Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Train Travel in the UK: A Foreigner’s Perspective

paliparan.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 191 posts

Re: Train Travel in the UK: A Foreigner’s Perspective

#11

Post by gw99 »

petesergeant wrote: post #2

> the Caledonian Sleeper has to be one of the railway highlights of the UK ahh, I've really wanted to like it, but I've found it exceptionally uncomfortable each time I've used it, and also very expensive. I much prefer the sleeper trains in Thailand > Train travel in the UK can be highly scenic The UK really is very pretty. It's easy to forget when in countries with blockbuster scenery, but British countryside reall…

The Caledonian sleeper is hell on earth. I did it once. The only worse experience I had was a rotten old YHA hostel in the 90s where I stayed in a bunk room with three people with bowel disorders. And it wasn’t much worse.

Re: Train Travel in the UK: A Foreigner’s Perspective

#12

Post by gw99 »

I’m a regular train traveller in the UK. It’s a shit show especially for us hikers. Trying to navigate the mess that is different operators and ticket splits to not get utterly shafted is a nightmare.

Then half the trains go missing or are on strike suddenly.

I have got to the point I prefer the rail replacement busses.

Re: Train Travel in the UK: A Foreigner’s Perspective

#13

Post by eynsham »

gw99 wrote: post #11
petesergeant wrote: post #2

> the Caledonian Sleeper has to be one of the railway highlights of the UK ahh, I've really wanted to like it, but I've found it exceptionally uncomfortable each time I've used it, and also very expensive. I much prefer the sleeper trains in Thailand > Train travel in the UK can be highly scenic The UK really is very pretty. It's easy to forget when in countries with blockbuster scenery, but British countryside reall…

The Caledonian sleeper is hell on earth. I did it once. The only worse experience I had was a rotten old YHA hostel in the 90s where I stayed in a bunk room with three people with bowel disorders. And it wasn’t much worse.

Was that on the new trains?

Re: Train Travel in the UK: A Foreigner’s Perspective

#14

Post by traceroute66 »

michaelt wrote: post #4

> British people love to complain about the state of their railways I find people have a very different experience with UK rail on whether they're travelling for business or pleasure. People who commute have to take trains at peak time, at the absolute highest ticket prices, take hundreds of trains a year giving lots of opportunities to get delayed, might get yelled at for being late, and at the end of their journey…

> British people love to complain about the state of their railways

When British people go to Switzerland or Japan its like they've died and woken up in heaven.

Japanese rail in particular is pure heaven compared to the UK. Trains are always punctual. Trains are always clean. Trains are always frequent.

And that's before we start talking about the amazing food stores that are attached to main Japanese stations. In the UK you get a filthy station full of greasy horrible fast-food stores.

Re: Train Travel in the UK: A Foreigner’s Perspective

#15

Post by gw99 »

eynsham wrote: post #13
gw99 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Caledonian sleeper is hell on earth. I did it once. The only worse experience I had was a rotten old YHA hostel in the 90s where I stayed in a bunk room with three people with bowel disorders. And it wasn’t much worse.

Was that on the new trains?

Was 2019 so I expect so unless they replaced them since.

Re: Train Travel in the UK: A Foreigner’s Perspective

#16

Post by blibble »

notahacker wrote: post #6
scmbradley wrote: post #3

From the looks of it, this chap was travelling around in first class. Which would probably give a slightly different impression of train travel... I suspect he also wasn't travelling at peak times when trains are at their busiest and most unpleasant. To some extent, I agree that trains get a lot of criticism, and only some of it is deserved. But some of that criticism is very deserved...

And travelling around with the sort of budget that can consider first class and a willingness to book tickets at suitable times (and comparing prices with international sleeper trains in the rest of Europe!) completely misses why British commuters paying 20%+ of their after tax income for an annual rail pass into London consider it expensive.

I doubt many people are paying 20%+ of net income to commute in

you'd have to be on minimum wage and a reasonable distance out (in which case you might as well just work locally)

10% however I can believe

Re: Train Travel in the UK: A Foreigner’s Perspective

#17

Post by petesergeant »

eynsham wrote: post #13
gw99 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Caledonian sleeper is hell on earth. I did it once. The only worse experience I had was a rotten old YHA hostel in the 90s where I stayed in a bunk room with three people with bowel disorders. And it wasn’t much worse.

Was that on the new trains?

I've done both, both were equally miserable tbh

Re: Train Travel in the UK: A Foreigner’s Perspective

#19

Post by ghaff »

eynsham wrote: post #13
gw99 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Caledonian sleeper is hell on earth. I did it once. The only worse experience I had was a rotten old YHA hostel in the 90s where I stayed in a bunk room with three people with bowel disorders. And it wasn’t much worse.

Was that on the new trains?

I did it in about 2019. I shared a sleeper with a friend. Yeah, the sleeper was tight and the dining car was crowded. But getting on after dinner in London and arriving in Edinburgh certainly beat flying IMO (as a tourist).

Re: Train Travel in the UK: A Foreigner’s Perspective

#20

Post by oakesm9 »

_dain_ wrote: post #10
pydry wrote: post #5

If you have plenty of flexibility, take a few journeys only and plan well ahead train travel in the UK is a bit pricey but generally fine. If, on the other hand, you need to go somewhere at short notice or you need to commute by train, they will f*king gouge you.

How far ahead do you have to book? I've never noticed prices to vary depending on time ..

Advance tickets go on sale 12 weeks ahead of time. They start off cheap and once a certain amount is sold the price goes up. That keeps going until all advanced tickets are sold and you can only buy “anytime” tickets.

I’m sure there’s a system for how many advance tickets there are for each route, but I can’t find any reference to it.

Post reply on HN