Train travel..

[Steven]

There are a few of us going down to London on the 20th of march for 3 nights and we have already booked everything inc the flights or so we thought - i got an email from ryanair saying they have changed all the flight times, so we just cancelled as they were unsuitable.

I am now looking at the train down as its not much longer than the plane (when you incorporate the waiting time at the airport etc) but im not sure which is the best website to book on or when is the best/cheapest time to book rail tickets??

If anyone can give me advice on this i would be most obliged

Oh and BTW its Glasgow or Edinburgh departure...

Cheers

[Big Sig]

Only site I have used is www.thetrainline.com. But hardly ever use the train as its cheaper to drive. No idea if its the cheapest site in the world.

[Duncan]

Firstly I'd avoid the National Rail enquiries site as I've found them to be inaccurate. They tell you that a certain fare is available for your date/time and when you get redirected to the train operator's site to actually pay for it turns out it isn't available. You're just as better off going straight to the train operator's site (used to be GNER for the East Coast line but it changed and I can't recall who now). Given your date you 'should' get one of the cheaper option advance fares that they do.

I had used thetrainline in the past but stopped using them - can't remember the reason now - not that I use trains much either, it's usually been for the likes of MIL coming down to visit that we've used the train/online places. Unless you can get an advance fare it's expensive!

[Steven]

Cheers guy's - TBH i never normally go by train(so know nothing about booking them) but seeing as their is a group of us going it will be erm more sociable

[Tadpole]

There are a few of us going down to London on the 20th of march for 3 nights and we have already booked everything inc the flights or so we thought - i got an email from ryanair saying they have changed all the flight times, so we just cancelled as they were unsuitable.

I am now looking at the train down as its not much longer than the plane (when you incorporate the waiting time at the airport etc) but im not sure which is the best website to book on or when is the best/cheapest time to book rail tickets??

If anyone can give me advice on this i would be most obliged

Oh and BTW its Glasgow or Edinburgh departure...

Cheers

Google Edinburght to London by train & youl get a few options, National Express give you th choice to pick travel dates etc like booking a flight

[MrT]

I always book direct with National Express trains - don't forget to check out the price of advance purchase First Class tickets as well - I'm in London right now, but if I'd travelled home tonight I'd have paid about £25 LESS for 1st compared to standard (Fridays are expensive though). At other times I've only paid 40p more for 1st - which is covered by the 3 or 4 free coffees from the at-seat service, plus free biscuits and newspapers etc. On this trip it's abt £10 more each way to Leeds, which is still just about covered by the price of a cuppa. Also, if the catering staff are short on anything the first thing that gets culled is the standard class trolley service - on a trip like yours it's nice to have the coffee served at your table, plus the sandwiches brought on a plate rather than having to catch the plastic-wrapped ones.

You'll also arrive in a better state cos you won't have five hours cramped up with folk who between them have entries in the record books for txting, PSPing, eating crisps, chocolate, biscuits and stuff like station McD's they brought with them, whilst arguing the to55 abt a seat reservation blah blah blah. Folk in first answer their mbls more quietly too, and don't tend to have mind-numbing conversations at 11/10 on the OMG scale, but minus several million levels of interest.

And I'm being nice... but big rich astra's avatar spring to mind...