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.

I have a passport but ds doesn't. Incidentally he doesn't have a driving license or proof of address either .

Thank you to everyone for your fab adice. If I disappear for a while it's because I'm lost in a maze of tabs for railcards, flight times, maps and schedules

Thanks for the link smalltown, that's very helpful.

Btw, what is this season ticket gold card discount? I have an annual season ticket for work which is called a gold card but no-one's ever told me I get anything extra with it (I thought it was just First Crapital Connect being even more sarcastic than usual...)?

Edam if you have an annual train ticket then that is a gold card and it dies get you discounts

I just used the new MSE rickety split ap and to go from Manchester to st Ives as an example splitting the ticket at Cheltenham saves £50!!!

Tickety split

Yes, thanks SmallTown for the link to the railcard and the passwords.
I need to get 4 of us to London in June and was horrified by the prices!

Does anyone have the two passwords for the railcard offer? please

for a child you only need their birth certificate to fly within the UK, I believe. Airlines say what ID you need on their websites.

Wellies - SmallTown gave us them ^^ they are 'Family' and 'friends'

Does anyone have the two passwords for the railcard offer? please

Ooops sorry, netbook is going a bit mad! Thanks BackforGood (and SmallTown!)

Your toddler will travel free on the train...

I would check about booking your journey in stages rather than straight through. I don't know where you are in the NW but as an example, from Manchester to St Ives it might be cheaper to buy a single ticket each way rather than a return or buy a ticket to Bristol Parkway and then one from BP to St Ives.

Silly question but you have only selected one adult travelling (not one adult + one child) as your DS travels free?

Hotels - quite a few hotels charge for the room not for the number of occupants especially some of the chain hotels. In any event I would not expect to pay for a toddler in a travel cot in the room.

WMD x post about the child being free ( I wondered if the price quoted was for an adult ticket and a child ticket)

OP - you don't pay for under 5's on the train

thanks for the family railcard link and passwords, have ordered

what is the Secret Map smalltown? Sorry to be thick

My dad is doing Cleethorpes to St Austell(about the same distance).Two singles are loads cheaper than a return and travelling off peak makes a huge difference.

People have mentioned journey splitting but if anyone has mentioned the new app to find cheap splits from www.moneysavingexpert.com then I didn't spot it (apologies if I've missed something). If I recall correctly, at the moment it only works for tickets for immediate travel, but apparently the same split that would work today will often work for a journey in the future, and you can check that on ordinary ticket-buying websites.

What are the codes you need for the red spotted hanky thing?