Holiday in the UK? Not if you need to travel by train!

[Magneto]

This may be old news for some of you who travel by train regularly but I just want to have a rant. I travel by local train every day but have never really needed to travel across the country by rail until now and I'm bloody shocked and fuming!

I may have to go on holiday on my own with ds next month as dh may possibly be starting a new job the week the holiday was booked for (over a year ago!). I don't drive, so I decided to plan ahead and see how much it would cost to get the train to our destinition, which is in the UK. I know train prices can be steep and I expected quotes of about £100-£150.

They want at least £350 for a return ticket! I would have to change trains 3 times (with suitcase, toddler and pram) and it would take 9 hours!

The same journey by car would take 6 hours in good traffic and dh estimates it wouldn't cost him half as much in fuel.

For that price I would rather have gone to Paris than stay in the UK.

Train fairs, Rubbish! It's a rip off, have you tried cheap flights?

We drove to Italy the other year with our DC 4,6 and 8, we all had a whale of a time.

have you looked at the option of coach? try national express or megabus. my brother in law got from coventry to middlesbrough for about £20 return with mega bus.

Check prices of trains splitting the journey half way - it can bring the price down enormously.
And get a F&F railcard.

Can't help with the buggy and suitcase though - sorry.

If you buy in advance it should bring the price down dramatically. Also if you buy seperate single tickets rather than a return it sometimes makes it cheaper and a friends and family railcard is worth the money. I travelled approx 200 miles recently and it cost £25.00 for one adult and one child. Thats including both ways!

I've also travelled with suitcases and a buggy and it is doable. See if the stations have lifts and there are some nice people out there that will help if you are struggling. :)

www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-train-tickets

Yeah, coach is a good idea. My dad paid £6 to get from Manchester to Scotland.

Thanks for the tips I'll go and look into them all now.

I'm also looking at booking a hotel room for the night before the holiday starts and the night after it finishes which would mean dh could drive us down and bring us back (and have a little bit of a holiday himself!) but I don't know if ds counts as a child as far as hotels are concerned? He is 21 months old and would be sleeping in the bed with us.

Does anyone know if we need to look for hotels for 2 adults plus 1 child or just 2 adults?

and I apologise in advance to anyone who happens to be stuck on a train or coach with me and ds for 9 hours while he screams because he is a toddler and nothing is ever right.

To be honest I'm more scared of how I'll survive the journey with the screaming and judgy looks and irritated passengers than of the price!

Get a family railcard. The cost of the card will be more than justified by the savings you make. It is cheaper for me to take DD to London with me on a family railcard than it is for me to travel alone.

Also check out two single fares on The Trainline.com as it is usually cheaper than a return fare.

That is mad! Surely you can find a better price than that by fiddling with the times and seeing if you can find any special offers. You might be able to get some kind of railcard too? www.thetrainline.com is a good one for finding the cheapest fare. I would be very very surprised if it will actually cost £350, those sorts of prices are designed for people who MUST get a train on the day and have no choice but to pay a massive premium for that. If it was always that expensive no one at all would use the trains. Where are you going for a 9 hour train journey? Nosy :D.

Hotel just 2 adults and an infant. Should be no charge for the infant unless you get a cot, for which there is sometimes a charge.

makachu we're going from the North West to St Ives. I deliberately picked a holiday as far away as possible and as close to the end of the bloody country as I could find because I thought it would be interesting. I never imagined I'd potentially have to travel alone via public transport!

Looks like the coach is out, much better prices but it's a 12 hour journey. Overnight journey on the way out which ds might sleep through but the return journey is from 6am until 7pm and there is no way he will stay seated for an entire day.

Searching for railcards now, and thanks for the advice squidgy that's a great help.

It's why we always tend to travel by car - far cheaper, even taking into account all running costs and parking there, etc. And usually quicker too. Recently went to London for a few days, planned latish on. Train fare was loads - much cheaper and faster to drive down and park car up for the few days.

Madness isn't it?

I don't like travelling by coach - always feel sick, and don't liek the confinedness of it with nowhere to walk to if you need a stretch and no choice of being able top stop for drinks, toilet, etc.

Have you looked at East Coast Trains? I used them recently for travelling from Kent to North Wales. By splitting the journey, we got the fare to £ 50. Break up the journey in legs, and consider singles as well as returns. Having through journeys across London helps also.

Flying would only take a couple of hours!But... Do you need a passport to fly within the UK?

Incidentally, forgot to mention that I only booked a few days before, and still got a good rate. Usually, the earlier you book, the cheaper the fare.

You definitely need a family and friends railcard and book in advance. I use redspottedhanky.com as there are no booking feed unlike train line. I can get from stoke to London for four of us for under £30. Aldo avoid travelling before 9.30am.

I don't know where you ate travelling from but off peak return from Manchester to st Ives is £160 without a railcard. I'm on my mobile so the spotted hanky sp doesn't let me put the railcard in

Just ordered the free card as we are going to London for the day in July and it is not bad price with the card and booking in advance. Was going to order one this weekend anyway, so great to see the offer.

Even with a railcard last minute train is rubbish ime though.

Don't need a passport but if you are flying the airlines want ID or passport for "security".

I have had the free railcard for the past two years and then you can buy a full one for half price when it expires.