Hopeless at planning rail travel

maggiesoup1

Hello all, 2 over 50s and 2 over 60s need to travel from Edinburgh to Aldershot at some point in the next month. Should be able to book a week or so in advance if that helps.

None of us travel by rail regularly so the alternatives are a bit confusing, ie tickety splitting, off peak, super off peak, etc etc. Basically just looking for cheapest way of travelling and wonder if anyone can help please.

Thankyou.

hollydays

.. so can you travel off peak..?

knightstyle

Go here http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ to find which train company covers your journey and then go to that company website to book the tickets.
Have you read the guide on this site? If not see https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-train-tickets

bigadaj

A lot quicker and probably cheaper to fly.

EssexExile

You might get more answers on the public transport board, this one is for overseas travel.

Murphy_The_Cat

maggiesoup1 wrote: »

Basically just looking for cheapest way of travelling and wonder if anyone can help please.

Thankyou.

the cheapest way to do your trip will (usually) be by booking Advance tickets. The advantage of doing this is that they're cheap, the disadvantage being that they offer you no flexibility at all - you are booked onto train A, at time X. If your plans change after you've bought your tickets, you'll need to get new tickets.

In your circumstances, also look at buying 2 x Two Together railcards - these will cost £30 per couple, but will save you 30% of your fare, so there is a very strong possibility that you'll be ££'s in on this journey alone.

Try a user friendly website (East Midland Trains is a good one and I like Take The Train as well) and start putting in some dates to see what comes up for you. You'll see straightaway what a difference the TwoTogether rail card makes and if it makes financial sense for you.

Finally, don't forget to reserve a table seat for the 4 of you (if there is one available), its free to do and makes all the difference.

p.s. I got £122.80 for the 4 of you, with railcards travelling on 29th Nov with a quick search

Neil49

Check to see if you can get a discount for group travel. My wife recently discovered that she could have got a third off for booking a group of only 3 people (or more).

Obviously you all have to travel together at all times but no railcards are required to get this discount.

I don't know whether you can get this saving online or whether you have to get your tickets from the station.

Duckyduck

It’s probably going to be quite a bit cheaper to book each train journey separately. Ie Edinbrugh to kings cross on Virgin Trains East Coast, I think booking online is still cheaper than at the station even if advance fares are sold out. then get a tube on the day (use contactless credit/debit card) down to Waterloo, then a train ticket from Waterloo - Aldershot, not sure if it’s possible to get advance tickets for that route, but get tickets together as the group tickets save 1/3 off the normal fare.

Is everyone over 55? I think (but check, I could be completely wrong) that’s there’s a free railcard for over 55s, that might just be to travel with Scotland though.

maggiesoup1

Thankyou everyone! Yes we intend to travel offpeak. I'll take "on board" the advice given above today and do my homework.

theonlywayisup

I prefer ticketclever for price comparisons and ticket splitting, they don't charge and you pay as you would normally and collect at the station/have posted to you.

heatherw_01

Hi, we move threads if we think they’ll get more help elsewhere (please read the forum rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board. If you have any questions about this policy please email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com.