UK Plane and Train questions
 

Trying to plan our trip to get in around the U.K. and had a couple questions. We (4 adults) are trying to figure out if we should book tickets in advance or if we will be safe waiting until we are in town (more flexibility in our schedule).<BR><BR>Here are the situations for (End of May/early June):<BR>1) We will be flying into London on a Thursday around 11:30 and would like to take a train up to York.<BR>2) We will take RyanAir from Edinburgh to Dublin mid week.<BR>3) We will be taking a ferry from Dublin to Wales and then trains back to London.<BR><BR>We will have a car for the trip between York and Edinburgh, but are not sure if we should book the above or if it is safe to assume there will be plenty of room.<BR><BR>Thanks for your reply.

Train tickets, and RyanAir are more expensive the closer you get to departure. I would book the airtravel as far in advance as possible, and book the train tickets 7 days in advance and get the saver tickets. Not sure about the Ferry. <BR>**Beware June 3,4 are during the Queen's Jubilee (bank holidays). A large number of people will be traveling, which means higher fares, and the roads may be congested. Allow extra time. Also purchasing your ticket in advance you can reserve a train seat. During this busy time, the train may be full. SOme of the sites may be closed or have reduced hours, so check before you make plans anywhere.<BR><BR>Have fun.

It appears you are traveling over the four day Jubilee weekend so things will be very tight. Book all your travel NOW (if not sooner)<BR><BR>You don't say how long you are in Edinburgh - if you are only going to Edinburgh (instead of touring around Scotland) you can take the train all the way with a stop in York. You will not need, nor want, a car IN Edinburgh. <BR>

Book all your tickets as soon as you can. Go to www.thetrainline.com. Try to travel after rush hour in the morning and away from the weekend and you will get good deals. Stick to the times and dates or you will be penalised. <BR><BR>However, if you are coming straight from the plane to the train, you cannot guarantee the time your plane will land, so an Apex train ticket might not be worth it. Expect, then, to pay a fair whack for the single (one-way) ticket to York. If, though, you are staying the night in London before you go to York, you can be much more sure of your getting to the train station on time and ought to book an Apex journey.<BR><BR>B T W, Virgin (www.virgin.com/trains) will do you for the trip from Dublin to Wales and then onwards on the train to London. Book ahead, and get the bargains. <BR><BR>There is a chance that you might qualify for cheaper tickets for travelling as a four to York. Ask when you buy the tickets. www.gner.co.uk is the company that runs that route. You can phone them to get an idea of the price. (I always recommend phoning them for people who are not used to our massively complicated rail-fare structures.) <BR><BR>Likewise, trainline.com has a phone number to ring from abroad. Trainline can help you with all train/ferry travel so a call to them would help you. <BR><BR>Finally, it is NOT possible to buy a ticket from London to Edinburgh and get off at York, even though that is the route. You cannot break a journey. You would have to buy a London-York and then a York-Edinburgh. Think about whether you need a car in E'burgh though. It is not v. car-friendly, at least in the very centre. A car is great for getting out and about, so it is a case of swings and roundabouts.

I hope you enjoy your visit to the UK & Ireland. By the way, Dublin is in the Republic of Ireland which is not part of the United Kingdom, if you refer to Ireland as the UK when visiting here you will be insulting many people, please don't do so for your own sake. As has been said the sooner you book RyanAir flights the better, if you leave it until the last minute you may end up paying the same as you would on a "non-budget" airline.

Consider flying Aer Lingus. They have 15GBP rates from Edinburgh to Dublin, if you purchase in advance using their website.

Nigel - Yes you need London &gt; York and York &gt; Edinburgh tickets - But the concept is the same. My suggestion was simply to take the train to Edinburgh instead of driving and to plan a stopover in York.

If you go after those bargain airfares, watch out for VERY strict weight limits (for both carryon and checked stuff). Ryanair is infamous for making up for its low fares by charging outrageous rates for overweight luggage.

Thanks for all the great responses. We will be staying overnight in York and renting a car from there. We will probably stay near Edinburgh for a few days and do plan on taking the car around different parts of Scotland. Sounds like booking everything in advance may save us some trouble (especially since it looks like the Queen will be following us around on our trip).

It is quite a journey from York to Edinburgh and since your on holiday you don't want to waste time driving. I recommend getting an Easy Jet flight to Edinburgh which will probably be cheaper than renting a car. log on to easyjet.co.uk Let me know if you need more info.<BR>

We are going to stick with the drive. It is a way for us to visit the castles, B&B's and explore without worrying about train schedules, etc. Since there will be four of us, the car rental is a good deal.