UK itinerary & rail questions
Feb 10th, 2006, 09:47 AM
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UK itinerary & rail questions
My wife and I are heading to the UK for the first time next month, and have the following tentative itinerary:
Day 1: Arrive at Gatwick Airport; take Gatwick Express to London and check in to hotel; walk around Westminster / Trafalgar Square to fight off jet lag.
Day 2: Changing of the Guard, Westminster Abbey, and Cabinet War Rooms. Afternoon/early evening train to York. Check in to hotel.
Day 3: York Minster, Jorvik Centre, the Shambles and Betty's Teahouse.
Day 4: morning train to Newcastle, transfer to Haltwhistle; taxi to Housesteads Museum/Hadrian's Wall and back to Newcastle. Train to Edinburgh, check in to hotel.
Day 5: coach tour of Scottish highlands.
Day 6: Royal Mile in Edinburgh; evening train to London, check in to hotel.
Day 7: Tower of London, Old Bailey, theatre at night.
Day 8: Madame Tussaud's, British Museum, British Library; optional Jack the Ripper evening tour.
Day 9: Depart for US.
Here are my questions:
1. Does this itinerary look realistic?
2. Do you foresee any issues with checking luggage at rail stations, particularly Newcastle?
3. Are UK hotels generally willing to hold luggage for a few hours after check-out?
4. Is the BritRail 4-day FlexiPass the best option for this itinerary?
Thank you for any comments or suggestions.
SoonerRed
Day 1: Arrive at Gatwick Airport; take Gatwick Express to London and check in to hotel; walk around Westminster / Trafalgar Square to fight off jet lag.
Day 2: Changing of the Guard, Westminster Abbey, and Cabinet War Rooms. Afternoon/early evening train to York. Check in to hotel.
Day 3: York Minster, Jorvik Centre, the Shambles and Betty's Teahouse.
Day 4: morning train to Newcastle, transfer to Haltwhistle; taxi to Housesteads Museum/Hadrian's Wall and back to Newcastle. Train to Edinburgh, check in to hotel.
Day 5: coach tour of Scottish highlands.
Day 6: Royal Mile in Edinburgh; evening train to London, check in to hotel.
Day 7: Tower of London, Old Bailey, theatre at night.
Day 8: Madame Tussaud's, British Museum, British Library; optional Jack the Ripper evening tour.
Day 9: Depart for US.
Here are my questions:
1. Does this itinerary look realistic?
2. Do you foresee any issues with checking luggage at rail stations, particularly Newcastle?
3. Are UK hotels generally willing to hold luggage for a few hours after check-out?
4. Is the BritRail 4-day FlexiPass the best option for this itinerary?
Thank you for any comments or suggestions.
SoonerRed
Feb 10th, 2006, 09:54 AM
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2 London to York
4 York to Newcastle to Edinburgh
6 Edinburgh to London
Four-day FlexiPass a no-go. Point-to-point tickets probably cheaper. Go to http://www.railsaver.com/railsaver.asp and enter your itinerary. Tick "Only if railpasses save me money" and push the Calculate button.
4 York to Newcastle to Edinburgh
6 Edinburgh to London
Four-day FlexiPass a no-go. Point-to-point tickets probably cheaper. Go to http://www.railsaver.com/railsaver.asp and enter your itinerary. Tick "Only if railpasses save me money" and push the Calculate button.
Feb 10th, 2006, 10:18 AM
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For facilities at any British station, go to www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations and input the station concerned. As you'll see, Newcastle has left luggage.
Remember, though, that virtually all left luggage facilities in Britain are attended-serve, and at anywhere remotely sensitive, all incoming luggage is scanned. This inevitably means that getting luggage out isn't instantaneous - so you need to allow ten minutes or so before your train leaves, since sod's law dictates you'll have the tricky customer in the queue ahead of you.
Left luggage offices, inevitably, close at different times from the station. Those hours are on the left luggage operator's website, not the station's.
