Staying/Studying in The UK Part 2 - Travelling Around
The general rule of booking
a train/flight/bus/coach ticket in UK is to book in advance. Just to show you
the amount that you could save, booking a train ticket from Newcastle to
Liverpool a month or two in advance could save you 50 to 60 pounds although it
may vary based on season. The same applies to other form of public
transportation.
Bus
As a student, there are
lots of passes which offers discount on rides on public transport. Most of the
time it is a localised pass, for example I was in Newcastle so the bus pass
that I applied for was offered by the bus company ‘Go North East’ which entitles
me to cheaper bus tickets. The best part is the bus pass was free to apply and
is valid for a year! Though it may vary from region to region. You may look it
up on the bus company’s website operating in your region. For example in
Bristol, just Google search “Bristol Bus” and you’ll be able to see bus
services in that region. This is one of the pass that offers price reduction in
Bristol: http://www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/bristol_bath/tickets/16-21/.
As for long distance trips, there are two widely known companies that offers
relatively cheap coach tickets (if you book in advance) are National Express
and Megabus.
I have not experienced Megabus before but National Express is quite punctual.
Train
As for train passes, the
one that I applied for was the Youth Rail Pass (16-25) but it should be taken
into mind that if you don’t plan to travel by train much, do not apply for this
pass. The price to apply for one has increased (I got it for £23
online) and it is only worthwhile if you travel by train much because you get
discounts on train tickets. If you are keen on applying one, try to apply online
as they do offer online discounts for the rail pass. Do note this rail pass
will entitle you to discounts on train fares to almost every destination in the UK. Some of the websites that you
can buy your train tickets from are National Rail,
Virgin Trains
and Redspottedhanky.
Redspottedhanky may look like a scam website with its name but that the website
I used the most. Virgin Trains’s trains are quite good too, just saying.
Budget Airlines
Here comes the part where
you’ll need to know to plan your trips to other parts of Europe, flights. Two
most widely known budget airlines in the UK are Ryanair
and Easyjet.
Another option is Wizzair
which is a Hungarian-based budget airline where they do offer relatively cheap
fares to central or Eastern Europe. There are some other smaller budget
airlines of course. Based on my experience, out of the 3 budget airline stated,
I’d suggest putting Easyjet as your first option because the overall service is
better although the flight tickets may be a tad bit higher than the other two.
Do note that although the carry-on baggage is free, do make sure your
hand-carry baggage complies with the measurement and weight allowed as the
penalty is quite hefty. One very important thing to remember when choosing to
travel by these budget airlines to other parts of Europe is the location of the
destination airport because you might find yourself stranded in a secluded part
of the destination city with limited transportation means from that airport to
the city centre. For example if you fly to Paris, you will not be flying into
Paris Charles De Gaulle instead your destination airport is Paris Beauvais.
Trust me Paris Beauvais is a pain in the ass especially if your flight is the
last flight of the day because there are limited buses travelling to and fro
Paris city centre and taxis would cost you a bomb as it’s quite far. *Although
you may ignore everything above if you don’t fancy any hassle and travel by
commercial flights.*
Taxi
Not much to talk about on
taxis because they are quite expensive anyways. But do keep a local taxi
company’s contact number in case you are stranded far from your accommodation
and you need to get back quickly or when you’re drunk. But I wouldn’t recommend
getting on a taxi when you’re drunk. A quick search on the internet and you’ll
get some numbers for the local taxi company in your region or you can also look
out for the numbers on the taxis when you’re on the streets.
Rent a Car
If you’re not interested in
any of the above form of transportation, you may opt to rent a car. Although I
have not rented a car there before but there are lots of big companies who
offer car renting services. The last time I checked Malaysian driving license
is valid and allows us to drive in the UK for 12 months, refer to: https://www.gov.uk/driving-nongb-licence/y/a-foreign-student-studying-in-great-britain/non-european-union.
Related UK Guide:
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