Traveling from my home area to London
By maximax8
@maximax8 (31053)
United Kingdom
March 10, 2013 12:42pm CST
In May my kids and I will be traveling from my home area's station to London. The train fares seem very pricey. As we are getting an afternoon Euro Star train I could take the slower train service for a much cheaper price via Sailsbury. I am very happy with that and I will be using my railcard to get a discount. Later today I am going to book the train tickets. I have to wait until late March to book our train from Prague to Krakow. I can't wait for this exciting by land journey to the Ukraine.
Did you ever find train tickets way too pricey?
Have you been on a slow train or bus ride?
If so what was it like?
3 responses
@wolfie34 (26771)
• United Kingdom
11 Mar 13
I remember Virgin trains via Taunton and Paddington were extremely expensive, or are they still under the Great Western franchise? It is hard to keep up, I do remember if you use London Waterloo instead of London Paddington the difference in price is astronomically cheaper, of course going via Waterloo is much slower, but if you have time to spare then that would of course be the optimum route. I haven't travelled by train in a long while my friend, the furthest I went was into London Victoria which is only 17 minutes away. What gets me is that it's no cheaper buying a single ticket than it is a return, never saw the sense in that!
@maximax8 (31053)
• United Kingdom
11 Mar 13
Hello my friend Wolfie I think a single ticket should cost 50 percent of the return ticket. That would make far more sense and be fairer to all rail passengers. I have time to spare and like a low price. You see we will be taking a train from Brussels to Koln in the early evening.
It is crazy it is cheap to go to London Waterloo and not London Paddington. I took my kids on a day out in November last year to London on that fast intercity train to London Paddington. Not many Underground stations were wheelchair accessible for my son in London. That day we used the Westminster underground station with its lifts.
We will be using First Great Western and South West Trains. It is costing just £36.80 for the three of us using my rail card. That is a return journey so I am pleased with the price.
@maximax8 (31053)
• United Kingdom
11 Mar 13
When I worked in London at age 18 to 20 years old I came up from Kent to London Blackfriars or London Victoria then took the district line to Algate. Yes, London Underground is very old. We took a district line one from Westminster to Richmond then onto Kew.
@doggydimon (1369)
• Philippines
11 Mar 13
In our country, I haven't tried our local railways except for the mass transit system in the city. If we are to move from one town to another it is by bus. And the buses here are quite ok. Though you have the option to take a deluxe bus for convenience and comfort. But I think the prices are ok compared to their European counterparts.
@sissy15 (12269)
• United States
14 Mar 13
I was just on a bus a couple of months ago. We traveled from where we live (Ohio, USA) to the next state over (Pennsylvania). It's normally a 4 hr drive by car. It took us about 6 or 7 hrs give or take to get to and from by bus. It was horrible. I was also traveling with my 2 yr old son so it was just a pain. Time seemed to drag on and my son didn't want to sit still. We are going back to Pennsylvania in June(my BF's mom lives there) but we are going to try going by train. The prices are more pricey than the bus prices, but we had such a horrible experience with the bus that the price seems worth it. The bus had made several stops and I want to say the train is straight through. Not to mention the train will take about 5 hrs vs. 7 hrs. If I didn't have my son with us the bus ride may not have been as bad or if he were old enough to sit, but it just seemed like we spent most of our trip on the bus.
