What Is Cheapest Return Travel From Derby to Glasgow?

stressedoutmum

I need to be in Glasgow on Sat 28 April for my dads 70th birthday. Its me travelling and 2 kids (both under 16). Ideally I want to leave after school on Friday 27th April and return Sunday 29th April being back in Derby for about 6pm. I would much rather fly but the flights from East Mids are £188 for the 3 of us and the train is £66 for 3 but that is leaving Friday morning so they miss school. Can anyone suggest any other cheaper way. We are going out for a meal so its gonna be an expensive weekend and trying to keep costs to a min. I can drive but hate driving that distance?

teeb

You mentioned not wanting them to miss school, so I had a quick look at your chances of getting the sleeper. It'd leave from London (to get there from Derby, without a family railcard, would cost £26 for the three of you on an advance ticket, I just checked) on the Friday and you'd wake up on the Saturday).

I also looked up the sleeper's bargain berths (which on first release tend to cost £19 per bunk, then increase), but they are only for sale up until the 4th at the moment. It'd be a bit of an adventure for your kids - dunno if this sounds like something they'd want to try! That'd total to...er...£26 + £19x3, which is £83 one way. Which is quite a lot.

A quick search of trains from Derby to Glasgow reveal a 'super advance return' for £119 for the three of you, 5 hours each way, one change at Birmingham. However, singles back up on the Sunday can be bought at special 'value advance' fares of between £36 and £44, depending what time you want your train at and how many changes there'd be. No such luck on the Friday, unfortunately, with singles costing almost as much as the return. Edit - there are enough trains so that you could wait 'til 6 or 7pm and still catch a train up on the Friday, thus meaning the kids don't have to miss school.

If you do decide to get the train, if you buy [if you don't already have] a Family Railcard (cost : £20), you'd probably save a wad. It gets you (the adult) 1/3 off all fares, and the kids 60% off.

And if you do feel comfortable making the kids miss school in order to save money, you could get the train to Manchester, then megatrain from Manchester to Glasgow (again; can't book seats that far ahead yet but Friday the 30th march shows £3 per person seats at 4pm). To get to Manchester would cost the 3 of you £36.60 for a cheap day single. Unfortunately there are no megatrains on Sundays as far as I know so you'd have to get a more expensive train back.

Also bear in mind I've not even started things like splitting journey tickets, or other suggestions in Martin's "cheap rail travel" article. Someone with more time than me could probably save a wedge more here.

Hope this helps.

exil

£66 for 3 people is pretty cheap considering it's a 600 mile round trip which would cost you £80-100 in petrol alone if driving (600 miles - 15-20 gallons - 70-90 litres) . Go by train - one day off school should be OK as long as you don't make a habit of it.