Remember, though, that virtually all left luggage facilities in Britain are attended-serve, and at anywhere remotely sensitive, all incoming luggage is scanned. This inevitably means that getting luggage out isn't instantaneous - so you need to allow ten minutes or so before your train leaves, since sod's law dictates you'll have the tricky customer in the queue ahead of you.
Left luggage offices, inevitably, close at different times from the station. Those hours are on the left luggage operator's website, not the station's.
Feb 10th, 2006, 11:35 AM
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Hi, I live near York. Are you set on going to the Jorvik Centre? Apologies if you have a definite reason for going but I can't get enthusiastic about this place. Instead why not go to the Railway Museum - you don't have to love trains to adore this place! You can walk to it from the Railway Station in 5 minutes (mainly pedestrianised, just follow the signs) it's free to get in, and it's fab!
www.nrm.org.uk
I would also recommend a walk around the City walls. The best way to see York!
Betty's Tearooms are great for afternoon tea and cakes but there are lots of other very good restaurants for an evening meal. Betty's also has a little shop and the coffee/tea etc is very attractively packaged and makes a nice gift.
The Blue Bicycle restaurant is currently getting rave reviews. www.thebluebicycle.com
M
www.nrm.org.uk
I would also recommend a walk around the City walls. The best way to see York!
Betty's Tearooms are great for afternoon tea and cakes but there are lots of other very good restaurants for an evening meal. Betty's also has a little shop and the coffee/tea etc is very attractively packaged and makes a nice gift.
The Blue Bicycle restaurant is currently getting rave reviews. www.thebluebicycle.com
M
Feb 10th, 2006, 11:58 AM
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If you clicked on the National Rail site provided by Flanner, you will note that Haltwhistle is an unstaffed station with no services. I presume you will have arranged in advance for a taxi to meet you on your arrival to transport you to Housesteads?
Feb 10th, 2006, 12:26 PM
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Re: efficacy of BritRail Pass -
a 4-day Flexi pass (out of 2 month period) would cost $275 in 2nd class -
the walk up fares for 2nd class, taken from www.nationalrail.co.uk web site would be around $300 (170 pounds x 1.75)= $298.
This is for Gatwick-London; London-York; York-Neewcastle-Haltwhistle all by train; and Haltwhistle-Edinburg
4 days of travel
But you can get much cheaper fares online at that web site if you want to lock yourself into certain trains with conditions that may preclude any changes or refunds (the more you pay the more flexible the ticket is) but cheaper fares usually require advance purchase - sometimes weeks in advance (such as to get the incredible 9.50 pound London-Edinburgh fare - sounds good but very few tickets available at that price. Sometimes you can get slight discounts right at station - if the alottment of those fare class of tickets aren't sold out.
But with the pass you can hop on any train anytime with no restrictions - so a pass may well both save you time and hassle of reserving online and then getting the tickets and give you flexibility - trains pretty much move hourly or more on these routes - so you leisurely get up and when you get to the station there will be a train soon.
So i wouldn't arbitrarily rule out of pass. Passes are marketed in US by RailEurope at set prices - i always recommend BETS (800-441-2387; www.budgeteuropetravel.com), a RailEurope agent who are UK train experts and don't charge some of RE's handling fees i think. In any case, you can save lots of money over a pass by doing the online locking yourself in, etc. if you don't need flexibility.
And if you have a third person traveling with you on a pass, they pay only 50% of what the first two adults pay - the 3rd thru 9th person - so groups would consider the railpass more strongly - and kids 15 and under get free Family Passes - one for each adult they travel with so families also would consider the pass.
And those traveling Nov thru end of Freb get 25% off BritRail prices so during that time frame the equation changes.
In any case UK trains have improved greatly in the past few years and the ones you're taking are amongst the finest in the country - even go over 125 mph on the London-York-Newcastle-
Deinburgh "East Coast" line - the part of this line between Berwick and Edinburg was recently voted Britain's most scenic train line by some magazine's readers - i say the West Highlands line in Scotland is much prettier even, however.
With a pass you can make reservations on trains on the East Coast line for free as long as you do so before 7pm the night before - at least that's the last word i have.
a 4-day Flexi pass (out of 2 month period) would cost $275 in 2nd class -
the walk up fares for 2nd class, taken from www.nationalrail.co.uk web site would be around $300 (170 pounds x 1.75)= $298.
