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Aberdeen - London Euston

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Jord

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I need some help,

I was wondering is it possible to buy a Saver Return from Aberdeen - London on a saturday but then go as far as Birmingham, i was going to stay over at a reletives house, then continue my journey south between Birmingham - London on the sunday, then jump on the sleeper on the sunday night for the run back up to Aberdeen

Is this possible?

Cheers, Jord
 
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Tom

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Saver Returns are only valid for one day on the outward portion - so you would either have to split your journey or buy a standard open return (£261, £172.25 on young persons railcard). Or you could split your journey as follows:
  • SOS Aberdeen - Birmingham New Street (£87)
  • SVS Birmingham New Street - London Euston (valid after 1100 arrival MTWThFO, all day SSuO) (£36.70)
  • SOS London Euston - Aberdeen (route SCOTRAIL ONLY) (£79)
Fares listed in that "list" are without a railcard, for railcard discount 33% and round up to nearest 5p.
 

me123

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Quite probably. There are the XC services, all of which pass through BNS, leaving a few times a day from ABD, and I would imagine that they would still be there on Saturday.

Unfortunately, the Saver return would probably not be possible because, IIRC, the outward portion is "no breaks in journey". And, of course, all Aberdeen London service are either by sleeper or to KX, neither of which goes via BNS. But it would definately be much cheaper to do this with a pair of Values and a bargain berth (if available). Of course, this does not allow any flexibility if that is an issue. Probably best to go to Aberdeen ticket office to book this, I would say, as they would be better informed and more reliable than thetrainline as to the best option for you.
 

rail-britain

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Sleepers don't run on a Saturday night, so you will have to travel either on the Friday night sleeper, or first thing on Saturday morning

You can travel on the sleeper with any type of ticket, but you MUST have a reservation
If you do not have a reservation the on-train staff may not permit you to travel
You can travel between Aberdeen and Crewe
However, you may find it cheaper to purchase separate tickets, as I found out when I travelled from Cumbernauld to London, via Crewe and Kettering

Compare these :
Aberdeen - Crewe
Crewe - Birmingham
Aberdeen - Birmingham

Furthermore, travelling between Birmingham and Aberdeen, you may find it cheaper to split the journey via Glasgow or Edinburgh and then purchase an advance ScotRail ticket
This will then let you travel First Class between Birmingham and Glasgow for about the same price!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
sleeper on the sunday night for the run back up to Aberdeen
Is this possible?
This is but again, look at the ScotRail single fares, they will work out cheaper
 

Jord

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'm8internet' How do you make a reservation if you bought a saver return on the day of outward travel? plus all i was going to do is do heads outall the way behind the 60 then 67. or couldn't i buy a saver return on the sunday Aberdeen - London Euston then return that same night on the sleeper?
 

me123

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Try:

ABN-GQS (FSR advance is cheap)
GLC-BNS (VT; quite a lot of services every day until Arriva's TT change)

BNS-EUS (very possible)

EUS-ABN (Hope for a bargain berth on the sleeper)

If you are flexible on dates, the FSR and Virgin advances should be easy to get and you can work around your BB. I could estimate this coming in at under £100 if you're lucky.

And of course, you get seat reservations!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
or couldn't i buy a saver return on the sunday Aberdeen - London Euston then return that same night on the sleeper?

I think you have to buy an open return for this, and you must make an additional reservation on the sleeper. But you can do ABN-KX on the day without the Birmingham stopover, if the removal of this is an option, on a saver.
 

Jord

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I have looked on a GNER site, and on a sunday (21st October i'm thinking) i could get 09:50 off Aberdeen - Kings Cross (19:12) then 20:00 off London euston - Aberdeen, so say because a saver return is a walk up fare on the sunday morning i could buy that for £56.25 and couldn't i just walk on the sleeper back home :D could this work out? i hope so
 

me123

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...and couldn't i just walk on the sleeper back home :D could this work out? i hope so

As long as you had made a resevation in advance, I'm sure that that is definately possible.
 

