Guardian link

Quite easy to believe - I used to book flights online for a mate who didn't have a PC, so he could visit his parents in Germany every few months. Stansted to Frankfurt return - always less than £35, but the best I managed was £15.

I certainly remember booking a Eurostar ticket from Brussels to London for £4 once, making whole trip there and back less than a comparable journey to Birmingham. That did involve travelling at odd times (either fairly late are stupidly early). As the article indicates, you do need to go out of your way to get the savings, and not worry too much about any inconvenience if saving money is your goal.

His trip highlights the cost of rail travel. I checked at my local railway station recently, and the cost of a return to London from here is around £22.00 per person. That is before adding on the cost of Tube travel (noting that I use Oyster cards these days which limit your daily spend to that of a travel card - around £8). If I am prepared to drive, park in Epping (around £3 for a day, or free in a street if I am prepared to walk a distance), I can save the cost of the return fare to London, and just use the Oyster card system for travel. Again, it’s a spot of extra effort on my part to get myself to Epping, but the savings are worth it, I think.

A lot of people from further out drive and park outside ours as the station is on a fast line and first to take oyster. I take train a lot these days and on the day it is extortionate!


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