033 – Budget travel in Britain
October 7, 2007 in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales
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This week the Indie Travel Podcast looks at budget travel in Britain. “Budget travel in Britain?” we hear you cry. It does seem a contradiction in terms, but if you plan ahead and are willing to put up with some discomfort it is possible. Honestly.
We’ve decided to make this a case study in travelling from London, England to Glasgow, Scotland by plane, train and coach. We are looking for the cheapest option for leaving and arriving anytime on the 31st of October 2007. This week we look at prices as of the 1st of October and we’ll look at prices at the end of the month in a later travel podcast.
Here are our findings:
- By plane – Easyjet will cost £16.99 and take 1 hour 15 minutes (plus check-in/security time).
- By train – Virgin trains will cost £17.50 and take 5 hours 40 minutes
- By coach – Megabus will cost £3.50 and take 10 hours.
These are good prices for the relatively fast and comfortable flight and train journey, but coach is the only real budget option for inter-city travel in Britain. You may wish to consider Eurail Passes.
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This article was written by Craig and Linda
Craig and Linda Martin have been living on the road since February 2006. Both born and raised in Auckland, New Zealand they are ... somewhere in the world! Craig and Linda host the Indie Travel Podcast - you can get in touch with them here.
Since November 2006 the Indie Travel Podcast has evolved into an independent travel hub with regular audio and video podcasts along with articles by travellers from all over the world. 
Hosts Craig and Linda Martin started travelling in February 2006 and have been to over 50 countries. They were 
Ryan Price said on October 13, 2007
Hi Craig. I’ve just listened to this one episode, but I can understand why someone would want a transcript for this podcast. You give some great tips and specific figures and URLs during your speaking that would translate well to text. you must not write a script if it takes some time to transcribe episodes.
Also, you guys have stepped up your show notes with some great branding. If someone does email the notes to a friend, the document is already portable and still carries links back to the originating site. If I ever do show notes, this is how it will be. Also, this document is serval kilobytes vs. several megabytes.
I’ll be sure and give your podcast as an example at PodCamp Orlando if I ever get that going.
Craig and Linda said on October 14, 2007
Cheers for that Ryan. (I asked Ryan for some feedback on his post, Orlando Travel & Visitors Bureau Knows Podcasting?.)
Helene said on April 20, 2008
I’ve just subscribed and made my way through your podcasts. They’ve kept me entertained on many train trips round the UK. Thank you! One quick point, you mentioned about using http://www.thetrainline.com this website charges a booking fee for using credit cards and having the tickets posted too you. Not good for the budget concious.
Booking with UK train companies through their websites is a way of avoiding these fees. Tickets for any journey in the UK can be booked through any train company’s own website. My favourites are http://www.nationalexpresseastcoast.com and http://www.nationalexpresseastanglia.com Both avoid any extra fees. The latter is operated by trainline so the layout of tickets and prices is the same but it doesn’t include the fees. It does include insurance as a default so remember to deselect this!
On another point, the train ticketing system is so convoluted and complicated in the UK that it’s very often possible to book two single/return tickets by splitting up the journey eg if you’re going from London to Glasgow, booking separate tickets, one from London to Newcastle and one Newcastle to Glasgow. This can be cheaper even on walk up fares. I did just this at the weekend as I wanted to travel out of London at peak times and saved myself £40.
Hope this helps, happy travelling!
Craig and Linda said on April 22, 2008
Hi Helene,
Thanks for listening and those are some great tips. I have to agree that the UK system is convoluted…and don’t get me started about Clapham Junction!
I’ve alway used the Trainline to research routes and prices, then bought my ticket through a kiosk on the station. Do you know if there is any advantage to pre-booking?
The two ticket trick is familiar; sometimes we’ve even found it cheaper to buy a RETURN than a SINGLE! That’s madness. True madness.
Thanks for your great tips.
Akhil said on February 18, 2011
Thanks for the awesome podcast. Im going to be studying abroad in europe later this year and ive been doing research into how to travel.
Craig and Linda said on February 21, 2011
Sounds good Akhil – good luck with your travels and studies.