To me, a long-distance overnight train journey should be something vaguely glamorous and exciting.

Ideally, some sort of hybrid between Murder on the Orient Express (without the murder) and that Sex and the City episode where Carrie and Samantha catch the trans-continental to San Francisco – only with more wine and better sleeping quarters.

My only previous experience was a very sweaty nine hours from Rome to Nice while inter-railing as a student in the summer of 2002. But since that involved four of us crammed into a seated compartment with no air-conditioning, no drinks trolley and, as a result of an unfortunate run-in with some Italian pickpockets the night before, almost no money anyway, I was certain a night in first-class on the Caledonian Sleeper could only be an improvement.

It was a Friday night in Glasgow Central and my friend and I were heading to London for a weekend of Wimbledon and sightseeing.

We were met on the platform by one of the Sleeper’s extremely polite and courteous staff, who checked our tickets and took our order for breakfast the next day. In first-class, you have a choice of choice of porridge with an optional drizzle of honey, granola, a bacon roll, scrambled egg and smoked salmon, or a full cooked breakfast, all served with orange juice, tea or coffee, and shortbread.

I ordered a bacon roll and my friend had the scrambled eggs and both were delivered to our rooms on a tray, fresh and warm from the kitchen, at precisely 6.15am the following morning.

But as we boarded at Central, shortly after 11pm, our immediate priority was wine. First-class passengers have priority access to the lounge car, but as all the tables were already occupied we settled ourselves on a sofa.

It is fair to say that the lounge car has probably seen better days. The decor of bright blues and purples seems dated and the carpets and furnishings are growing threadbare in places, and overall it is ripe for a makeover.

Luckily that is exactly what is on the cards with the Sleeper’s current operator, Serco, preparing to roll out brand new trains from 2018 which promise passengers a “luxurious new brasserie club car”. Ian Smith, the award-winning interior designer who overhauled Andy Murray’s Cromlix hotel, has been tasked with modernising the Sleeper so there are high hopes for a stylish result.

In the meantime, there is the food and drinks menu to keep passengers happy. On offer are 14 different whiskies and 16 wines, including a £25 bottle of South African pinot noir named Iona in honour of the winemaker’s Scottish ancestry, as well as various craft Scottish beers including Innis & Gunn and St Mungo, a speciality Scottish vodka, handcrafted Scottish gin, and a £50 bottle of Veuve Cliquot champagne.

I settled for a glass of Chardonnay while my friend ordered the Shiraz.

The Scottish touches continue on the food menu, where I could have ordered anything from a chicken curry with Highland saag aloo to haggis, neeps and tatties for dinner. Since it was fast approaching midnight, I settled for a prawn and smoked salmon sandwich. By 1am the bar car was almost empty and we headed to our berths.

We had separate rooms, linked by a connecting door, each furnished by a single bed, storage space, clothes hangers and a temperature controller. First-class guests also receive a goodie bag containing earplugs, an eyemask, shower gel and body lotion minis, and a “relaxing” scented pillow spray to help you nod off.

After a long week of backshifts and a potent gin and tonic nightcap, I probably didn’t need much help in that area – but I was very glad to be spending the night in a comfortable first-class bed over the seating carriages, or even the bunk-beds in standard class.

My friend, who as a child once travelled from the Highlands to London with her parents, brother and sister crammed together in one standard berth, was understandably delighted simply to have a bed of her own and no-one sleeping on the floor.

Once revamped, the new Sleeper trains will offer double beds and en suite facilities in first-class, but for now guests have to brush their teeth in the carriages’ toilet cubicles – a minor inconvenience.

How well you sleep probably depends on how good a sleeper you are anyway. For me – a naturally heavy sleeper – the creaky sounds and motion of the train were rhythmic and relaxing. I was out like a light until my alarm sounded for breakfast.

We arrived 40 minutes early, at 6.30am. Undoubtedly, the biggest advantage of travelling to London by Sleeper is that you arrive early enough – and hopefully refreshed enough by a good sleep – to enjoy a full weekend in the capital.

You are also right in the hub of things, and there’s none of the waiting around to collect your luggage or laborious security checks that can make airport travel tedious.

We disembarked, dumped our bags in left luggage and jumped straight on the Tube to Southfields, the closest station to Wimbledon, and were there just after 8am.

After a very long wait in The Queue – a mind-boggling seven hours in fact – we were on Henman Hill by 3pm, Prosecco and strawberries in hand, just in time to see Novak Djokovic bomb out and Andy Murray sail through.

We were even lucky enough to get a free pass onto Centre Court after two ladies who were leaving handed us their tickets, just in time to catch the final half-hour of the day’s play.

It was after 11pm when we finally checked into London Bridge Hotel, a four-star boutique venue in fashionable Southwark. Located a stone’s throw from the train and Tube station and easy strolling distance to Southwark, Soho and Westminster, it was an ideal base to explore the capital at leisure on Sunday.

The Sleeper back to Glasgow left at 11.25pm. We rounded off the weekend with a couple of glasses of red wine and a generously portioned, delicious plate of cheese and oatcakes in the lounge car, which more than made up for a lacklustre Italian meal at Strata in Covent Garden.

We were back in Glasgow by 7am on the Monday, feeling as if we had barely travelled at all. As someone who would usually fly, I could definitely be converted. And with no murders and plenty of wine, it certainly was an improvement on that Rome-Nice trip.

Helen McArdle travelled first-class on the Caledonian Sleeper Lowland Route from Glasgow Central-London Euston, courtesy of Serco.

Prices for a first-class berth on Glasgow Central/Edinburgh Waverley-Euston start from £135 one-way. Sleeper seats start from £35 and standard berths from £75. To make a booking or for more information please visit www.sleeper.scot or call 0330 060 0500

She stayed at London Bridge Hotel. Rates start from £99 per night. For more information or to make a reservation visit www.londonbridgehotel.com or call 020 7855 2200.