Shrimpsvoices

To the regular rail users...

What's the best way to book train tickets?

I'm at the early stages of planning a trip by rail to Italy and back in August. Inter-Rail 15 continuous days of travel looks good. First class £376.

But as I understand it, that doesn't include the 'home' country, so would need to get to mainland Europe first.

Train tickets don't appear to be available for August. I don't want to go via Edinburgh to save £4.50 but don't want to sell a kidney to get to Dover either. Any advice?

Has anyone done Europe by train recently? What is it like for wheelchair access etc?

This may help, Keith

https://www.seat61.com/Italy.htm

1st is err in doors travelling with you? Or a/other come to that? If yes 1st thing is purchase a 2for1 travel card. Costs £30 (£15 each), valid for a year but obviously you must always travel together to get the discount of 30%!! 2nd bookings open up 12 weeks in advance. You should be able to get an advance ticket single for £50 or less for the entire journey but if not try splitting the ticket, not changing trains just splitting the ticket en route e.g. Lancaster to Preston, Preston to Euston, St Pancras to Dover, St Pancras to Gillingham, Gillingham to Dover etc plus make sure the journey is on HS1 not the slow stopper

Some good advice from Nobby but beware split tickets, the train you are on must stop at the station(s) your tickets are destined for or you'll be buying again, full price on the train. There are sites & apps that can work out if split tickets would be cheaper.

Virgin used to release some tickets about 15 weeks in advance, it's not always 12 which is the norm and I don't know about Avanti. There are also sites like Trainline where you can set up alerts when the tickets are available.

Two Together card is available for any 2 people, even a business sending 2 staff to London from Lancaster would save money including the cost of the card.

Yeah, for Leyton Orient an Avanti return to Euston is £103. With a railcard and changing at Crewe we got it for £30 return

Keith, I think the discount on a Two Together railcard is actually a third, rather than 30% (slightly better even for those tickets of Marky's). You can do the whole thing online and download the railcard to your smartphone.

As for wheelchair users, there have been some horror stories of people being stranded on platforms or stuck unable to get off trains. You need to notify the rail company in advance if you need assistance, and you're not relying on the good Mrs F to do all the heavy lifting. Smaller stations are unmanned and may have no ramps, so that might influence your decision on route - i.e. ferry to Liverpool rather than Heysham. Note this is not personal experience; only brief experience in a wheelchair was over 40 years ago with a broken leg.

Well, Railcards are available to visitors so your tax haven status doesn't penalise you

As of Jan 1st, all trains must be accessible, that's the law. However, not all trains are yet and, for example, Northern mitigate this by constantly tweeting to get people to contact them to discuss their requirements.

National Rail's site gives you all the details you'll need for the UK part of your journeys.

Good info so far, thank you!

Looking at the itinerary in Marky's link. We're going to a wedding near Florence and planning to have stops along the way, such as Paris. Lots of flexibility. Hope the trains have air-con & wifi!