rail service
 

We will be visiting London in July. We will be staying in central London for 4 days, then off to Southampton to get on a cruise ship. I am so totally frustrated with the rail service information Brit rail, National rail London Pass!! Can anyone tell me the best way to go from Paddington station to Southampton Fertiliser Terminal? Also, because we will be in London for 4 days prior to our cruise we would like to see it all. Is the London pass the best way to go?

"Can anyone tell me the best way to go from Paddington station to Southampton Fertiliser Terminal?"

Paddington is a dozy place to start. Live with your frustration, go to www.nationalrail.co.uk, plug in the times you're planning to travel from London, then do what it tells you.

I've no idea where the fertiliser terminal is: just go to Soouthampton Central and get a taxi.

Is the London-Southampton trip the only time you will be taking the train? If so, there is no way you need a BritRail pass. Just get point-to-point tickets. There are direct trains from Waterloo (London) to Southampton, looks like; you can purchase them online and pick them up at the FastTicket machines at Waterloo. (You can use nationalrail.co.uk or thetrainline.com to look for dates and times. The National Rail site will send you to vendor web sites to purchase; The Trainline allows you to purchase on their site, but charges a fee for credit card use.) You could either take a cab or public transport from Paddington (where I assume your hotel is) to Waterloo.

I would imagine you could get a cab from the Southampton train station to your ship, but someone else may have a better solution.

I don't know details of the London Pass, but I can't imagine doing enough in four days to justify the cost. So many of the London attractions are free. What all do you think you want to do?

They also wrap a 6-zone Travelcard in with it when you probably only need a 2-zone.

Do it yourself and save a packet!

The travel time by train from Waterloo Station to Southampton is either side of 90 minutes. For timetables, use the Journey Planner at www.nationalrail.co.uk. The fare is £28.70 (from the Journey Planner).

You can also take National Express coach from Victoria Coach Station to the cruise ship terminal. Travel time averages about 2hrmin. The standard fare is £13.80, but funfares (if available) are £1.00. See the timetables and fares at www.nationalexpress.com.

For only four days in London the London Pass is NOT a good deal. You won't have time to visit all the places covered by the pass--and most of them are secondary sights. (The Tower of London is an exception, of course.) As others have said, most major museums are free. Buy tickets as needed for places that charge.

Even though you'll only be in London for four days, a seven-day travelcard might be a good deal. You can load it on an Oyster card and top off the card with a few extra pounds for any trips you take outside of the zones covered by the card. See www.tfl.gov.uk. Having a travelcard qualifies you for various 2-for-1 deals. See www.daysoutguide.co.uk.

Sorry for my typo. The average time for the coach from London to Southampton is 2hr45min.

If you can use a Southern Trains DaySave Pass on that route, it will cost the first two adults £10, or up to four for £20.

Even if you have to take a taxi from the train station to the terminal, I think you can beat all the rail fares I've seen.

Thanks ever so much. Please check out my understanding of the Oyster card. I plan to buy and Oyster card PAYG zones 1 and 2 with add-on cash value so that I can travel from Heathrow airport into town and from town to waterloo and then onto Southampton. Correct?

Waterloo is IN town. It is about in the very center of London so no "add-on" is required. But you don't need to pick "zones" for PAYG since it is pay-as-you-go. Put a certain amount on the Oyster and then if you run out, you just add some more money.

For weekly travel cards on Oyster - your would need to pick zones. But for 4 days a weekly card probably doesn't make sense unless you can use some of the 2 for 1 offers. Traveling solo, that probably isn't a benefit.

From Waterloo, you'd take a mainline train to Southampton - so that journey isn't covered by the Oyster.

A weekly 2-zone Travelcard costs £24.20

Four days of off-peak Oyster caps is £21.20, peak is £27.20.

The Tube from Heathrow will cost £1.80 peak or £1 off-peak if you have a Travelcard. If you PAYG, the cost is £3.50 or £2.

If you PAYG, there is a £3 deposit for the Oyster card. If you load a Travelcard, the deposit is waived.

Do the math.

You can get a refund of a balance under £5 and the £3 deposit.