Day out in London ... Train assistance required ;)

wonderwife2008 · 11 October 2012 at 10:46AM

As a half term treat we are taking the kids to London on the train to visit the history and science museums. I'm not used to booking train tickets and wondered if anyone could help. We could travel from any station (Ipswich, Lowestoft, Saxmundham, Halesworth, Darsham) and would need a return preferably with an underground ticket included (although is this the more expensive option???). There will be 2 adults and 4 children (one under 5) with a family railcard. Please help!!!!

LEJC · 11 October 2012 at 10:52AM

Why not use a website such as thetrainline..you acn use it to find the best times of day to travel and even the best days to travel by just adjusting the train times to get the best deal

Do you plan an overnight stay or there and back in a day

If I were you I would book the tickets soon as the price does increase as it gets nearer the depature date

LEJC · 11 October 2012 at 11:00AM

Just had a quick look and if you travel on the tuesday of half term leaving ipswich at around 6am and go to paddington and return at 8pm then the cost without tuibe tickets is just short of £90

remember that when you input the search you only need to put in 3 children as the 4th is under 5

The prices displayed in the yellow boxes are the cheapest so playing with earlier or later trains could reduce the price more

HTH

dggar · 11 October 2012 at 11:26AM

LEJC wrote: »

Why not use a website such as thetrainline..you acn use it to find the best times of day to travel and even the best days to travel by just adjusting the train times to get the best deal

Do you plan an overnight stay or there and back in a day

If I were you I would book the tickets soon as the price does increase as it gets nearer the depature date

Use any other site than theTrainLine, they charge a booking fee.

Use National Rail
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/
to check times and follow the link to book the ticketss

thelawnet · 11 October 2012 at 11:42AM

Please ignore the advice above, it is completely wrong.

* Thetrainline charge extra, don't use them unless they pay you
* It's not necessarily cheaper to book in advance, depending on route and time of day
* Prices don't generally vary across the day, but only between peak and off-peak (sometimes there is 'super-off-peak' as well)
* From East Anglia you will probably come into Liverpool Street, but definitely not Paddington.
* The museums are nowhere near Paddington
* You definitely don't need to leave Ipswich at 6am!
* Advance tickets may be available but they won't be cheap at 6am (because people are going to work at this time), and they might not be cheaper than flexible ones anyway

You can't buy travelcards (including tube travel) from Ipswich, because it is outside the Network Railcard area:

http://www.railcard.co.uk/clientfiles/File/map.pdf

All the stations mentioned are just outside the area, which ends at Manningtree.

It's some 45 miles between Lowestoft and Ipswich, the furthest and nearest stations you mention. Which station is closest to you? It's likely to be cheapest to go to the nearest station and just take the train.

The under 5 year old is free.

10s and under are free on the tube.

An adult single to the museums (South Ken) will cost £2 from Liverpool Street, so at least £4 return - providing you hold an Oyster Card, or are willing to buy one.

discplayer · 11 October 2012 at 12:45PM

thelawnet wrote: »

Please ignore the advice above, it is completely wrong.

* Thetrainline charge extra, don't use them unless they pay you
* It's not necessarily cheaper to book in advance, depending on route and time of day
* Prices don't generally vary across the day, but only between peak and off-peak (sometimes there is 'super-off-peak' as well)
* From East Anglia you will probably come into Liverpool Street, but definitely not Paddington.
* The museums are nowhere near Paddington
* You definitely don't need to leave Ipswich at 6am!
* Advance tickets may be available but they won't be cheap at 6am (because people are going to work at this time), and they might not be cheaper than flexible ones anyway

You can't buy travelcards (including tube travel) from Ipswich, because it is outside the Network Railcard area:

http://www.railcard.co.uk/clientfiles/File/map.pdf

There are many very good points there but the travelcard point is wrong, it is not linked to the network railcard area.

If buying the possibly cheaper 'advance single' type of tickets you will have to pay for travel within London seperately, but if buying an offpeak return you can include a London travelcard for less than £5 extra from Lowestoft. You can buy off peak returns and travelcards ahead of time but they're not any cheaper.

Ipswich will have many more London trains but as above, that might be quite a distance from where you live.

thelawnet · 11 October 2012 at 1:01PM

Lowestoft doesn't have ANY London trains, and just a 2-hourly service to Ipswich where you could pick up the London train, taking 90 minutes (from Saxmundham it's hourly, and the journey time is 40 minutes).

Not sure what the traffic is like, but Manningtree is a town of 900 and Ipswich 90,000 and maybe easier to drive + park to Manningtree station than Ipswich?

dggar · 11 October 2012 at 1:55PM

wonderwife2008 wrote: »

As a half term treat we are taking the kids to London on the train to visit the history and science museums. I'm not used to booking train tickets and wondered if anyone could help. We could travel from any station (Ipswich, Lowestoft, Saxmundham, Halesworth, Darsham) and would need a return preferably with an underground ticket included (although is this the more expensive option???). There will be 2 adults and 4 children (one under 5) with a family railcard. Please help!!!!

I notice you have expressed thanks to the one poster who has got it wrong.

You will get very good advice if you post your question here by starting a new thread.

http://www.railforums.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=105

give as much information as you can regarding:-
Date and times (Out and Return)
Departure stations
Number of people in your party
Available railcards

redux · 11 October 2012 at 2:20PM

I notice that the price will vary a lot depending when you travel

Travelling at off-peak times - arrive in London after 1000, and there's an hour or a bit more to avoid when leaving - then that's about half the price of peak times

And then if you arrive in Liverpool Street after 1200 or 1300, and can time leaving at 1930 or 2000 or later, then some interesting things start happening with advance fares. You could take that group for around £45 to £50.

I looked on the National Rail site to find these. You can either buy online via there to one of the rail company websites, or once you've got the times - which you'd need a note of for the advance fares, as they are for a specific train - you can buy at a ticket office

As a couple of other station options, maybe from Stowmarket or Diss? Same sort of prices, but possibly slightly more trains than some of the others as it's the main line to Norwich.

Axial · 12 October 2012 at 11:04AM

thelawnet wrote: »

You can't buy travelcards (including tube travel) from Ipswich, because it is outside the Network Railcard area:

All the stations mentioned are just outside the area, which ends at Manningtree.

As posted yes you can get travelcards from Ipswich, but in some cases its vastly cheaper to split the ticket at Manningtree or Colchester.
Have a look at Family Travelcards (not Family Railcard Discounted Travelcards, this is something different) These are siginificantly cheaper than ODTs

wonderwife2008 · 15 October 2012 at 9:51PM

Thank you for all the advice .... have managed to get a great deal using the National Rail site and I am very happy!!! :j

Day out in London ... Train assistance required ;)

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