Cheap Travel

[Ivo]

For those of you that haven't yet noticed, I'm at University. But, contrary to popular belief, I do seem to have a lot of spare time (probably because I don't spend the evenings and nights drinking and the following mornings with a headache!).

So, therefore, I ask the experts (such as yorkie) out there the following:

Can you think of any days out by train that can be made for no more than, say, £40 (with a 16-25 Railcard)? I have found some, such as the £9.90 Paddington to Penzance I've mentioned elsewhere and also the quite frankly magnificent £6.60 Marylebone to Wrexham (kudos to WS&MR!) [these are single fares though], but that will only last so long. Likewise, I would like to travel First-Class at some stage (GodAtum's Virgin thread looks a good source for ideas here!), but from Bath it is hardly worth the extra cost and from Bristol it's often XC which doesn't seem quite as impressive FC.

Anyway, thank you in advance!

 

[yorkie]

From Bath? Using AP tickets specified a long time in advance? Well it depends on what you want really. If you can find really cheap AP singles Bath-London and York-Bristol it just might leave enough to sample GC, but GC do not offer any cheap AP fares so much of your £40 would have to go to that. But you'd be able to sample GC for £40 possibly, but only just.

It may be better to allocate £9 toward a Travelodge room as part of their Summer promotion, and then get cheap AP singles in combination with that. You could go a lot further with an overnight stay.

One tip for journeys from the Bristol & South West area to Yorkshire, is if there is no availability for a through train on XC, specifying via Manchester can sometimes help. It seems that there is better availability via this route sometimes.

 

[GodAtum]

Do GC do a good FC service (i.e catering, lounges etc?) Same with XC?

 

[Ivo]

Am I right to think that you can't always use FC Lounges with FC Advance tickets though?

With regards to GC, this is all I could find:

First class passengers enjoy seating patterns with wide, reclining seats and adjacent power points for phones, laptops etc. Complimentary beverages and a newspaper are provided. We seek to provide a comfortable environment for those working and relaxing. Curtains at the windows offer additional privacy and shade.

I do like the idea of being able to thrash family at Monopoly while travelling between London and the north though... [this can be done in SC as well]

 

[323235]

Some ideas Ive been looking at are :-

Cheltenham - London Paddington for £5.95 each way Standard Class.
all services are available at the lowest price for example on the 20th Febuary.

Seems quite a steal and 1st Class is £12.85 on East Coast website. Maybe even cheaper booking online through FGW.

Then there's Hull Trains, Kings Cross to Doncaster/Hull for £6.60 each way

London St Pancras - Nottingham on a HST for £5.95 Standard and £9.90 1st Class each way, if booked through the EMT website.

 

[Ivo]

Less than £10 to Nottingham? That one is impressive... I've never been in the East Midlands, barring one odd journey by van, so it's certainly worth considering. The Cheltenham one is quite local to me (obviously starting there as opposed to Paddington), though it does not seem to be cheaper on the FGW site.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Um... You might not believe this, but I've just found St Pancras to Sheffield, and back, for £6.60 (STD at perfectly reasonable times, i.e. 11:55 from STP and 17:27 from SHF on Saturday 30th January...).

With this in mind, I'm thinking about a round trip on that day:

Bath Spa - London Stns - Sheffield - Bristol TM

BTH - PAD £14.40
PAD - STP Bus Pass
STP - SHF £11.90
SHF - BRI ...Let's not bother with the over-charging Arriva, shall we?

 

[ChrisTheRef]

First Class Lounges:

In my experience, only Virgin will let you use their lounge with advance tickets, but I'm sure you can if you get the attendant on a good day at others...

 

[John @ home]

With this in mind, I'm thinking about a round trip on that day:

Bath Spa - London Stns - Sheffield - Bristol TM

BTH - PAD £14.40
PAD - STP Bus Pass
STP - SHF £11.90
SHF - BRI ...Let's not bother with the over-charging Arriva, shall we?

Within your £40 budget, you could have a circular trip.

