Rail travel

peter_the_piper

I'm thinking about next Octobers holiday to Scotland and thought that it would be better to go by train than by car or air, more green I believe. Apart from the fact that the rail companies will not book more than 3months in advance the prices are horrendous.
By train £259.00 return for 2 (add the car hire of £250 and its £500.00)
By air £150.00 return for 2 (plus the car hire £250 and its £400.00)
By car, £100.00 return for 2 (no car hire but add B&B £175 incl meal now its £275)
I'd much prefer to go by train but nearly £250 more is not on, shame really.

sparkymark_3

Have you considered going overnight on the sleeper train ?
Bargain berths from just £19.00 single (price is for travel AND berth)
What a bargain !!
details on First Scotrail website

depending on what part of Scotland you are going to try looking at single tickets - GNER have a £14.00 fare availble on 4th April on 0700, 0800,0900 trains from London to Edinburgh, perhaps you are looking too far ahead, cheap book in advance tickets generally only available to book upto 12 weeks ahead.

peter_the_piper

""depending on what part of Scotland you are going to try looking at single tickets - GNER have a £14.00 fare availble on 4th April on 0700, 0800,0900 trains from London to Edinburgh, perhaps you are looking too far ahead, cheap book in advance tickets generally only available to book upto 12 weeks ahead.""
No I havn't looked as I can't book far enough in advance, the holidays in October. Imagine arranging a holiday and not being able to book a flight to your destination because they only book 3 months in advance, not only that they'll probably have 3 price increases before I could book. If airlines can do this then the rail companys should be able to. I, and most people, like to get the whole holiday sorted well before the date.

arnie&caseysma!

peter_the_piper wrote:

I'm thinking about next Octobers holiday to Scotland and thought that it would be better to go by train than by car or air, more green I believe. Apart from the fact that the rail companies will not book more than 3months in advance the prices are horrendous.
By train £259.00 return for 2 (add the car hire of £250 and its £500.00)
By air £150.00 return for 2 (plus the car hire £250 and its £400.00)
By car, £100.00 return for 2 (no car hire but add B&B £175 incl meal now its £275)
I'd much prefer to go by train but nearly £250 more is not on, shame really.

I appreciate you are looking for your travel to be more 'green' but for me the cheapest option would count and I would be taking the car. That way in the car you can stop off where and when you want, take in various tourist spots if you feel like that you would only be whizzed past on the train.

Sussex is a long way to travel by any means and by the B&B cost you have included you will be looking to stop overnight somewhere on your journey up? £175 is very high for B&B and I would look ahead to try and book some sort of accommodation even if it is a travel lodge room (my sister books 2 or 3 nights at these in their savers rooms months in advance getting them for about £15 per room per night and visits places in the area before moving to another travel lodge.) Meals can be found at very reasonable prices especially if they are the lodges with the restaurants next door.

Where are you intending staying on arrival in Scotland, we have many airports now and if looking to travel by air then you have the obvious hold-ups having to check in early, flight times and delays, baggage collection (if it hasnt been lost!), and then the added expense of car hire to actually do anything at the other end.

I have no experience of trains personally but be aware that if you want to visit the south west then all trains generally have to travel North to Glasgow before going down into the south west again. I think it has been in the past that pricing the journey in stages has worked out cheaper instead of a complete return journey.

Good luck in the planning of the journey and I hope you get to where you want to be! Please get in touch if you need some help up here!

Mattjimf

I know in scotland the timetable changes, in May, IIRC, so they can't tell you much cause there may be changes (doubtful). Also there are usually deals to be had that give cheaper travel during the year (scotrail are good for those), so keep you eyes peeled and it could turn out a lot cheaper then you are being quoted just now.

Voyager2002

The reason they can't open booking for cheap tickets now is that they don't know which trains they will be allowed to run. The train companies run the trains, but National Rail own and maintain the lines, and regularly have to close the lines for maintenance. This is organised in advance so the train companies can run trains around it, but they can't plan maintenance six months ahead.

Anyway, you can be sure that cheap train tickets will be offered for sale about three months before your date of travel. So mark that date in your diary and be sure to buy the train tickets you need as soon as they are offered for sale. And in the meantime, put all your holiday funds in a high-interest savings account, so that you will benefit from the interest and so have more to spend when you go.

sockospice

Even when you book flights months before a holiday, because you like to be organised, there is no guarantee the flight will not be cancelled. I've had that situation before, where Monarch just wrote to us and said "oh we've decided we're not running that route any more. But you can fly from another airport 200 miles away if you want!".

black-saturn

Are you taking children? If so you would get it considerably cheaper by using a family railcard.

peter_the_piper

black-saturn wrote:

Are you taking children? If so you would get it considerably cheaper by using a family railcard.

No, we are at last able to take holidays where we want to. Unless we are very lucky it'll be the car again.
The reason for the £175 B&B is:- £50 for 2 each way=£100 2evening meals about £38 each way=£76
Thanks for the ideas anyway
Peter