How to Travel in Style

As Eric Roberts, playing the indebted loser Paulie in The Pope of Greenwich Village, said, success isn't how much money you have, "it's knowing how to spend it." The same could be said of modern travel. The superwealthy can afford the Concorde, but only the super-classy would choose to travel in a way that celebrates not speed, but leisure. The greatest way to express how non-parvenu you are is to travel by train. And the most civilized train in existence is the Orient Express.

The Orient Express has endured as a symbol of Victorian-era elegance since it began service at the end of the 19th century. Its founder, French entrepreneur Georges Nagelmackers, first got the idea for a pan-European luxury train when he toured the United States in 1865 and saw President Lincoln's lavish funeral car, built by George Pullman.

The original Orient Express began operations on October 4, 1883 and was an immediate success. The train prospered and sprouted branches all over Europe. From the 1880s to the 1930s, the Orient Express was the pan-European conveyance of choice for kings, diplomats, smugglers, wealthy adulterers, and businessmen. By the First World War, the Orient Express was serving Paris, Nice, Zurich, Innsbruck, Salzburg, Venice, Rome, Belgrade, Athens, Bucharest, Constantinople, and St. Petersburg. After the war, the victorious Allies decreed in the Treaty of Versailles that the train-now called the Simplon Orient Express- would run daily from Calais and Paris to Istanbul, completely skirting the territories of former enemies Germany, Austria, and Hungary.

Numerous kings rode the train, including Leopold II of Belgium, and English monarchs George VI and Edwards VII and VIII. (After he abdicated, Edward the Prince of Wales traveled incognito back to France aboard the Orient Express to marry the woman for whom he gave up the throne, Miss Wallis Simpson.) Ferdinand I of Bulgaria and his son the future King Boris, were train buffs who did not ride the train: They drove it, often with frightening effect on their fellow passengers. Once, trying to make up lost time, Boris ordered the fireman to stoke the engine so much that a draft entered the cab and set the poor man afire, killing him. Boris paid no mind to the accident and triumphantly delivered the train into the station on time as the passengers sat aghast.

In 1920, French president Paul Deschanel somehow fell off the train on the way to Lyon and lost his shoes. He found his way to a village, where he ran around barefoot, excitedly claiming to be the president of France, prompting the retort from the townspeople, "Oui...et je suis Napoleon!" (The villagers ultimately decided it was really him when they noticed he had exceptionally clean feet.) After he was picked up and word got out, Deschanel's misadventures became a running joke in Paris. He endured four months of public ridicule before resigning from office.

Other notables to ride the train included Harry Houdini, Aga Khan, Marlene Dietrich, Arturo Toscanini, Maurice Chevalier, and its most notorious rider (executed for spying), Margaretha Gertrud Zelle a.k.a. Mata Hari. And where else could you find the founder of the Boy Scouts, Robert Baden-Powell, disguised as a butterfly collector, sneaking off the train to do reconnaissance of military installations as an English spy?

Four thousand cars were built for the Orient Express, but one had a singular role in world history. On November 11, 1918, Car No. 2419 was the site of Germany's humiliating forced signing of the armistice to end The Great War. On June 22, 1940, Hitler had the car hauled to the exact place where it stood previously and dictated surrender terms to France. The car was blown up by the Nazis in 1944 to keep it from being captured by Allied troops.

Following the Second World War, the train's fortunes began to decline. The airplane began to replace the luxury train as the mode of transportation for the wealthy. At the same time, it became increasingly difficult to maintain high service when rolling through Communist Eastern Europe.

As the Iron Curtain went up for the Soviets, it began to go down for the proud Orient Express. The old Orient Express had its last run in 1977. Things had gotten so bad one historian called it "euthanasia." The train's rebirth began when the president of Sea Containers Ltd., James Sherwood, bought a pair of Orient Express cars at a Sotheby's auction. He began adding to his collection and restoring them to immaculate condition, eventually spending £16 million on acquisition and refurbishment. The 17 blue-and-gold 1920s-vintage cars drip with Jazz Age beauty, with sleek lines, mahogany paneling richly laden with marquetry and polished brass fixtures. In 1982, Sherwood's new train, the Venice-Simplon Orient Express, began European service.

The new VSOE strives to duplicate the white-glove service of the original train, including the legendary resourcefulness and quiet efficiency of the conductors-called train managers-who still work exhausting 36- hour shifts and catnap in tiny compartments when things slow down. Train managers typically speak at least three languages (French, English, and Italian) fluently. (During the train's heyday, managers could also speak at least four others passably, German, Serbo-Croat, Bulgarian, and Turkish.) Each traveler is assigned a cabin steward who looks after your every need. He delivers your morning breakfast and newspaper, wakes you for dinner, gets you a seltzer water and fluffs up your pillows. He even takes care of your passport. All you need to do is press a little button on the wall of your cabin and the steward will magically appear...24 hours a day! Orient Express French chefs are renowned for their ability to hatch up world-class cuisine in dinky kitchens. Table d'hôte meals are included in the fare, although a la carte service is also available for extra charge. Continental breakfast and afternoon tea are served in your compartment.

Lunches and six-course dinners are served in the train's three dining cars on tables set with white linen tablecloths, fine china, French silverware, and heavy crystal. The elegantly prepared haute cuisine is offered alongside a well-paired wine list. Formal attire is encouraged at dinner, although a coat and tie are all that is required for gentlemen (about half of the diners turn out in black-tie). During the day, casual attire is acceptable but jeans are verboten. As they say, "You can never be overdressed on the Venice Simplon-Orient Express."

