As first published on MoneyWeb.

My mother told me that I was special. Perhaps it was the early mollycoddling or just a deep ego desire that makes me so needy of lavish attention. The Blue Train is one place where special and lavish attention is available to all passengers in abundance. That is the nub of the problem. When everyone else is equally special, I don't feel special enough. That, or just gluttony and sloth, may be behind my recently-diagnosed type 2 diabetes - again I have more special attention - and on the Blue Train it is no different.

I was the only one in the departure lounge at Cape Town station that had the executive chef consult them. Esther Ndhlovo said she knew about my special needs and that she had gone shopping just for me. The crème Brule on the menu was made especially for me without sugar and she'd bought rye breads and sugar-free biscuits for me - just me.

Having Bs everywhere does nothing to quell my modesty. Others think if is for the Blue Train but I know otherwise.

Train travel reminds us all how poor many South Africans are, as we glide silently past shack land after shack land. I feel a little ashamed - more so after hearing a British couple who are on the train to celebrate their Golden Wedding anniversary, opine that our government is wasting money on 2010 preparations when there are so very many very poor people. My privilege has allowed me to turn a blind-eye. In England, while on board Orient-Express' British Pullman we also passed graffitied walls and derelict houses, and on the Eastern and Orient-Express between KL and Bangkok too, there are scenes of poverty - heightened by our luxury vantage point.

There are massive picture windows which while they don't open, do offer a better view from the cabin than on other luxury trains. We loved the automated remote controlled blinds. Cabins are solid Italian Birch buffed to a shine that almost requires sunshades. There's heavy rose-cut crystal glassware and either a double bed with bath or two single beds with a shower. Bathrooms are trimmed in Gialo Royale Italian marble with deep iron and enamel tubs that are especially luxurious. Having a bath while the Karoo landscape fades past like a Pierneef painting should be on everyone's bucket list. Having 24-caret gold taps and gold-leafed wall sconces make it a super-luxury experience.

As the train isn't full (there are 12 guests disembarking at Worcester) and about the same number joining us to Pretoria) we've been offered the adjacent cabin for use as a day room. Rovos Rail, The Blue Train's rival, lists their cabin size and the fact that their beds are always ready (in the Blue Train the butler converts the couch into a double bed) as a unique selling point and, like the Blue, all food and drink (with the exception of caviar and French Champagne .

Hugely appealing for those who want to experience the luxury and views rather than a train journey per se, is that the Blue glides along without much shudder and very little noise. A unique coupling and air cushion system makes travel on the 3'.6" gauge track very comfortable. At night though the train speeds up (at times it felt like break-neck speed as my partner and I rolled together and bounced apart like kinetic balls on a desk top.

Cuisine is exceptional and service is old-school elegant with not even a hint of pretense. Although a top dollar experience, upwards of R10 000 per person one-way, the trip represents superb excellence in every way and when compared with top five star hotel rates and business-class flights to Johannesburg, it represents value for money. As someone on a deadline, it afforded me the opportunity to work solidly and maintain a 3G internet collection for most of the trip.

At the 2009 World Travel Awards announced at Indaba, The Blue Train was named Africa's Leading Luxury Train.

www.BlueTrain.co.za