rebs

Chapter & verse on buying train tickets in the UK...

Cheap train tickets: cut travel costs, incl split ticketing - MSE

Pulaski

I am certain that at any point in time there is only a certain percentage of tickets that they will sell at a heavily discounted price, probably based on how many tickets they know from experience and projection that they can sell at higher prices. On a popular route the number of discounted tickets available might be quite small, .... unless, as the journey time approaches they haven't sold many higher-priced tickets, in which case more discounted tickets will become available.

robin1234

I think this is true. My usual route, Norwich to London, is unbelievably underused. This means the heavily discounted price is consistently available, until a few days before travel time. Admittedly I always travel in the 11am to 2pm period. Typically there are half a dozen people in each carriage at most. (The only exception is when other trains have been cancelled or other snafu.) And the service runs twice an hour, all day!

makingwaves

I think they almost certainly must share the same database in some fashion otherwise it would cause mass chaos.

makingwaves

I think you've hit the nail on the head here.

makingwaves

I'll check into the coaches, although we will be coming out of London, so that could make it slow. Also, do you know if there are any porters at the train stations? I can't remember seeing any last time I was there.

makingwaves

Thanks so much for this great resource. I tried the ticket splitting tool and it saved me some money!!

robin1234

As far as I know they don't have porters generally available. I think part of the reason is the wheeled suitcases that are now almost universal! For people with special needs, in a wheelchair etc., there's a system whereby you pre book assistance at both ends of the journey.

But for people with lots of luggage, I think what's happened is that trains no longer really cater to them. People in that situation maybe pre book a car service from airport to eventual destination. Such services seem expensive, for instance Norwich to Heathrow is quoted at £200 or thereabouts. But taking into account the door to door convenience of the car, compared to all the different transfers you'd need to make if you were using tube, train, local taxi (etc) it's probably reasonable.

makingwaves

The spinner wheels on the newer luggage are great but don't help getting a large suitcase up onto the train, or up a narrow flight of stairs. I just yesterday returned a 25 inch suitcase I had bought partly due to this issue. I've decided to pare down what I'm taking and make do with my 21 inch carryon which is so much easier to handle.

I have been debating the wisdom of taking a train versus a bus, especially if the bus will come pick us up in London. I think I can find one to take us from London to Southampton, but then would need to get a rental car and negotiate traffic and finding my way out of Southampton, which I'm not keen on at all.

I'd rather take the train all the way to a small town near my destination and then pick up the car. I drove in the UK 2 years ago and found driving in larger towns challenging, partly because of being on the other side of the road, and also because I didn't know where I was going. I

I had Google GPS on my phone but it didn't always work. I'm thinking I'd be better off to get a car with SAT NAV. In fact, I think that's the only way I'd feel comfortable driving. Any suggestions on the most reliable navigation system?

fern747

Regarding Sat Nav I would always be weary about buying one which isn't easy to update and doesn't have live traffic information. The good thing about phone apps is that they are constantly updating the road maps. I live in Walthamstow in East London, and we've had multiple road closures over the last couple of year to make it better for cycling. As a result only phone apps like Google have updated the road systems and people using Sat Nav's really struggle to get to ours.

This being said I would strongly recommend using the Waze app on your phone. It not only provides up to date traffic information and roads, it sources other users information to help to find the fastest route for you in real time which has saved me an enormous amount of time on journeys through the UK!

Hope this helps!

yellowroom

I second having Waze, but it does require your phone to use data while in the UK so make sure you are set up to do that.