My husband and I always rent a car because my husband likes to drive. I have a friend and her husband who love England - they will not drive. I'm looking to help them put an itinerary together. I'm thinking about having them take trains and then a taxi at the train station to their hotel/B&B and hiring a driver for a day out. Is this an easy thing to do? For example, from the train at King's Lynn, I'm thinking either a taxi or driver to take them to Sandringham. Is this realistic? I'm assuming there are people who do hire out for a day to drive people. Thanks.
Posted by
4 posts
Hi Sharon!
I travel in England for 4-5 weeks every year, relying solely on public transportation + taxis. Your friend and her husband can find very useful information on this website: www.travelinesw.com. They help people plan how to get from any one point to any other point in all of England. It is possible to indicate what kind of transport you want, i.e. train or bus or coach etc. should you wish to do so. (A bus is local while a coach is much like a Greyhound.) They give information for the current month and the 2 following months. Your request can be individually tailored in many ways--for fastest travel or travel with the fewest connections, etc. Additionally, you can indicate your walking rate, so the site can make journey suggestions that include the time you need to make connections. This web site confirms that one can take a bus directly from Kings Lynn to Sandringham several times a day in about 30 minutes. Alternatively, www.nationalrail.co.uk can show you a map of the Kings Lynn's station which has a symbol for a taxi rank. Hence, your friends could easily google taxi companies in Kings Lynn and make arrangements for transport ahead of time.
Check www.thetrainline.com for rail information and www.nationalexpress.com for coach connections.
I used to travel by rental car, but prefer to see the scenery without the stress of driving or navigating.
Posted by
OP
Santa Rosa, CA, USA
1446 posts
THANK YOU SO MUCH, cooler! This is just the information I need!!
Posted by
2433 posts
The best way to find out about trains is to use www.nationalrail.co.uk
When you plan a journey by train, you will find that different companies operate on different routes. Having determined your favoured train for a particular journey & found out the company, you will be switched by National Rail to book with that company. Use the National Rail website to check prices for ‘Today’ - bearing in mind the time difference. For shorter journeys, you often pay the same price for turn up and go - so no need to pre book. For longer trips, pre book 'advance’ tickets for specific trains - you will usually find the best deals by doing this 11 weeks out - though often, even booking the day before will be quite a bit cheaper than just turning up & paying on the day.
The best way of finding out about getting from a to b to places not swerved by rail is:>http://www.traveline.info
Long distance coaches = www.nationalexpress.co.uk or www.megabus.com
Also consider that they could go on tours. Small group tours in mini buses from central bases could be considered. For example:>
http://www.seewales.com or www.southwalestours.co.uk or http://www.madmaxtours.co.uk
If you ‘sound out’ potential ideas for routes on this forum, people will usually respond with advice.