! I was on the top bunk, b******s! I just hope I didn't fall out in the night half asleep. Oh yeah, and the toilet is just a 4 inch hole in the train floor out onto the track! I wonder if it's like that on the Virgin trains!

I've now been on the train for 5 hours and we're not even halfway there. Time for a bit of shut eye I think or just have a bit of a read.