How can I travel between St Andrews and Birmingham?

crazyvish

Thanks all once again. I just booked the tickets! Costed £42.50 in total (incl booking fee on trainline.com). Virgin trains - Advanced singles - Return from EDB to BHM. Could have got it for £30 the cheapest but the dept and arrv times were so odd that my cousin cannot get a train/bus to get to and back from Edinburgh.

crazyvish

Prothet_of_Doom wrote: »

Hitch hike. FREE.

I understand it is going to take a day or two to get here if he chooses this free option but is this really possible in the UK?

wealdroam

crazyvish wrote: »

Thanks all once again. I just booked the tickets! Costed £42.50 in total (incl booking fee on trainline.com). Virgin trains - Advanced singles - Return from EDB to BHM. Could have got it for £30 the cheapest but the dept and arrv times were so odd that my cousin cannot get a train/bus to get to and back from Edinburgh.

Why did you buy from thetrainline?

Surely before making this purchase you read MSE's Cheap Train Tickets article?

In there you will have seen that thetrainline charge a booking fee, a credit card fee and charge for postage.

Virgin Trains East Coast sell exactly the same tickets but there is no need to pay any of those fees.

crazyvish

Oh! Didn't think of it at all! Trainline was showing tickets across 3+/- days and the cheapest available tickets across those days. I thought this was a special search tool they use, may be Virgin trains has a similar but didn't get to check it. I got carried away and booked them as the availability was very limited. I only paid a booking fee of £1.50 . I paid with debit card and choose e-tickets so charges on'em. As I booked via topcashback, hoping to get 3% back .

@wealdroam, but thanks for the reminder I'll keep this in mind for next time

Kite2010

crazyvish wrote: »

Oh! Didn't think of it at all! Trainline was showing tickets across 3+/- days and the cheapest available tickets across those days. I thought this was a special search tool they use, may be Virgin trains has a similar but didn't get to check it. I got carried away and booked them as the availability was very limited. I only paid a booking fee of £1.50 . I paid with debit card and choose e-tickets so charges on'em. As I booked via topcashback, hoping to get 3% back .

@wealdroam, but thanks for the reminder I'll keep this in mind for next time

Just remember to take your ID for the e-tickets or any other hoops you have to jump through

jbuchanangb

In my young days hitch hiking was the quickest and cheapest way to cross the country. I well remember Edinburgh to Braintree in 12 hours, although admittedly the last bit, Dunmow to Braintree was on a bus, which the driver parked in the depot, and then gave me a lift the last 4 miles home.

But that was in the 1970s, perhaps it's different now.

securityguy

"I paid with debit card and choose e-tickets"

Did you make sure to jump through appropriate hoops to make the tickets usable by your cousin? By default, they're tied to your name and your debit card.

crazyvish

securityguy wrote: »

"I paid with debit card and choose e-tickets"

Did you make sure to jump through appropriate hoops to make the tickets usable by your cousin? By default, they're tied to your name and your debit card.

Yep, thank you. Booked in my cousin's name and paid with his debit card.

guardianbike

It's worth saying that the price of travel tends to go up towards Christmas, and you're better booking sooner, rather than later.

agrinnall

guardianbike wrote: »

It's worth saying that the price of travel tends to go up towards Christmas, and you're better booking sooner, rather than later.

It's not worth saying when the tickets have already been booked, so I'm now on spam alert.