Traveling within the UK
 

What is the cheapest way to travel all over England-esp. if it is over many months (British rail passes whole "day by day thing" doesn't seem like a good option)? Also what is the cheapest way to get from London to Oxford? What about with lots of luggage?
THANKS

For travel over many months, a National Express coachcard might be a good deal. Booked well in advance, funfares are super cheap. See http://tinyurl.com/3xkz9k.

Booked well in advance online, you can get a discount fare on a train to Oxford for £5.50. For last-minute travel, the Oxford Tube (actually a bus) is cheapest, followed by a National Express coach (bus), and then a train. See www.oxfordtube.com, www.nationalexpress.com, and www.nationalrail.co.uk for timetables and fares.

Two more sites to check out for traveling around the UK are www.megabus.com/uk (Megabus) and http://tinyurl.com/37jwof (Megatrain).

If you want to get from London to Oxford with lots of luggage, chances are you really want to get from one of London's airports.

In which case, you want the bus from the airports to Oxford (the Airline from Heathrow and Gatwick, National Express from Stansted and Luton). You also need to be clear where you want to get off, since the last stop is miles away from most colleges and most buses make a number of stops between the eastern suburbs (handy for Brookes eastern campus) and the city centre (where Queen's Lane is the handiest stop for most ancient colleges of the main university). Your college will advise you about the best stop.

Although there is a reasonable long-distance bus system out of Oxford, the city has (or will have from Monday, when post-flood normal service to all parts is due to be reinstated) pretty good rail connections to most of Britain.

The cheapest way of using this system is to get a Young Persons Railcard if you're under 25 or an older full time student, but to search hard on www.nationalrail.co.uk site, for the best deals, usually booking some time in advance. The Firstminutefares site also offers a range of bargain rail deals from Oxford on services operated by First Great Western

Thanks for all of your help!