To not want to go on the train?

[lazymary]

My brother is planning to move to the other end of the country, and has been asking round for a long time for someone to go with him and help look at properties.

I have annual leave in a few weeks, so I've said I will go this time. We have rented a holiday home which cost £300 each and we will go by car.

The house is Friday to Friday, but the problem is I can not book the first Friday off work, as my colleague is booked off. I have said I can go Friday night, or could we go Saturday morning.

He is not happy with this and wants to go on the Friday morning so he has the longest possible time there. He has suggested I go down by train on Saturday.

AIBU to say get stuffed? The train would cost approx £90 for the single journey and takes 7.5 hours. I would rather not go at all if it involves the hassle of a train journey, even if I lose the money I've spent on accommodation.

He doesn’t need access to the accommodation to start his search. He can get there mid morning and use the rest of the day, leaving his luggage in the car.

I think your brother is being a bit unreasonable as you're doing him a favour and giving up your annual leave!

If you were only going for a long weekend then I get his point that he doesn't want to lose time there but you're going for a week!

Personally, I'd prefer to go by train but I'd be telling him he needs to take my luggage, pay for the fare and meet me from the station.
Either that, or he agrees to Friday night or Saturday morning. You could set off super early and still have a decent chunk of the day left. If he doesn't agree to any of that then I'd be telling him to jog on.

Might it be cheaper to fly?

Has he got viewings booked on the Saturday morning? I can see why he wouldn’t want to miss those. The compromise seems to be Friday evening.

But I get the sense you’re not splitting the driving so from his POV then it’s reasonable to ask you to get the train.

If it’s the £90 more than the train journey itself, agree with him to split the total travel costs 50-50 so you’ll pay 50% of the combined total of petrol + train.

If it’s that you hate trains full stop (I don’t, I love a train journey!) then no one can help really.

That length of journey should have an alternative flight option.

But are some of the changes tube changes - they don’t really count.

It’s easy for me to imagine a journey that could take this long by rail - something like Cambridgeshire or Essex or similar east of London into Liverpool St (1 hr/2hrs), cross London to Paddington (1 hr with travel & waiting), train out westwards to e.g. Wales, change at Newport (2.5 hrs), train to North or West Wales (2hrs) to a rural station 1 he from the cottage. You couldn’t necessarily fly that route any easier.

Equivalent by car should be much quicker, though, and probably wouldn’t take 6+ hours.