Senior Train Travel

I guess what we want to do is buy point to point tickets ahead of time. If we do this how can we get a discount with the Senior Rail Card? Also, could the London Plus Pass be used from Poole to Bath, Bath to London and then for day trips outside of London?

I cannot help much with getting rail passes vs. buying point to point tickets. However, buying point to point tickets on specified trains will also get you a seat reservation, which would certainly be useful on the Conwy to Poole leg, and possibly also between Bath and London, depending on the time of travel. Senior Railcards do not need to be purchased before you buy your tickets, but you have to carry them with you when you travel. You can buy a railcard at any station with a ticket office, but you may need to allow plenty of time to do this, and holding up a long queue of other customers at a busy time is not a good idea. Holyhead has a ticket office, but Conwy does not.

Lets clarify a couple of terms. In the UK a Railcard is a card which is purchased on an annual basis and which entitles the holder (non-transferable) to a discount on many tickets. There is a Senior Railcard which allows older travelers to obtain discounts after buying the card. It is not a pass - there is no "free" or "included" travel included. A "Pass" is a pre-purchased document which allows "included" journeys within the pass conditions, with few restrictions (in the UK - other countries vary considerably) over a particular number of either continuous days or so many days of travel within a particular timescale. Railcards can be purchased from staffed rail stations, Passes such as BritRail pass generally need to be purchased prior to leaving the originating country and are often not available within the destination country. nancy from rothschild, which did you have in mind?

The standard 2nd class fare for Holyhead-Conwy is £12.80. The standard 2nd class fare for Conwy-Poole is around £113.00. Booked up to about 12 weeks in advance at eastcoast.co.uk, you can get a discount fare of around £53.00. Or you could buy a discount fare ticket for Conwy-London and use a London Plus Pass for London-Poole. You also could use a London Plus Pass for Poole-Bath Spa (via London), Bath Spa-London, and day trips out of London.

If you buy in advance and get a "bargain" rate on the ticket, that may be a better deal than you would get using the Senior Railcard.

You don't need to weigh up the difference between a cheap advance ticket and a discounted full-price ticket bought with a railcard. The railcard discount is also available on the cheap advance ticket, making it even cheaper! What you do need to do is work out if the cost of a senior railcard saves you enough on the price of the tickets. That is a simple calculation for those of us who live here, but you will only be making a small number of journeys.

You don't need to buy the Senior Railcard before booking and paying for discounted rail tickets. Just make sure you buy it/them as soon as you get here and have it/them with you when using the tickets.