This is for Gatwick-London; London-York; York-Neewcastle-Haltwhistle all by train; and Haltwhistle-Edinburg
4 days of travel
But you can get much cheaper fares online at that web site if you want to lock yourself into certain trains with conditions that may preclude any changes or refunds (the more you pay the more flexible the ticket is) but cheaper fares usually require advance purchase - sometimes weeks in advance (such as to get the incredible 9.50 pound London-Edinburgh fare - sounds good but very few tickets available at that price. Sometimes you can get slight discounts right at station - if the alottment of those fare class of tickets aren't sold out.
But with the pass you can hop on any train anytime with no restrictions - so a pass may well both save you time and hassle of reserving online and then getting the tickets and give you flexibility - trains pretty much move hourly or more on these routes - so you leisurely get up and when you get to the station there will be a train soon.
So i wouldn't arbitrarily rule out of pass. Passes are marketed in US by RailEurope at set prices - i always recommend BETS (800-441-2387; www.budgeteuropetravel.com), a RailEurope agent who are UK train experts and don't charge some of RE's handling fees i think. In any case, you can save lots of money over a pass by doing the online locking yourself in, etc. if you don't need flexibility.
And if you have a third person traveling with you on a pass, they pay only 50% of what the first two adults pay - the 3rd thru 9th person - so groups would consider the railpass more strongly - and kids 15 and under get free Family Passes - one for each adult they travel with so families also would consider the pass.
And those traveling Nov thru end of Freb get 25% off BritRail prices so during that time frame the equation changes.
In any case UK trains have improved greatly in the past few years and the ones you're taking are amongst the finest in the country - even go over 125 mph on the London-York-Newcastle-
Deinburgh "East Coast" line - the part of this line between Berwick and Edinburg was recently voted Britain's most scenic train line by some magazine's readers - i say the West Highlands line in Scotland is much prettier even, however.
With a pass you can make reservations on trains on the East Coast line for free as long as you do so before 7pm the night before - at least that's the last word i have.
Feb 13th, 2006, 06:55 AM
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Thank you for your suggestions and , everyone. To address a couple of questions:
1. I am unsure when I should make arrangements for a taxi to take us from the Haltwhistle rail station to Housesteads Museum. I assumed I could wait until we arrived at the station itself. Would it be a better idea to reserve the taxi when we change trains at Newcastle?
2. We've discussed going to the Railway Museum in York since we have read some glowing reviews of the place. However, we're really more interested in viking culture than trains so we thought Jorvik, as cheesy as it might be, would be worthwhile since it is an excavated viking site. Is Jorvik a complete waste of time and money?
SoonerRed
1. I am unsure when I should make arrangements for a taxi to take us from the Haltwhistle rail station to Housesteads Museum. I assumed I could wait until we arrived at the station itself. Would it be a better idea to reserve the taxi when we change trains at Newcastle?
2. We've discussed going to the Railway Museum in York since we have read some glowing reviews of the place. However, we're really more interested in viking culture than trains so we thought Jorvik, as cheesy as it might be, would be worthwhile since it is an excavated viking site. Is Jorvik a complete waste of time and money?
SoonerRed
Feb 13th, 2006, 07:12 AM
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Having just been to Haltwhistle and having used both the local bus and taxi service, I offer this. While the station is un-staffed, they have a "TFC", tourist information center at the station. They will help you with a taxi. Should you walk up the main street you can drop in a local pub, have a beer and they will be happy to call a taxi for you. Also, if you want I can look up my bus schedule for the bus that loops from Haltwhistle to Housesteads. I took a taxi to Vindolanda Roman fort, then the 11:15 bus back to Haltwhislte and then on to Housesteads.
Feb 13th, 2006, 07:17 AM
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Sorry, I forgot to mention that I favor the use of the rail pass. It allows for the fexability to take any train at any time. Have used on for my past 9 trips and will use it again later this year. Also, rather than stay in Newcastle, think about a great 4* B&B in Haltwhistle.
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