UK TRAIN TRAVEL FOR 1ST TIMERS | How to Take Trains in England, Scotland & Wales (Step by Step!)

Hey everyone!! Hope you enjoy this week's video about UK train travel. Let me know if you have any questions, and as usual check out the written version for more details/tips: https://happytowander.com/uk-train-travel-guide/

Just take a far cheaper flight with Ryanair, Easyjet or BA. Or travel by National Express coach or local bus or Uber or taxi or bicycle or walk!

Brits love to hate our railways, and it's true that there is a lot to be improved. However, our safety is world class, trains are broadly on time when compared to European neighbours, and they cover most of the country: there's a lot to love. The main issue honestly is price (and a lack of true High Speed rail!)

One thing worth noting if your journey involves a ferry within Scotland you can get a combined train and ferry ticket. Also of note it is sometimes cheaper to buy your train ticket through ScotRail or LNER due to promos. Split ticketing can be fun it is possible to go from Glasgow central to London Euston for £4.50

Interesting video and I’m English but haven’t travelled by train for at least 20 years and that was only on a local service between Huddersfield to Leeds, about 15 miles.
I did travel to Germany from Huddersfield by train as a teenager and used them for a few times to explore the Solingen area.
I’m froom Yorkshire and we are careful with our money, it’s said we’re Scots with the generosity gene removed, so have never thought First Class was worth the money.
On that subject one of your You Tube fellow contributors is doing several videos on First Class travel and if it’s worth the extra money as regards the extras.
He posts as Planes, Trains, Everything, definitely worth a look for you.

As someone who's been driving in the UK for 35 years, there's no way that I would drive into London. Hire cars are fine if you're in the countryside outside the big cities, but not a good choice within a conurbation.

EDIT: if you're travelling on local lines, Anytime tickets are sometimes the only ticket available. Also, local Anytime tickets are often not excessively expensive (unlike on long-distance trains).

With Off-peak tickets, you really need to check the rules for when they're not valid. For instance, from the same station you can have different periods of validity for different destinations. So for instance, a Leeds to Skipton Off-peak day return is valid after 09:30, but not in the evening peak between 16:00 and 18:30, but a Leeds to Settle (a station a bit further down the line) Off-peak is valid any time from 09:00 with no evening peak black-out. And some trains from Leeds serve both Skipton and Settle!

Day return tickets (where the return journey has to be made the same day as the outward journey) are often not much more expensive than the equivalent single, so you save a lot by using these if you're having a day trip out.

Many local trains don't have first class.

A tip if travelling on TransPennine, especially between Manchester and Leeds: a LOT of reservations often aren't used, because the trains run several times per hour, and passengers can get an earlier train than expected. So if you see a seat reserved from an earlier station that isn't occupied, you will probably be OK to sit on it (unless the passenger has gone to the loo).

I normally avoid Trainline as they charge fees (unless a split ticket will give me a significant savings). I normally book through EMR, Cross Country (for advance tickets due to free changes) or Greater Anglia. I also have a 16_25 railcard and spend over £700 a year on train travel, including with the discount (which would be over ~£900 without). Generally if two advances are slightly cheaper than a return, I still do a peak/offpeak return to give the flexibility. This also applies if an off peak ticket is just less than a peak ticket exceot on weekends.

I also avoid times where the railway is closed due to maintenance works and have to take the bus. Sometimes the barriers dont open when I insert my ticket either because they have to check my railcord or because of other reasons. And don't forget to claim refund in case of delays (delay repay)

If you have a BritRail pass and want to reserve a seat, is there an additional cost? Also how do you go about reserving a seat? Thanks. Great video…

I'm going to be staying in London but will have to take a train to Euston for the Harry Potter studio tour and another train (lumo) to go to Edinburgh for a few days.

Thank you for mentioning to use the whole platform when boarding. Often people just crowd around the station entrance causing hassle.

Love this video. Taking train from Southampton to Birmingham to connect with Edinburgh. Worried about the connection in Birmingham if there is one. First timers with rail travel.