Now I'm wondering what I was so nervous about! Once I actually started to buy the tickets, it was a piece of cake. I didn't even have any problems with the credit card. Though I'd called them ahead to warn them that I was making an international purchase.

I got the tickets for two adults London to York, York to Edinburgh for 42.80 GBP.

CAPH52, you've received some great advice and I'm glad you got such great prices. I had an easy time booking with http://nationalexpresseastcoast.com for a trip last May. Friends and I took the train from York to Edinburgh and then Edinburgh to London, booked in advance and our fares were so cheap that we decided to go first class from Edinburgh to London.
Our train coming in to York was running late, so there was little time to board and we got in on the wrong side of our car. The luggage bins were overloaded with strollers and bags and my friend's bag was so big that she couldn't go down the aisle to our reserved seats and had to stand with our luggage between two cars. We were helped by a wonderful train attendant who helped us to find a place for a couple of bags. She also had a few choice words for a gentlemen who was throwing one of our bags around. She also advised us to wait until the next stop and get out and walk our suitcases to the other end where our reserved seats were.
This we did and when we finally settled in after another stop or so we had a glorious view on the way to Edinburgh. I also loved our glimpse of what I think was Newcastle. Of course, travelling first class on the way back we didn't have any of those problems. I loved the free tea and even the packaged biscuits. It was well worth the splurge.
Moral of the story? Another great case for taking as little luggage as you can. There were no husbands on this trip so getting that luggage up and down train steps, and stairs in B&B's was no picnic. One of our train stations had an elevator, which I and my aching back remember fondly to this day. My friend will be returning to England this May and has vowed to take much less luggage! Enjoy.

mark

Having spent three hours on an Italian railway platform in January one time, I'd advise caution against using the strategy of "getting off at the next station to go to the other end of, or to the next carriage!

The attendant helped me down the steps, then banged on the side of the train and off it went, leaving me waving and calling out etc.

rasmesfin, thanks for sharing your good experience! But your story reminded me of the one thing that bothered me very, very slightly after I'd made the reservation. The web site asked me for our seat preference in terms of aisle or window and which direction we'd be facing. But it didn't ask which side of the train we wanted. So I don't know whether we'll be on the "scenic side". And we both wound up with window seats, which is fine. But, had it asked about the seats separately, I probably would've booked one window and one beside it.

But if it turns out we're on the wrong side, I figured we can probably ask when we're about to come to that stretch along the North Sea and walk to the dining car or somewhere else so that we can see it? Or be able to switch seats if it's not crowded?

Anyway, I'm glad you had such a good experience. And I'll heed your warning about not over-packing. Which I'm already planning to be careful about as we'll be dragging our luggage around quite a bit. But the more reminders I get, the better!

Ouch, eigasuki! Not a pleasant experience for you! I hope you didn't have to wait too long for the next train.

CAPH - nice job. Glad it worked out.

Thanks, dfr! Are you trip planning too? Hope you've got something nice coming up!

CAPH - wish we were. Went to Greece for 2 weeks over Thanksgiving (did detailed trip report FWIW) and with DD starting her senior year in college this fall, well..... you know where the money's going!