Traveling to London for first time-help with railways

Have a look at the National Express website for your longer journeys. If you know your travel dates and times booking in advance can save you quite a bit of money. http://www.nationalexpress.com/home.aspx

Here is another site that may help with journey planning but it charges a booking fee so use Nat Exp for buying tickets, they sell tickets for all the UK train services not just their own.

www.thetrainline.com

For your journey to Chesham which is on the Metropolitan Line (Tube) have a play with the journey planner on the Transport for London site.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/

Is a hire car from Chesham or Beverley out of the question? If you are going to out of the way places it might save you a lot of time.

This is something I'm not used to as well. There's only one rail company where I'm from, so the idea of multiple companies and so many websites to book through, it's crazy!

I am finding that booking in advance, and having some flexibility in time can make a big difference in price.

Beverley is only a 12 minute train journey from Hull. On Nationalrail.co.uk the journey from Kings Cross to Beverley takes just over 3 hours, and involves a change in either Doncaster or Hull. I checked a date in May and the cheapest one way fare was GBP26.50. Generally the earlier you book the cheaper the fare. you would have to add on the travel time from Chesham to Kings Cross (and fare) on to that.

Even though there are multiple train companies they operate a single booking system. Any of the websites, for instance national express mentioned above, will give you schedules for all trains and the ability to buy tickets.

The only advantage of buying directly from the company that actually runs the route is the possibility that they might have some special, deeply discounted tickets. These are not always available but it's worth a look.

As you have noticed, British train tickets are priced like airline tickets. Generally last minute tickets cost more than advance purchase, flexible tickets are more expensive than fixed tickets.

Janet -

I have spent a lot of time in Beverley so I will do the best I can to help you. Feel free to PM me about the city if you have questions and don't have a contact there to help you out.

Beverley is located on the Yorkshire Coast line. As was mentioned it is 12 miles north of Kingston upon Hull. Direct Train travel from London to Hull will be (for the most part) through First Hull Trains although some National Express trains come through. Trains leave from Kings Cross. You will need to transfer at Hull.

If you have a contact in the area you may want to ask if they can come down to Hull to pick you up. If not you will need to get on one of the small Northern Rail trains bound for Scarboro, Bridlington, or Beverley. Beverley will be the 2nd stop following Cottingham (About 13 minutes).

You should be able to purchase your tickets through the sites mentioned. I believe the window opens up 90 days in advance of your journey to get the best prices.

In the spirit of other alternatives you may consider:

1. Hire a car
2. Train London to York and take the X46 bus (York-Hull via Beverley). It would be complex getting to the bus stop from the train station though.
3. I believe Megabus has initiated a St. Pancras to Hull bus service for some crazy price like 2 pounds if you book in advance. However I think the journey takes like 6 hours. You would still have to get up to Beverley from there.

I think in the end you will probably find yourself biting the bullet and taking the train up there.

There is not great transportation links in that area as very few people "pass through" the East Riding. YOu just end at the North Sea.

Beverley is wonderful - like a mini-york in many ways with a huge minster above it. have fun and good luck