Surbiton to Oban? Help!

[tanyalbeck]

2 children over 5, 3 seniors, and 5 adults need to get from Surbiton to Oban on 16th August to 23rd August. We have one family and friends railcard (mine!) -what's the cheapest way to book this? I believe the aim is to go surbiton to euston to Glasgow to Oban and get the ferry to Iona from there.

Just to add another complication, 3 or the adults and 2 kids may want to go via Edinburgh the day before to meet friends.....

Thanks guys! All good wishes
Tanya

 

[hairyhandedfool]

It may be beneficial to buy a second Railcard (£28 today, £30 from tomorrow), however, a child would have to travel with each Railcard holder, as would any discounted ticket holders.

If you want to buy the ticket in advance but have flexibility of days to travel, the only options are Anytime tickets (single = 2 days, return = 5 days on outward part, 1 month on return part) and they will not be cheap. Anytime and Off-Peak tickets can be bought on the day of travel.

I don't know of any splits (there almost certainly are some and someone will come up with them), but I think you'll need to have a bit more of a concrete travel plan to work them out fully.

Advance tickets are another option, and can be used in splits, but you need to have a good idea of travel plans for them as you must book a specific set of trains and stick to them. Advance tickets may not be available yet.

It may be worth considering using one of the sleeper trains from Euston as they offer some deals if you can book them early enough (they may not be available yet) and you won't be travelling all day.

 

[30907]

I assume the seniors have Railcards?

Others on here will come up with more detailed solutions, and it's a couple of weeks before Advance tickets will be on sale, but if you want to be in Iona at a reasonable time you will need to break your journey overnight and catch the morning or midday train from Glasgow.

On the way back you could do it in a day, and fortunately it's not a bank holiday weekend in Scotland.

 

[jopsuk]

I guess the idea is to stay in Oban and take a day trip to Iona? It would help if you could confirm this! The easy way to do Iona is a combined ferry and coach ticket from Calmac, costs £38 adult/£19 child. Leaves Oban 0950 (0930 Saturdays), returns at 1746, you get 2 1/2 hours on Iona.