Crazy pricing!

I had a great (and slightly crazy!) day out this week.  I'd always wanted to travel the East Coast Main Line north of York,  I think Michael Portillo's programmes have inspired me but I didn't want to get off the train: it was the countryside I wanted to see and besides, I rather like train travel.  My journey was (sort of) free but I decided to look at the pricing.

My nearest station to this line is Newark and usually I would drive to Newark and board there.  I wanted to travel first class because I need leg room and it is fun to eat at one's seat.  Meals are complimentary in first class on this line.  So I started to look at prices.

An open first class return ticket is £366 !  No way!!

So the first trick is to advance book.  The train I chose (which was the cheapest that day) was £45.50 each way.  

Next apply my Senior Citizen Railcard and the fare drops to £30.50 each way.  Suddenly the cost of my day out is looking much more reasonable at £61, less than 17% of the full fare.

But let's take it a step further.  Tesco vouchers can be swapped for Red Spotted Hanky vouchers.  £5 Tesco buys £10 Red Spotted Hanky.  My fare is now just £30.50!

What else can I trim?  As I said above I usually drive to Newark and pay £14 for a day's parking on top of the cost of the drive.  However, I have discovered that a connecting train from my local station is free if I have booked main line travel so I saved £14 plus the cost of the drive as someone drove me to the station in case I needed help boarding at our unmanned station

And it was a wonderful journey.  I had booked disabled assistance at Newark and Edinburgh so my transfers were easy.  I had a delicious breakfast, a tasty lunch and an unending supply of coffee, all included in my fare.

So my trip cost me just £30 in Tesco vouchers plus £2.50 for ticket postage and booking fee.  Not bad for a great day out.  

PS  Tesco vouchers can also be used to purchase a railcard.