Advice on London trip

DezUk · 29 Jun 2009 at 21:14

Just looking for some advice on how to handle a trip to London. I am deciding to drive down in the car from Edinburgh. I have roughly calculated that it will cost about £120 each way, maybe more. The car does about 360 miles to a tank (BMW 330Ci) and flights work out at about £270 for the two of us.

Now I am stuck in two minds whether to drive down or get the plane down, advantages of the car are obviously that i have it down there and its can be done at my own pace. One thing i did think is the price of the services on the M6, anyone got an idea what they are like just now?

paradigm · 29 Jun 2009 at 21:15

I'd go by train tbh.

mike5678 · 29 Jun 2009 at 21:16

Just take your own food for the journey.

DezUk · 29 Jun 2009 at 21:25

Trains are working out just as expensive :/

So much for "use public transport"..... rip off Britain!

Janesy B · 29 Jun 2009 at 21:28

Will you be going to central London? If so don't bother. Took me 1hr to drive from Holborn to London Bridge one day :/

Firestar_3x · 29 Jun 2009 at 21:29

How you trying to book the train tickets?

DezUk · 29 Jun 2009 at 21:39

Using the Virgin site or the ScotRail site, working out about £230 with 2 changes and about 5/6hrs. Open to suggestions

paradigm · 29 Jun 2009 at 21:48

www.thetrainline.com

mjt · 29 Jun 2009 at 21:53

paradigm said:
I'd go by train tbh.

this, or fly. but train is the best bet, as you get right into central london

excaliborg · 29 Jun 2009 at 21:58

Train seems mighty expensive. Are you travelling off-peak? Young persons rail card is £26 and saves a third off ticket price (plus allows you to return on peak trains using an off-peak ticket).

Not worth the hassle driving, you won't want to drive anywhere in London if you are sight seeing anyway.

DezUk · 29 Jun 2009 at 23:02

If only we were young again

... 23 and 26 here!

I dont exactly have to go to the cntre as its Epsom, so round the M25 and off at one of the junctions.

Conscript · 29 Jun 2009 at 23:05

Janesy B said:
Will you be going to central London? If so don't bother. Took me 1hr to drive from Holborn to London Bridge one day :/

+1. Driving in central London is a complete pain in the arse.

al123 · 29 Jun 2009 at 23:08

I'd get the train, I'm going to Edinbourgh in a few weeks and it cost £99 return for me and my GF, both with a young persons rail card.

Dup · 29 Jun 2009 at 23:16

Preston to London cost my work about £100 or so to send me there first class. The tip is to buy one way tickets as opposed to return, they always work out cheaper for us and are usually direct.

At least you don't have the luxuary of driving 500 miles to Goodwood (and back!)

DezUk · 30 Jun 2009 at 01:01

Just checked on the trainline site and buying 2 single tickets for each way works out at £216 in total. Seems a bit pricey.

DrDee · 30 Jun 2009 at 01:01

National express coach if you want to be really cheap

megakid · 30 Jun 2009 at 01:41

DezUk said:
If only we were young again ... 23 and 26 here!

I dont exactly have to go to the cntre as its Epsom, so round the M25 and off at one of the junctions.

You can be 25 and still get a Young Person's Railcard.

DezUk · 30 Jun 2009 at 01:47

How do you go about doing that?

muon · 30 Jun 2009 at 01:54

DezUk said:
Just checked on the trainline site and buying 2 single tickets for each way works out at £216 in total. Seems a bit pricey.

Yep, just checked National Express site (They run the east coast main line) and its £108 return per person.

However, you will find that it is actually cheaper getting certain single tickets in both directions.

Single tickets cost anywhere from £12 upto the full price depending on the time of the train and how well in advance it is booked and what day of the week it is.

Have a check here

http://www.nationalexpress.com/trainslanding.aspx

edit:

For example, I checked one way ticket prices from edinburgh to london for the 13th of July(2 weeks from now) and the cheapest ticket was £37.

[DOD]Asprilla · 30 Jun 2009 at 07:42

Train prices are just dumb at the moment; looking to go from London to Newcastle in September is over £90 per person return.

Epsom is easy, but you'll upset the locals if you say it's in London.