I am looking for some help. I’m a 65-year-old solo traveler and I’m taking a big jump and planning on going to the UK for six weeks. I was in London two years ago with my sister and we covered a lot but now I wanna go on the outside. I’ve met some friends when I was there that kept in touch with them, what I’m trying to do I’m flying into Manchester. I’ll be there for a week and then I’m going over to Chester and Liverpool and I would like to go fly to Dublin, then take the train up to Belfast and then take the train or fly to Edinburgh, then crossover to York and then take the train down to London and then go to Oxford bath and then go to Windsor and then go back up to Manchester before I head home. I’m trying to figure out is is it better for me to book everything while I’m in Canada or should I wait until I get into the UK and book, any flight or trains while I’m there? Any help would be a blessing I’ve already put in probably 100 hours and now I’m just banging in my head. lol Also trying to be budget friendly
Posted by
Washington DC
27925 posts
Airline and train tickets are likely to be a lot cheaper if purchased well in advance, but you have to be sure of your schedule unless there's a changeable/refundable option you can choose (and that will not be the cheapest option). Last-minute purchase of train tickets in Great Britain (don't know about Ireland/Northern Ireland) can yield fares among the highest in Europe. To see how much the timing of your purchase matters, go to nationalrail.co.uk and price out a few of your travel legs for travel tomorrow and for, say, December 15. Note the difference.
If you don't fly from Belfast to Edinburgh, a ferry will have to be part of the solution.
Posted by
Land of La
9186 posts
Book in advance.
I fly to London nearly every November. Book my flight in the Spring. If know I want to see York or Manchester or Edinburgh also book in advance. Solo traveler. Have I done the maths on cost savings? No, math atheist. I do it for convenience.
Safe travels!
Posted by
Lake District, England
7684 posts
First thing, get yourself a senior railcard, to get 1/3 off all rail fares. Cost £30.
As you are starting your trip in the North West you can buy those tickets when you arrive.
On Northern Rail we have last minute Advance Fares. Cheap train specific fares you can book until two minutes before train departure, and widely available.
Other websites, including Ricks, have not caught up with such changes.
I live in the North West and am well used to doing that.
Maybe a week before will be a bit cheaper, but day of are very, very good value.
If you do ferry to and from Ireland buy rail sail tickets- train and ferry inclusive tickets.
Those are insanely good value tickets, always cheaper than booking the constituent parts separately by a country mile, and always the same price.
Sail Rail via Belfast (not Dublin) also gets senior railcard discount.
That will then give you two or three weeks to buy EDI to York, York to London, London to Oxford and Bath tickets when in the UK. Several weeks out you will still get very good deals.
For all those tickets, and this is a recent change which supercedes Rick and the Man in Seat 61- buy from the Scotrail website or app, even though none of those journeys are on Scotrail. Their website quotes you the cheapest fares, as it is the only one to split fares, and not charge commission to do so.
When they split fares they always try to get the fastest route. More money can be saved by doing manual splits and slowing down.
Tomorrow I am doing that for a long journey. The best split I could get on the web was £42.70- a very, very good deal.
But by slowing down a bit and so having to do a manual split I have got it for £25.95, from Devon to the Lake District.