4 ms·

£165.90, to be precise (anytime single). Or, if you travel late-morning to early-afternoon, £70.20 (super off-peak single). By booking weeks or months in advanc

£165.90, to be precise (anytime single). Or, if you travel late-morning to early-afternoon, £70.20 (super off-peak single). By booking weeks or months in advance, you can travel for as little as £22.50 (advance single). The unofficial BR Fares[1] website does a lot to untangle the complexity, although it can only do so much to mitigate the expense. [1]: https://www.brfares.com/ https://www.brfares.com/

ghaff 2y ago
Making purchases ahead varies quite a bit across Europe. The UK seems to fall pretty hard on the you really should buy well in advance side or you're going to pay through the nose. I used to work with someone who, even on an expense account, would roll their eyes if someone wanted them to do a last minute trip to London.
- seabass-labrax 2y ago
  Indeed! Travelling last-minute, you could even be 'quids in' by popping over to the continent for an afternoon so that you'd be eligible for an Interrail ticket: 4-Day Interrail Global Pass, Adult passenger: €283 Eurostar seat reservation (any destination) x2: €060 = €340 (~£288) Nearly fifty pounds less than the price of two Leeds <-> London Anytime Single fares, £331.80! And since hotel rooms in London aren't cheap either, you might even save money by staying the night in Lille rather than London. Kings Cross is part of the same station complex as the Eurostar departures at St. Pancras, so you would save money, spend less than three additional hours travelling and not even risk getting rained on. This is Hacker News, but even still, I feel kind of icky suggesting a 500-kilometre detour to save money on a journey between two British cities no further than that distance from each other. How I wish we could just have a British version of the Austrian 'climate ticket' and leave all of our inscrutable rail fares behind us!
Aeolun 2y ago
I’m used to traveling the same distance for around £40 regardless of the time I book (shinkansen). I guess it’s too bad I can’t save money on booking in advance, but on the other hand, I can easily jump on the train at any point of the day without sticker shock.

ghaff 2y ago

Making purchases ahead varies quite a bit across Europe. The UK seems to fall pretty hard on the you really should buy well in advance side or you're going to pay through the nose. I used to work with someone who, even on an expense account, would roll their eyes if someone wanted them to do a last minute trip to London.

seabass-labrax 2y ago
Indeed! Travelling last-minute, you could even be 'quids in' by popping over to the continent for an afternoon so that you'd be eligible for an Interrail ticket: 4-Day Interrail Global Pass, Adult passenger: €283 Eurostar seat reservation (any destination) x2: €060 = €340 (~£288) Nearly fifty pounds less than the price of two Leeds <-> London Anytime Single fares, £331.80! And since hotel rooms in London aren't cheap either, you might even save money by staying the night in Lille rather than London. Kings Cross is part of the same station complex as the Eurostar departures at St. Pancras, so you would save money, spend less than three additional hours travelling and not even risk getting rained on. This is Hacker News, but even still, I feel kind of icky suggesting a 500-kilometre detour to save money on a journey between two British cities no further than that distance from each other. How I wish we could just have a British version of the Austrian 'climate ticket' and leave all of our inscrutable rail fares behind us!

Aeolun 2y ago

I’m used to traveling the same distance for around £40 regardless of the time I book (shinkansen). I guess it’s too bad I can’t save money on booking in advance, but on the other hand, I can easily jump on the train at any point of the day without sticker shock.