Britrail pass?

[McClef]

[QUOTE=Firetacoma;689211The wrong side of the road thing scares me a tad...[/QUOTE]

It is the correct side of the road actually!

It should only be scary if you insisted upon continuing to drive on the right over here!

I am a little behind with the latest information but I used to work for National Rail Enquiries here in the UK.

If you decide to go for the pass please remember that it cannot be bought once over here and must be obtained before departure for the UK.

Full information can be found at http://www.britrail.com/ .

[Firetacoma]

If I drive, I'll give in and drive on the conventional side... reluctantly.

Looking at the fares on the britrail site, they seem quite a bit higher for the same trips than the national rail enquiries site... any reason why that may be?

[pdcorlis]

Seems your plans are pretty well firmed up - I think that's great. I will simply add a big thumbs up for Britrail passes. They represent great value and easy transportation around the UK. I can't begin to tell you how much my wife and I appreciate being able to hop on a train and have our passes checked while in transit. In addition, many times our passes have given us a bit of extra TLC along the way.

Carry on...

[Phil]

If I drive, I'll give in and drive on the conventional side... reluctantly.

Looking at the fares on the britrail site, they seem quite a bit higher for the same trips than the national rail enquiries site... any reason why that may be?

Rail fares in Britain are a totally incomprehensible subject and I am sure even McClef who used to work in that field (by his own admission) will be totally bamboozled by their complexity. This website will give you some clues - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/tra...-train-tickets - but I have found that buying a ticket one-way is cheaper than a round-trip for instance.

[McClef]

Fares are supposed to be less complex than they used to be and there are supposed to be fewer ticket choices.

The system is based upon peak and off peak journeys which explains why fares can appear different and also as to whether one books in advance which requires committing to a particular train whereas other tickets allow more flexibility.

The Britrail passes allow one to travel on peak as well as off peak services so their price means that they should be contrasted with the cost of peak journeys if the tickets were bought separately.

The Anytime fare from London to Inverness for example is £159.50 single but travelling on the 12.00 direct service you are off peak at £124.00 and booked in advance could be obtained for £62.50.

These days quite frankly it can be cheaper to fly!

[Jack Daw]

If your driving in the Highlands on single-track roads, remember to pull into the layby ON THE LEFT! Roundabouts go clockwise, giving way (yielding) to traffic on the RIGHT. Also, upon entering the roundabout, remember to quickly find the lane that will spit you out on the road that you want. Print off the British road signs from the Internet and memorize them - they're not difficult.

[Pleater]

We just bought a sat nav thingy and downloaded the 'Yoda' voice - I find the syntax of it easier to follow - something to do with my slight dyslexia I think.

On the screen it shows the way around roundabouts, reminding which way to go, and on motorways it advises verbally on which side of it to be on to be able to take the correct lane where there are divisions rather than simple turnoffs.

Having only used it once, on a familiar route, my experience is not great, but I think that in unfamiliar terretory it will be most useful. Particularly now my eyesight makes map reading tiresome.

With trains, if you can chose your time to travel and buy in advance there are great savings to be made over the 'buy on the day' fares and travel anytime passes. It might take a bit of detective work and forward planning but there are sometimes rediculously low fares to be found with some careful sifting of information.

Anne the Pleater

[wvpiper]

I bought a Britrail pass back in 2002. In fact,I traveled from Edinbugh, London,Paris, Venice and Cinque Terre Italy, 2 weeks in all, never used a car.
If I wanted to go from Edinburgh, to a more rural area like St Andrews, I took the train to Louchars (sp) and a few moments later a bus arrived and took us to St Andrews. Public transport in Europe is plentiful.

If you rent a car, you then have to worry about parking it and paying to park it, gassing it (gas in europe is very expensive) etc.

For advise on rail passes, consult ricksteves.com or pick up one of his books and browse it at the book store. He has a free railpass guide, or at least used to.

[Pleater]

Fuel in the UK has fallen in price recently - it is now just below 90 pence per litre of normal unleaded, that is 35 fluid ounces - or a pint and three quarters - if the pint is 20 fluid ounces, but I have a suspicion that pints and gallons are different in the country of Tisoffthee.

Having been paying almost 1.2 pounds per litre not long ago the present prices seem quite good.

Anne the Pleater