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First class all the way (trip around the UK)

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Squaddie

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There's a beautifully-written article in the travel section of the Australian newspaper The Age, about the author's journey around the UK, travelling by train and staying at railway hotels.

His route was London - Edinburgh - Glasgow - (Settle & Carlisle) - Leeds - Manchester - London (although he implies that he also travelled to Fort William and Mallaig, which he is keeping for another article).

These are a few selected extracts from the long article:
The breakfast cutlery clinks every time another train shudders past us in the opposite direction; outside, church steeples, seemingly every few kilometres, rise almost arrogantly above the seemingly identical stooped drab-brick villages, tiny houses huddling together as if for warmth...

As we approach Edinburgh, the skies have become nearly as black as a railway cafe's coffee, the train's windows flecked with rain, and, in the diffused light, sheep rendered white cotton balls in almost luminescent lime-green fields. Further along the line, children burst from classrooms at a school beside the tracks, their parkas the only note of colour amid the cold autumnal murk...

We pass through Midsomer-like villages and lovingly restored stations, full of wrought-iron formwork on footbridges painted red and cream, stopping only at a few platforms to collect walkers and day-trippers who crowd the already crowded Sunday night train...

Sitting here, 10 days after I first left Kings Cross Station, and six classic railway hotels later, I reflect that if this is what it means to be a modern-day anorak, then, well, I am more than content to be dismissed as one.
Less impressively, he also writes that
A first-class seat, pretty much like all railways, entitles you to second-rate coffee and food.

The full article can be found here.

And I just noticed the information at the foot of the article:
Prices start from $2795 a person including 11 nights accommodation in landmark railway hotels with breakfast daily, first-class train travel and seat reservations.
:D
 
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Be3G

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Thanks for posting. I always enjoy reading an ‘outsider's’ view of Britain (and its railways) as a reminder that, really, this isn't such a bad place to live, commute and work in after all. :)
 

GodAtum

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I wonder if he came across Portillo on his travels lol?

Also i wonder if we booked this using our knowledge would it be cheaper? And would you do the trip with a different TOC with better 1st class food? Maybe the FGW Pullman down to Cornwall?
 
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6Gman

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I wonder if he came across Portillo on his travels lol?

Also i wonder if we booked this using our knowledge would it be cheaper? And would you do the trip with a different TOC with better 1st class food? Maybe the FGW Pullman down to Cornwall?

Perhaps it's cheaper if you split at Drem.

(But the train would need to stop there)

:D
 

Squaddie

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Also i wonder if we booked this using our knowledge would it be cheaper? And would you do the trip with a different TOC with better 1st class food? Maybe the FGW Pullman down to Cornwall?
I don't think the quality of food on board was a consideration for this trip: after all, he's staying in first-class hotels every night probably doesn't need more than a light lunch each day. The purpose of this tour is to see the UK, travelling in decent style.
 

Greenback

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This is a Railbookers pre booked tour. I have no doubt it can be done cheaper independently, having conmpared a few of their European offerings to doing a comparable journey myself down the years!
 

Goatboy

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Doubt it, have you seen how insanely cheap BritRail passes are?

It has always struck me as somewhat bizarre that overseas visitors can travel our rail network for significantly less than we can, given that the network is part funded by the money UK residents pay into the tax system.
 

Greenback

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It has always struck me as somewhat bizarre that overseas visitors can travel our rail network for significantly less than we can, given that the network is part funded by the money UK residents pay into the tax system.

It also happens in other countries. It seems that tourists can often get travel deals that are not available to residents.
 

Clip

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Thats a bloody bargain in my eyes if its including the hotels. St Pancras starts off at something stupid like £200 per night or something...
 

Squaddie

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Thats a bloody bargain in my eyes if its including the hotels. St Pancras starts off at something stupid like £200 per night or something...
Quite. The quoted price for this tour, $2795, is the equivalent of about £1500. It would be difficult to book a trip like this for significantly less money than that, even if you were able to get the best Advance deals (although, presumably, the price quoted is the price per person for two people travelling together and sharing a room).

The Renaissance St. Pancras is indeed very expensive, but it has to be judged in the context of a city where even a room in a Premier Inn in a central location (such as Kings Cross or London Bridge) can cost £190 per night.
 

GodAtum

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Done a rough check, for the rail fares its £393.40 during the Easter bank holidays and £1,043 for the hotels. of course a lot of engineering works occur during easter.

Oddly his says:
Between Glasgow and Leeds, there's the opportunity to travel along one of Britain's most cherished routes, the Settle to Carlisle Railway, rescued some years ago by rail enthusiasts and now a major tourist attraction, as well as a regular train line. I'm doing the trip in reverse from Carlisle to Settle and on to Leeds.

But from Carlisle - Settle its on a Northern train with no 1st?
 
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