Astonishingly cheap long distance train travel

[Scooby]

Every 3 to 4 weeks I do a (fairly) long trip with one of my children, taking advantage of buying Advance tickets and our Friends and Family Railcard.

Usually I just look at the price of the trip for both of us, but whilst I was bored last night, I looked at how much my son or daughter pays. It truly is staggeringly great value for money.

These are from Grange Over Sands
Fort William (this weekend ) £4.45
Dover £3.70
London £2.75
Paignton £5.70
Portsmouth £3.80
Weymouth £4.10


& from Oxenholme
Edinburgh £1.95
Glasgow £1.95
Inverness £3.40
Aberdeen £3.40

I know that some folk will spit feathers at how reasonable these F&F Child fares are, but for the likes of me, you can enjoy hundreds of miles of fun with your little'un, for less than the cost of a frothy coffee, sandwich or beer

So, with a bit of effort and preplanning, train travel can work out as astonishingly good value for a family day out.

 

[MarkyMarkD]

I certainly know what you mean, scooby.

I am making quite a long journey in around 2 months' time, and the already very-affordable fare would have been even lower if I had taken my littl'un with me.

Might have got a bit wearing after the 10th hour of "are we nearly there yet" and "let's play I spy again".

And no F&F discount on First Class which is a pity, particularly at weekends when I presume there is normally the space to cope.

 

[Scooby]

I could post my daughter down to you, let her take you for a trip (using the F&F railcard) and then post her back when your done.
Just be sure to take plenty of cards/games/puzzles/comics/dominos/draughts etc, etc with you.
We've taken advantage of Virgin Weekend First a few times. £15 for me & £5 for her seems more than reasonable - especially when the ticket from GOS to EUS costs less than £13 to start with

 

[PaxVobiscum]

Every 3 to 4 weeks I do a (fairly) long trip with one of my children, taking advantage of buying Advance tickets and our Friends and Family Railcard.

There are certainly some great deals to be found. Last week my son and I went GLC - KGX for £15.80 (F&F). This represents fantastic value but it took a reasonable amount of research to find the tickets at that price. If you are able to be flexible in travel plans then rail travel can be really good value.

I consider that it is worth having this hidden subsidy to instil the advantages of rail travel in the next generation of customers. An older sibling now pays (OK with resignation rather than pleasure) hundreds of pounds a month for her season ticket having been introduced to civilised travel at a young age.

 

[MarkyMarkD]

I could post my daughter down to you, let her take you for a trip (using the F&F railcard) and then post her back when your done.
Just be sure to take plenty of cards/games/puzzles/comics/dominos/draughts etc, etc with you.
We've taken advantage of Virgin Weekend First a few times. £15 for me & £5 for her seems more than reasonable - especially when the ticket from GOS to EUS costs less than £13 to start with

I do have my own real littl'un in case that wasn't obvious!

I hadn't thought about Weekend First upgrades to F&F tickets - that's a good idea for future journeys.

 

[Squaddie]

You can enjoy hundreds of miles of fun with your little'un, for less than the cost of a frothy coffee, sandwich or beer

Rail travel in the UK is rarely fun, and certainly not with kids in tow.

Give me a 100-franc, one-hour journey in Swiss first class anytime. Sheer, exclusive bliss.

 

[Scooby]

I do have my own real littl'un in case that wasn't obvious!

I hadn't thought about Weekend First upgrades to F&F tickets - that's a good idea for future journeys.

I could still post mine down to you

Rail travel in the UK is rarely fun, and certainly not with kids in tow.

Squaddie, For the last 12/18 months I've been up and down, across and back, and roundabout the couintry with my daughter (sometimes my son) and we've never had anything but enjoyable pleasant journeys.
I've got an 1100+ mile journey with my 5 year old daughter lined up for this weekend and I'm looking forward to every minute of it

 

[MarkyMarkD]

I don't agree with Squaddie either. The only pain of travelling with children is changing trains - particularly through London - with baggage when other passengers (mainly) and the number of stairs involved (sometimes) can be a bit stressful.

We greatly prefer to undertake long journeys within the UK by train rather than car - there's nothing worse than sitting in a traffic jam on the M25 for hours if you are 6 years old and desperately need the toilet at the most inconvenient moments.

 

[michael769]

I think it depends on the youngster though. I see plenty on long journeys that will sit happily - but I also see just as many that howl the train down.

Everyone is different and only the parents can judge how their individual children cope with such journeys.

 

[34D]

I think it depends on the youngster though. I see plenty on long journeys that will sit happily - but I also see just as many that howl the train down.

Everyone is different and only the parents can judge how their individual children cope with such journeys.

Indeed. My 2 year old was taken on the tube when 2 weeks old, and I estimate his HST mileage alone to be over 5,000 already. Sadly just MTU and not Paxman - may need to take him on an EMT trip to rectify part of this, and wait for news re Project Miller for a proper paxman engine.