Saturday 30th January
0913 Bath Spa - London Paddington 1038 £11.20 Railcard Standard Advance Single. FGW
London Paddington - London St Pancras £0.00 Bus Pass
1155 London St Pancras - Sheffield 1404 £3.30 Railcard Standard Advance Single. EMT
1511 Sheffield - Manchester Piccadilly 1602 £3.30 Railcard Standard Advance Single TPE
1630 Manchester Piccadilly - Newport S Wales 1929 £11.90 Railcard Standard Advance Single ATW
1944 Newport S Wales - Bath Spa 2035 £2.00 Railcard Standard Advance Single FGW
Total £31.70

 

[ChrisTheRef]

Within your £40 budget, you could have a circular trip.

Saturday 30th January
0913 Bath Spa - London Paddington 1038 £11.20 Railcard Standard Advance Single. FGW
London Paddington - London St Pancras £0.00 Bus Pass
1155 London St Pancras - Sheffield 1404 £3.30 Railcard Standard Advance Single. EMT
1511 Sheffield - Manchester Piccadilly 1602 £3.30 Railcard Standard Advance Single TPE
1630 Manchester Piccadilly - Newport S Wales 1929 £11.90 Railcard Standard Advance Single ATW
1944 Newport S Wales - Bath Spa 2035 £2.00 Railcard Standard Advance Single FGW
Total £31.70

Pfft well done John! I'll have to look at a EMT £3.30 SHF to STP myself....

Ivo, I think 32.33 posts per day has to be some sort of record!

 

[323235]

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Um... You might not believe this, but I've just found St Pancras to Sheffield, and back, for £6.60 (STD at perfectly reasonable times, i.e. 11:55 from STP and 17:27 from SHF on Saturday 30th January...).

Yeh EMT have been running that impressive promotion as part of the launch of there 2nd train per Hour between London-Sheffield.

I did consider it myself but i think ive done enough Meridian's down the Midland Mainline. It's time I copped a HST from Nottingham.

 

[Ivo]

Pfft well done John! I'll have to look at a EMT £3.30 SHF to STP myself....

Ivo, I think 32.33 posts per day has to be some sort of record!

...Whoops. Sorry! (Do remember that University resumes tomorrow (unless a little snow frightens them... ), so my initial early flurry won't last.)*

Anyway, I do like the look of that £31.70 run. To be honest, if it costs that little I'd probably treat myself to a First-Class run on the MML... That's what the NR site is for: Exploitation! Kudos to you, John @ home.

Thank you!

*For the record, those of you that play video games may recognise the name Ivo as being the first name of Dr. Robotnik from the Sonic the Hedgehog series, or "Eggman" as he's known. I'm an overly eccentric big-head, just like the Doctor himself, which would go some way to explaining my rapid posts (and tendency to slate the bad [Pacers] and enjoy the intellectually challenging [Quizzes]). Except that I'm not maniacal like he is. As far as I know anyway!

 

[John @ home]

I do like the look of that £31.70 run. To be honest, if it costs that little I'd probably treat myself to a First-Class run on the MML

The £3.30 fare will probably not be valid for EMT's £8 Weekend First Upgrade.

First class weekend upgrades
For £8 each way, you can upgrade your Standard Class ticket to First Class on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. One of our train managers will be able to upgrade your Standard ticket to First Class during the journey; upgrades are not available on selected promotional tickets. ...

Terms and conditions
No First Class complimentaries at the weekend.

http://www.eastmidlandstrains.co.uk/EMTrains/YourJourney/FirstClass/

The £11.20 Railcard First Class Advance Single is currently available for the 1155 on 30 January, and last month that entitled me to a complimentary tea or coffee which I had to collect from the buffet car.

 

[Ivo]

Thursday, January 21st...

<Bus X39 from Bath to Bristol, leaving Newton St. Loe at 0914, arriving at Bristol TM at 0944>

1000 Bristol TM to B'ham New St arr. 1126; £10.90 STD Adv
1231 B'ham New St to Manchester Picc arr. 1359; £9.90 STD Adv*
1520 Manchester Picc to Sheffield arr. 1608; £5.95 1ST Adv
1621 Sheffield to Leeds arr. 1702; £5.80 STD Ret
1711 Leeds to Sheffield arr. 1751; £0.00 N/A
1835 Sheffield to St Pancras arr. 2110; £15.20 1ST Adv
2145 Paddington to Bath Spa arr. 2317; £14.20 1ST Adv

<Bus 418 from Bath to Bath Spa Uni, leaving Bath Spa Stn at 2331, arriving at Bath Spa Uni at 2358>

*Splitting the journey on the grounds that I've only been to Brum once, and then only at New St!

