5 UK Train Ticket Secrets That Will Save You Money

Alyssa Hollingsworth | February 1, 2016

2. Advance Tickets

There are a lot of different train websites out there, but I really like the good ol’ National Rail Enquiries website and TrainLine. You’ll need these websites for your planning and purchasing.

If you type in station names and put in the dates of travel, one thing will become clear very fast: The further away your date of travel, the cheaper the tickets. Sometimes the change is quite dramatic. For instance, I mentioned before that my friend and I bought our return tickets from London to Bath for £60 when we got them at the box office on the day. If I had bought a week in advance, that would come down to £40. If I bought it three weeks in advance, the same journey could go as low as £28.

Alyssa Hollingsworth / Own Work

Advance tickets work well if you’re the sort of person who likes to have an itinerary for travel. You know where you’re going, where you’re staying, when you want to leave. I always make my travel plans for big trips at least a month or two in advance, which meant that I could buy the cheap tickets almost as soon as they were being sold.

The biggest disadvantage to advance tickets is that if you miss the train, you’re out of luck. You have to buy a new ticket— at full price.

I’ve had this happen a handful of times when I booked the travel for the wrong day, stopped to buy coffee because I thought I had time, or made another brainless mistake. Once my friend and I barely made our train north—we had paid £40 advance for our tickets, but if the service car hadn’t kept their doors open and yanked us on right as the train rolled into motion we would have been out of pocket for that £40 and an additional £80 ticket. (Thanks again, service car!)

Alyssa Hollingsworth / Own Work

However, those times were the exceptions. I’ve traveled a few hundred times on advance tickets, and can count on one hand the times I’ve had to buy another ticket.

I also like advance tickets because they guarantee you a seat. An unspoken rule of train travel is that if you don’t want your reserved seat, you can sit wherever you want (that’s not reserved by someone else for the journey you’re on). But if you do want your seat (for instance, if you’re on a crowded train), you’ll have one when you board.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5

SHARE ON

Keep Your Flight Boarding Pass and Get Discounts on Your Vacation

After boarding a flight, most people just stuff their boarding pass into their carry-on and forget about it. By doing this, you’re missing out on potential savings. Many airlines offer discounts and freebies for those who keep their boarding pass. Depending on where you land, you could score savings on tourist attractions, restaurants, wine, or even airport transfers.

The Most Common Scams from Around the World

There’s nothing like traversing the world and exploring new countries and cultures, but sometimes the experience is spoiled by dishonorable people preying on uninformed travelers. If you make an effort to learn about the classic scams, you’re unlikely to fall victim to them and can just enjoy the positive side of your trip. To help, here’s a list of common scams around the world for you to get acquainted with.

How to Make Friends During Your Trip

One of the biggest fears of people who want to embark on a solo trip is being alone. They think meeting new people will be a struggle, and if they can’t find a partner to travel with, they just cancel or postpone their adventure. The truth is that with a little bit of planning and initiative, it’s actually harder to be alone than you think. The travel community is extremely welcoming and one doesn’t need to try hard to be part of it.