I have just planned a trip to Edinburgh. I'm taking the train because it should be the cheapest way to do it. The plane is fast but not good for the environment and more costly when you factor in taxes, parking and petrol to and from the airport. The drive to Edinburgh is way too long and the petrol would also be costly.
I thought I would use the best wisdom on the matter and not buy a return ticket. Instead, I hear you can get the price cheaper by buying singles or breaking your journey. So I played the game this lunchtime. I used the Gner booking site in conjunction with one of their special offers. Initial cost of London to Edinburgh return was 117. You may as well drive at that price. By varying day and getting singles, I got it down to 90 something, but that still wasn't good enough. So I tried to get singles to and from Newcastle, knowing full well that the train goes through there. 44 for the Newcastle leg as singles. Then Newcastle to Edinburgh. Some of the single prices were very cheap. I could have got tickets on the train I was on from the London Newcastle leg, but introducing a one hour pause, in which I could gan to starbucks in the toon, got the price down. The total: 64 pounds. I bought it, well them. Four tickets as a testament to a rip of rail service. Annoyingly, I later discovered that, travelling at those times, I could have done two London Edinburgh singles for 57. I could have sworn that they were not available when I started. So, I'm not a booking genius, but I've still saved a ton and also made my journey more interesting.
I thought I would use the best wisdom on the matter and not buy a return ticket. Instead, I hear you can get the price cheaper by buying singles or breaking your journey. So I played the game this lunchtime. I used the Gner booking site in conjunction with one of their special offers. Initial cost of London to Edinburgh return was 117. You may as well drive at that price. By varying day and getting singles, I got it down to 90 something, but that still wasn't good enough. So I tried to get singles to and from Newcastle, knowing full well that the train goes through there. 44 for the Newcastle leg as singles. Then Newcastle to Edinburgh. Some of the single prices were very cheap. I could have got tickets on the train I was on from the London Newcastle leg, but introducing a one hour pause, in which I could gan to starbucks in the toon, got the price down. The total: 64 pounds. I bought it, well them. Four tickets as a testament to a rip of rail service. Annoyingly, I later discovered that, travelling at those times, I could have done two London Edinburgh singles for 57. I could have sworn that they were not available when I started. So, I'm not a booking genius, but I've still saved a ton and also made my journey more interesting.
3 Comments:
Give us a wave on your way past :-)
Better yet, give us some advance notice next time your up visiting, instead of letting us read it a week later on the blog <grrr> ;-)
By the way - do non-geeks ever want to use angle brackets in blog comments? That must be fun for them....
I think the point is that I can do more than wave. I can sit in the station for an hour. Alone. Or with friends.
As for "up visiting", I was paying a flying visit to my house for both picking up of things and landlordly duties. I saw the inside of my house, the inside of my loft and the B&Q.
Proper visits to Newcastle can be arranged. And should.
You've got the email address and the phone number. Now go to bed. I am. It's late. Or perhaps I'm just old :'-(
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