Jord

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Would i have to phone up the sleeper people and say something like "ok i want to reserve a seat on the sunday 21st sleeper between London - Aberdeen, but i am going to buy a saver return on the day of travel" ?
 
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Tom

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You need a ticket in order to be able to reserve a seat. There is no reason why you couldn't buy the ticket at the same time surely??
 

Jord

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so if i phoned, could i reserve the seat and pay for the ticket over the phone and have tickets sent through to me or something? i've never booked anything over the phone before
 

Jord

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hmmm just tried that, but when i click the dot including the sleeper then it says i have to phone to make a booking, i'll just try phoning tomorrow.
 

W14Fishbourne

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I need some help,

I was wondering is it possible to buy a Saver Return from Aberdeen - London on a saturday but then go as far as Birmingham, i was going to stay over at a reletives house, then continue my journey south between Birmingham - London on the sunday, then jump on the sleeper on the sunday night for the run back up to Aberdeen

Is this possible?

Possibly, just possibly, assuming, of course, that the Routing Guide permits travel via Birmingham. The rules on Savers state:

A break of journey on a Single ticket or on the outward
portion of a Return ticket is permitted only to get to
station services and to change trains at an intermediate
station. If there is no reasonable onward connection the
same day, the journey may be broken overnight and
continued the next morning before 1200.

So you would have to time your arrival in Birmingham so that there was no connection onwards that would get you into London at a reasonable time. The 2133 from Birmingham gets into London at 2343, the 2200 at 0016. It might not be though reasonable to be dumped in London at around midnight, especially if you are young.

That means that you'd have to get the 1242 from Aberdeen to Glasgow and the 1550 from there to Birmingham. However, someone might ask why you didn't simply catch the 1451 direct to London?

You probably need to get someone from Virgin customer services to confirm that your plans are ok in advance so that you've got a letter to wave at anyone who doubts your ticket's validity.
 

rail-britain

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The sleeper needs to be booked well in advance, it quite often gets full up.
Yes, well in advance is recommended
I was booking for (Friday) 16 September between Cumbernauld and London, and got one of the last seats on 23 August
A few days later and ALL the seats had gone on all the sleepers

example :
If you are purchasing a SAVER in Aberdeen on Sunday 30 September and travelling on the 09:05 to KX, you can make your reservaton when purchasing your ticket in Aberdeen the day before for both journeys
 

me123

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BTW, in case you haven't checked, there are no bargain berths available on that date.
 

Jord

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I've just phone first scotrail and they said in order to make a reservation i need a ticket or i can go to my nearest manned station and do it there, so on saturday when i'm doing the Tyne Valley HSTs, on that morning could i also make reservations for my travel on the sleeper for 21st October? but i cannot by a Saver Return then because the outward journey needs to be done on that same day? i'm getting confused. . .
 
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Tom

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Just split the tickets like other people have said - you can get a Standard Open Single from London to Aberdeen which covers you on the return sleeper - then if you look at my post I gave you a way of doing the rest of your journey as well.
 

Jord

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But i would like to do it for as cheap as possible, i'll just try and make the people at tge travel centre at Aberdeen understand me on saturday morning and hopfully get it me booked on the sleeper for a sunday night :D

Say if i went there though, could i buy a Saver Return but tell them not to make it outward leg valid until the sunday i want? is this possible?

I don't seem to be able to book over the internet, and can't you go on it as an unacompanied child?

I just thought it would be simple, buy a saver return on a sunday morning, down to london KX by HST, then walk to Euston and then stand on the sleeper all the way back home (I don't need a seat)
 

paul1609

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Jord,
My experience of booking the sleeper at stations is they just ask you if youve already got a ticket and then make the reservation for you, they dont ask to see you ticket. Its best to give them a bit of notice or to call at a quiet time. Even Small Southern Stations like Arundel have no problem doing it.
 

