Purchasing Train Tickets from Overseas
 

I am trying to purchase train tickets online for London to Bath and York to Edinburgh. We will probably go with Virgin Trains East Coast. When I went to purchase our tickets, there were so many options to pickup the tickets. We'd like to pick up all of our train tickets on our arrival day in London. Can someone recommend the best/most convenient station to do this at? We'll be arriving via Heathrow Airport and staying at Amba Hotel Charing Cross.

Seems Charing Cross Station would be the easiest.

Charing Cross would be quite easy

That Amba sits ON TOP of the station. Go out the front door, turn left immediately, and go inside

Don't you have to retrieve them at a station Virgin Trains serves - used to be - the various rail franchises may not have that service.

Not sure but hopefully someone will know for sure.

www.nationalrail.co.uk -can't you print your own ticket? Curious as I do not know.

"Don't you have to retrieve them at a station Virgin Trains serves"
No. The post explains why: Virgin EC doesn't serve Bath. Under most circs, pre-booked tickets can be collected from almost any ticket machines or manned ticket offices you choose to nominate.

"can't you print your own ticket? "
In most cases, no. There are exceptions to this, but the overwhelming majority of tickets sold need to work on standard ticket gates, and standard ticket gates can't read printed tickets: they need either a mag stripe or an RFID chip.

you choose to nominate.>

what does that mean -you have to say I'll collect them at xxxxx station?

Thanks

When you purchase tickets online, they will ask where you wish to collect your ticket(s). If collecting more than one ticket, it is usually best to collect all at one station. It doesn't matter if that's not a station you'll be using. They will verify this with you noting that you wil be collecting tickets at a station other than where you'll be departing from. You simply choose the most convenient station for you to collect the tickets.

As flannel has already noted, " prebooked tickets can be collected from almost any ticket machines or manned ticket offices you choose to nominate. "