Travel Forum / Travel Types / Air Travel / June 2008

The scenery is well worth seeing from Newcastle northwards.  South
of there you could be pretty much anywhere.

==== j a c k  at  c a m p i n . m e . u k  ===  <http://www.campin.me.uk> ====
Jack Campin, 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland == mob 07800 739 557
CD-ROMs and free stuff:  Scottish music, food intolerance, and Mac logic fonts

For trains, the one place to look is http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

There's a few through trains, but you usually have to change trains in
Edinburgh, which isn't a big deal.  It takes between 7 and 8 hrs each
way, fares vary a lot depending on date and time, as low as 18 pounds
to 60 pounds each way.  (Double that to get dollars.)  Most of the
trains leave from Kings Cross, and I see there are trains from Croydon
to St Pancras which is across the street.

For flying, I like http://www.skyscanner.net.  There's a lot of
competition on this route, Easyjet, flybe, bmi, and British Airways.
Fares vary all over the place.  Keep in mind that the cheapest flights
tend to leave from the least convenient airports.  Getting from
Croydon to Gatwick is 15 minutes, but to Stansted or Luton from
Croydon will be neither fast nor cheap.

The Scottish parts are indeed interesting.

R's,
John

If you take the train, you might consider booking a sleeper in one
direction.  It's not cheap, but unless you've got friends over there,
you'd be paying for a hotel or bed & breakfast room anyway.  You get the
advantages of traveling by train (you go from city center to city
center), and you can sleep for most of the trip and then wake up at your
destination.

If the northbound sleeper gets to Aberdeen too early for you to catch
some Scottish scenery, you might want to get the sleeper to Edinburgh
and then another train to Aberdeen.

Sleepers call at London Euston, which is a few blocks west of St.
Pancras.  The more direct trains to Edinburgh and Aberdeen call at Kings
Cross.

Reasons not to take the sleeper, besides the cost:  Sleepers can be
noisy.  If you have sleep apnea, you may not want to use a CPAP unit
with a humidifier on a moving train.  Unless you go first class, you're
likely to be sharing a cabin with a stranger.

Louis

Following up to AKT

I always drive but much of the rail is near the road, the scenery is
midlands and east coast, so not that fantastic to worry about. Choose
whichever suits you best for other reasons. (all the best scenery in UK is
on the west coasts).

Because of the layout of the roads and the example and influence of fellow
drivers fore and aft, driving on the left is really quite quick to adapt to.
As far as the cars are concerned, the "mirror image" makes driving easy too.
I am recently surprised by the large number of "Drive on the left" signs all
over the place -- aimed primarily at Continental Europeans. Drivng a rental
( AutoEurope is often the cheapest) would be much cheaper than train or
plane, and would give you much more freedom.  But the motorways are not
particularly scenic, and in much of England the heavy traffic makes
attention to the road more important than looking about.
London to Aberdeen will take 8 to 9 hours of driving, with nice scenery
above Edinburgh. No matter how you go, you will kill a day each way unless
you take a nite train.
rjf

Thank you so much for all the helpful information. We have pretty much
ruled out driving and buses. In an attempt to balance competing pulls,
I am attracted to the idea ofa train one way and flight the other. In
that connection:

(1) Haven't decided if upon reaching LHR I should fly directly to
Aberdeen, or go to South Croydon to rest one day and then go to
Aberdeen.

However, as many cheap flights seem to use alternate airports, how easy
ale LGW and Luton to reach from LHR? From East Croydon station (ie,
form any place reachable by tube)?

(2) I looked at 1-way train fares and only high fares were offered. For
example ABD -> London was GBP 116.

OTOH, if I searched for round trip, then GBP 32 each way was available.

Is this normal, or am I doing something wrong?