Jord

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Jord,
My experience of booking the sleeper at stations is they just ask you if youve already got a ticket and then make the reservation for you, they dont ask to see you ticket. Its best to give them a bit of notice or to call at a quiet time. Even Small Southern Stations like Arundel have no problem doing it.

So could i say yes i've got a ticket, (but not really) they make a reservation, then i just buy my ticket on the morning of travel, and i'll be fine?
 

me123

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Potentially, yes. But, because of sod's law, you may have to present your non-existent ticket.

Is it not possible to buy this ticket in advance on thetrainline (or similar) then book your sleeper? That way, you have your ticket, you have made your reservation with guaranteed no complications and all should be well.
 

KeithP

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Surely you can buy a Saver Return before the day of travel. You don't have to buy it on the day of travel.
Just go to your local ticket office, buy your ticket - telling the man/woman the date of outward travel. Having done that, ask the man/woman if he/she can make a reservation on the sleeper that you want.
 
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Tom

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Sleeper reservations fill up quickly - I doubt there would be availability the day before travel on the highland beds to be honest.
 

Jord

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Surely you can buy a Saver Return before the day of travel. You don't have to buy it on the day of travel.
Just go to your local ticket office, buy your ticket - telling the man/woman the date of outward travel. Having done that, ask the man/woman if he/she can make a reservation on the sleeper that you want.

lol thank you, that's exactly what i'll do, tell them what date i want to travel and tell them what sleeper i want, good, just one more thing will i pay for the tickets then and they give me the ticket then, and just keep it until what date i choose for the outward leg? i have now been told that i would fine if i just walked on the sleeper and then when the guard came just explain i am just going to be standing and he won't throw me off, i don't know wheather to risk it or not. . . after some of the replies that have been said in this thread e.g. i MUST make a reservation :s
 

yorkie

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I don't seem to be able to book over the internet, and can't you go on it as an unacompanied child?
I don't reccomend going on a child ticket, because 1) they may realise your real DOB and charge you for a new ticket, and 2) it may arouse suspicion and they may wonder if you are leaving home. Don't you have a Y-P?
I just thought it would be simple, buy a saver return on a sunday morning, down to london KX by HST, then walk to Euston and then stand on the sleeper all the way back home (I don't need a seat)
Yes you can do that, but WFJ is better - because they often have barrier checks at EUS, and you may not get past them without a reservation - especially if you travel on a busy night (e.g. Friday/Sunday)! I'd say doing the sleeper southbound is a better way to do it as the "desperate" guards are south of EDB, the ones north of there always seem fine so I doubt you'd have any probs if you did the Up sleeper.

However, standing up for 12+ hours is insane, and sticking your head out at such low temperatures even more so. I strongly advise you book a seat.

Oh, and another reason to do the Up sleeper: I'm pretty sure the seated coach from ABD is normally right behind the Class 90 at the front, and on the way back from KGX you can get right behind the power car (assuming you're in Standard).

If you need to split the journey at BHM, can you give an indication as to timings? It may be best to get a SVR from ABD to London Terminals, abandon the outward leg at BHM and get a Virgin Value (potentially £8 or so) from there to EUS, or a cheap ticket on Chiltern (just15 is £10 with a railcard I believe).
 

Jord

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"I don't reccomend going on a child ticket, because 1) they may realise your real DOB and charge you for a new ticket, and 2) it may arouse suspicion and they may wonder if you are leaving home. Don't you have a Y-P?"

I don't have a Y-P as yet, but i will get one after christmas, and surely not if i just explain to the guards i'm a young train enthusiast

"I'd say doing the sleeper southbound is a better way to do it"

I'm doing the northbound because there will be a 60 on it :D

"However, standing up for 12+ hours is insane, and sticking your head out at such low temperatures even more so. I strongly advise you book a seat."

I'll be wearing my hat, or may even take my balaclava [don't know how to spell it] but i may look suspicious probably.

But on saturday i'll try and explain to the Aberdeen travel centre what i want to do and hopefully get it sorted :D
 
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