Totals:

STD TIME 4hrs 15mins
STD COST £26.60
1ST TIME 4hrs 55mins
1ST COST £35.35
TTL TIME 9hrs 10mins
TTL COST £61.95

Over budget yes, but not prohibitively (not to mention £5.80 can be wiped if I wish to stay in the Sheffield area and not bother with Leeds). Still, for 550 minutes of travel (more than half of which is 1ST), it's not bad at all.

Now to see what my mother makes of it...

(Subject to change, of course; I may not bother with 1ST from MAN to SHF, for instance.)

 

[323235]

The £11.20 Railcard First Class Advance Single is currently available for the 1155 on 30 January, and last month that entitled me to a complimentary tea or coffee which I had to collect from the buffet car.

Yeh i did a similar thing the other month

Did an 1st Class EMT&Connexions from Manchester to St Pancras for £13.20 outward, £16.50 Return
and got Free Tea and Coffee from TPE's Trolley and the EMT Buffet.

 

[John @ home]

1621 Sheffield to Leeds arr. 1702; £5.80 STD Ret
1711 Leeds to Sheffield arr. 1751; £0.00 N/A

I am concerned that you may not have left enough time for the connection at Leeds, and appear to have no reserve plan if it is missed. The National Rail site recommends a minimum 10 minutes. If you miss the 1711 from Leeds, the next arrival in Sheffield from Leeds is at 1838, too late for your 1835 departure.

If you want to include a brief visit to West Yorkshire, you would be safer to turn round at Wakefield:

1621 Sheffield to Wakefield Westgate arr. 1647; £4.95 STD Off-Peak Day Return (CDR) route Not Doncaster
1724 Wakefield Westgate to Sheffield arr. 1751; £0.00 N/A

 

[Ivo]

Yes, I realised as much. So I've decided to use an earlier train from Manchester to Sheffield as a precaution. The other point is that Leeds would be using an OPK return anyway, so if I have to bail but I won't lose any money. Except... I somehow doubt that I will, because I may be meeting a friend in Leeds (briefly...).
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
For the record, the whole thing, minus the Leeds return, cost £52.20 (MAN - SHF is STD class).
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I'm taking it too far now. But anyway...

I may be on a student budget (i.e. not much) but I do not wish to stop there. I have just tried a search for the date I had previously specified ...

Bristol TM - B'ham New St - Carlisle - Newcastle - Bristol TM

While I'm at it, I'll go to Gretna Green, just so that I can say I've been in Scotland.

The cost this time is about the same - mid-50s. However, needless to say, it is STD all the way. Still, can't complain; maybe even get a Weekend Upgrade while I'm at it...

 

[Max]

I hope you're not blowing too much of your student loan on these trips!

 

[Ivo]

Um...

So do I? Still, I don't waste any on nights out and drinking and what-have-you, so it's not as though I have nothing at all...

The Gretna idea is that just though - an idea.

 

[CallySleeperKid]

First Class Lounges:

In my experience, only Virgin will let you use their lounge with advance tickets, but I'm sure you can if you get the attendant on a good day at others...

EMT charge £5 to use the first class lounge at St Pancras for passengers with first advanced tickets, free hot and cold drinks and nibbles, hardly worth it but had time to kill and would have spent the same for a coffee and snack down in one of the coffee shops!

 

[142094]

I hope you're not blowing too much of your student loan on these trips!

Think I spent around £700 of my loan last year on trains (but does include going home and back).

 

[Ivo]

Don't think I'll get that far... Unless, of course, I can buy an All-Line Rover in June as I plan to! (Only if I have enough left over, though - should do.)

 

[142094]

It can be quite surprising how it all adds up. I often do little trips around Yorkshire at weekends (York - Huddersfield, Sheffield, Scarborough etc.) Just to get out of the house (and away from doing work). However the best thing over the summer was a free MetroCard, wish I still had it.