Rail fares.

[Captain Kong]

Thank you Vernon and Gordon, for the information, I will look it up.
Cheers
Brian.

[Gulliver]

Well Brian,this will probably be a non-starter of an idea for someone like yourself with a luxurious taste in foreign travel,unlike myself who always lives life as if he were on a shoestring (I’m not tight,I just hate spending more money than I have to !),and I don’t mind roughing it - it a bit - it sort of appeals to my sense of adventure….....so-o-o-o…. how about ?…….. National Express!….

NATIONAL EXPRESS


OK ..Bolton to Southampton direct(no change) but takes about 9 hours with breaks at Manchester,Birmingham and Oxford…leaves Bolton 0815,arrives Southampton 1725.
How Much? ....Wait for it……….£62.20 return for the 2 of you…or buy a £10 yearly Senior Coach Card each and it is just….£44.40 for the 2 of you……Gobsmacked.gifLots of lovely spending money left over for you then for your next cruise.

　
You won’t have to drive either….just sit back and watch the beautiful English countryside roll by…..

　
Ah well…I tried.
Gulliver-- now feeling a distinctly offensive cold front extending from the direction of deepest Boltonistan!

Bus.gif

[Tony Morcom]

Or you could fly from around £80 return for the 2 of you ~ just a thought!

[Captain Kong]

Thanks for all that Davey and Tony, the Coaches look nice and modern, not like the old Charabancs.
and a flight also looks as an alternative.
I am going to be up all night researching all the suggestions.
Thank you all so much for all your help in this, I was only going to Southampto to see Vernon and perchance to see my son who is a Consultant at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth with a possibility of an operation for the removal of a Gall Bladder.
Thank you all once again
Cheers
Brian.

[Keith at Tregenna]

I have been on the Tinternet trying to find cheap train tickets from Bolton, ten miles from Manchester, to go to Southampton.
The cheapest fare for the two of us will be £404 pounds return.
So I will have to go by car, seven gallons at around £6 a gallon is around £42 rwturn around £84 .
No contest.
Cheers
Brian.

Have you considered flying:

Took a quick look: Manchester to Southampton £94 Return.

Certain there would be even better deals in a proper search ?

Just a thought K.

[John Cassels]

Hi Brian, since The Railways were Privatized the Fares have gone crazy, service gone down hill, so many different fares for the same journey, we have the dearest fares in Europe, because of being sold to Private Companies, Railways should be owned and run by the Nation as an Essential Service, with cheap fares for all, now all that matters is big salaries for the Rail Company Bosses and dividends for shareholders, i cant afford to travel by rail either, went to London Airport last week 2 people there and 3 back, 175 miles round trip,put £30 of Diesel in my car, does 50 mpg. rail fares would have been about £140, Rail Travel Abroad is so cheap.

rail travel abroad is so cheap ? , ******** .

A return fare ( normal adult tariff) from our local station to Rotterdam central - a journey of just less than an hour-
will set you back € 50.

[happy daze john in oz]

Well Brian for the cost of your return rail fare I could have flown return from Melbourne to Singapore and got some change. Like John in WA we also get one free rail trip per year but have never used it.
Looking at the photos of you in WA, if you dont mind me saying so I think maybe your eyes are a bit 'off'. That horse you are trying to get on is a statue!

[Captain Kong]

Hi John,
Looking at the photos of you in WA, if you dont mind me saying so I think maybe your eyes are a bit 'off'. That horse you are trying to get on is a statue!
.
. That horse is cheap to feed and doesnt stray.
.
It is a statue of Norseman, [ a strange name for a horse, ]
A prospector and Norseman, his horse, were in the desert and Norseman kicked up a Large Gold Nugget, and then the gold rush was on, a town was built and named after Norseman. So a Statue was built for him,
The gold there has run out and the town tho` quite interesting is a little run down, A pub a cafe and a Police station.
I dont think there is a lot of crime there.
.
In August 1894, Lawrence Sinclair, his brother George Sinclair, and Jack Alsopp discovered a rich gold reef which Sinclair named after his horse, Norse-Man. The family originally came from the Shetland Isles in December 1863. Laurie's brother James was working in Esperance as the Post and Telegraphist Master. In January 1895 the mining warden asked the Government to declare a townsite for the 200 or so miners who had arrived.
.Modern Norseman is a small, sprawling town driven by mining and tourism and dominated by a huge tailings dump.

Norseman is located 724 km east of Perth via Great Eastern Highway and Coolgardie-Esperance Highway, and has a population of about 1,000. It contains a district high school (opened 1894), and ANZ bank, shopping facilities, accommodation (hotel, motel, caravan park), district hospital, council offices and a telecentre are located within the town. Being at the start of the Eyre Highway, three fuel outlets are available..
.
I

We have been there a few times and still find it an interesting place, on the road from Esperence to Kalgoorlie it is good to stop off and have a couple of beers to cool down. I find places like that to be the real Australia not in the Cities. and that is what we go for. Anne loves it, Over the years we have been to most of the Outback townships, from beyond the Black Stump to Marble Bar. Love the place. Love the heat in the desert, the red dust sticking to the sweat and even the black flies stuck to the sweat. From the full length of W.A. and the NT, and western NSW. Great. had many adventures over the years.
Cheers
Brian.

[Colin Pook]

Hi Capn. The last time I went to our train station to enquire about fares, I had to tell her that 'I ONLY WANT TO HAVE A RIDE ON YOUR TRAIN, NOT BUY THE FXXXING THING
The last thing I saw her doing was dialing 999!!!!

[happy daze john in oz]

Not only the railways it would appear. The ball and chain has just returned from a visit to the outlaws in UK. Wanted to visit Westminister Abbey, had to pay something like 17.50 to get in. I know St Pauls charges to go up to the various levels but to pay to go into what is only a very fancy church is a bit over the top.