The compartments are small; a standard, double-occupancy sleeper is about 6' x 5'. Seats are converted into snug double bunk beds by the bellman each night. There is only a small amount of luggage space, comparable to that of the airlines' overhead bins. Single compartments have wash basins with hot and cold water and an individually controlled radiator for heat. There is one big drawback-no showers. (The VSOE cars date to the 1920s, and the first cars with showers were made in the 1930s.) Another drawback is that toilets are shared, with one at each end of the sleeping car. If you need to stretch your legs, there is the Bar Car, a snug, inviting lounge with a full bar and baby grand piano shoehorned in.

The standard route from London to Paris to Venice takes two days. Since there is no Eurotunnel rail connection, travelers chug down from London to Folkestone aboard a VSOE British Pullman train. From Folkestone, the English Channel crossing is made via the EuroTunnel aboard a bus-like conveyance mounted atop a freight car. Across the Atlantic, passengers board the train at Calais for Paris. From Paris, it is a scenic one-day trip across the Alps, with intermediate stops in Switzerland, Austria, and Italy, before finally arriving at Santa Lucia station in Venice.

The VSOE does not have what you would call a regular schedule. Its runs are dictated by the season and schedules of connecting trains. The standard route (London-Paris-Venice) is the closest to having a predictable timetable. From March through November, it departs from London on Thursdays and Sundays and returns on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Approximately twice a month, there are additional routes from Venice to Rome and back, featuring a morning stop and walking tour of Florence. In keeping with the spirit of the original train, the VSOE offers a once-a-year trip across the Bosporous to the glittering, minaret-peaked Islamic city of Istanbul. On the way, you can disembark near Bucharest to visit the bizarre Peles Castle, for which the inaugural train detoured four hours to be received by the King of Romania. Special trains also run to Lucerne, Prague, Salzburg, Vienna, and Frankfurt. The longer, nonstandard routes include hotel stays at major European cities and include time for sightseeing on foot.

If the Far East is your destination, the fully air-conditioned Eastern & Orient Express offers runs through Thailand, Singapore, and Bali, with boat connections to Burma. The company also operates the Great South Pacific Express along the eastern coast of Australia, from Sidney to Brisbane and Cairns. Prices and schedules vary.

The VSOE operates from March through November. Round-trip fare from London to Venice in a shared double cabin is $2,885 per person. It is possible to purchase one-way tickets and individual legs on most of the routes as well. For information about the Venice-Simplon Orient Express, the Eastern & Orient Express, or the Great South Pacific Express, contact Abercrombie & Kent at (800) 524-2420.

For those more in search of scenery than Old World luxury, there is a train called the American Orient Express that operates in North America. Train buffs know that many railroad lines span gorges and mountain ranges far away from highways, and that even pokey Amtrak trains offer some of the most spectacular vistas on the continent. The American Orient Express, too, has scenery in spades. But, unlike Amtrak, the AOE does not represent travel for the masses. Like its European namesake, the American Orient Express is one of the last refined trains in existence.

The AOE (no affiliation with the VSOE) was put into service in the mid-1990s as the rail-child of American businessman Henry Hillman, Jr., CEO of Oregon Rail Corp. The AOE's 15 cars were originally manufactured during the 1940s and 1950s and used on some of the most famous American passenger routes, such as the "Capitol Limited." (A second train is expected to come on line in the summer of 2002.) Like its European cousin, the American train's cars have been meticulously restored to their original condition. Although its compartments are a bit plainer that those of the VSOE, the more modern train has the edge in one key area: plumbing. Even the AOE's smallest compartments ( 7' x 6') have their own toilets. In addition, everyone has shower access. Travelers in the smallest classes of compartments share shower facilities at the end of the car. Larger, more expensive compartments have private showers.

The AOE experience is quite different from the VSOE. There is a lot of stuff to see in America and the operators are determined you will see it. The train typically runs for a day and stops for overnight lodging at a hotel. Travelers spend the day sightseeing via a bus tour and reboard in the evening, bound for the next destination. In true American-style self-improvement, the tours feature lectures by academics on subjects like North American Indian tribes, geology, and the Civil War. (If this stuff bores you, you're in good company; many travelers skip the tours and while away the hours on the train.)

Americans are the quintessential loungers, and the AOE knows it. Trains have two club cars and one 1940s-vintage Vista dome car, which is a lounge car with a Plexiglas dome over a second-story platform that permits 360-degree viewing of the scenery. The three cars, which together can accommodate three-fourths of the passengers at once, are hubs of social activity.

Travelers take breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the dining cars. Dinner caters to hearty American appetites, with five substantial courses gracefully served on fine china. Menus include several basic items and additional regional fare, based upon where the train is at the time. The food is a sort of inventive American fare popular with recent graduates of domestic cooking schools. In contrast to the Venice-Simplon train, there is no dress code for dinner on the American Orient Express.

The American Orient Express does not run a regular schedule at all, although each route is repeated at least once a season. Its most frequent route, "The Great Transcontinental Rail Journey," only runs four times a year. What it lacks in frequency, though, it makes up for in variety. The AOE's current schedule features eight different historical routes covering an impressive amount of territory: the Rocky Mountains, parts of Canada, the Pacific Northwest, the Southwest and western Mexico, and every coastal southern state. Each of the current trips last between eight and 11 days. All but one of the routes originate and terminate in different cities, necessitating one-way air travel connections (the AOE offers special rates on flights). It is also possible to purchase round-trip train tickets. Fares vary by route, but basic Pullman car accommodations (double bunk beds) for a seven-day trip start at about $2,600 per person, doubleoccupancy.

Larger cabins cost a fair amount more. Contact the American Orient Express at (800) 320-4206.