Latest / UK Travel Planning / Exploring the UK by Train: Doug’s Six-Week Rail Adventure [Expert Tips]

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Exploring the UK by Train: Doug’s Six-Week Rail Adventure [Expert Tips] · UK Travel Planning

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: Dog's been crisscrossing the UK by training to bring you even more travel tips.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_02: Tune in for his trip highlights and a preview of the new videos that will help you plan your own real adventures from London and beyond.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: Your host is the founder of the UK travel planning website, Tracy Collins.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: Each week, Tracy shares destination guides, travel tips and itinerary ideas, as well as interviews with a variety of guests who share their knowledge and experience of UK travel to help you plan your perfect UK vacation.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: Join us as we explore the UK from cosmopolitan cities to quaint villages, from historic castles to beautiful islands, and from a picturesque countryside to seaside towns.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_02: Hi and welcome to episode 174 of the UK Travel Plan and Podcast.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_02: Now this week I have Doug sitting next to me.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_02: Now Doug's just got back after six weeks in the UK, a lucky person.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_02: He flew direct from Perth, Australia, Western Australia, to Heathrow.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_02: It's the first time either of us have taken that flight.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_02: So that was one of the reasons that we flew from here.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_02: But also our daughter lives in Perth, so we we kind of drove across Australia.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_02: So if you actually want to hear all about our trip across Australia as well by car, we do have a global travel planning podcast all about that, which I'll share in the show notes.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_02: But basically, this episode is Doug's trip report.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_02: And it's talking a lot about the train travel that you did.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was trains, trains, and well, more trains.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_02: Because obviously, you know, if you listen to the podcast, Doug is the our resident train travel expert.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so he went back to the UK to do all that stuff.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_02: So anyway, we've got a whole lot of questions.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_02: We're going to go through all of this with you.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_02: As always, anything we're talking about, we'll put in the show notes.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_02: So do check the show notes.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um, also leave us a message on Speakpipe if there's some questions or something you want to comment about this episode.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_02: We love hearing from people, don't we?
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we do.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's really interesting to hear about people's experiences for the things that I know, you know, for an industry I know insider now, but hearing about other people's experiences is actually really interesting because it sort of focuses my interest and the points that we need to clarify and explain in greater detail.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_02: And um, I've also got an exciting announcement at the very end of the podcast.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_02: So keep uh uh uh yeah, so stay to the very end to find out where what's coming at the end of January.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, right, so let's let's talk through it.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_02: So it's been six weeks of almost daily travel around the UK by train.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so tell us what inspired this railway adventure in the first place.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's all about our YouTube, isn't it, really?
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Because I've already put a few uh YouTube videos on there, but this was developing that.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: So we listened to what people suggested as regards uh journeys for me to take, what possible problem areas they have, and we developed it from there.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: So we developed developed the itinerary based on that, really.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so we we I know we've actually had so many requests over the last few years for YouTube videos, and please do it on YouTube, please do it on YouTube.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_02: So this is exactly what you were doing, and we also we kind of know some of the pain points.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_02: We also know that obviously, you know, a lot of a lot of you like to watch, and I know I like to go on look at YouTube and can it make it real when you actually can see it.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: Most definitely so.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: But I mean, there's also the point of there's been a lot of engineering works and track upgrades, so obviously there's new trains as well.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I needed to refresh some information as regards journey times and the new trains that are now running as well.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and obviously and the big point as well, I actually thoroughly enjoy it.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_02: Of course, I was gonna say as a yeah, you love trains, but um, and also we have got you know, you you do have the train travel hub on the website, the UK travel planner website.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_02: So, and we actually do have a bit on day trips from London as well on the London Travel Planner website.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_02: So we are there's plenty on the websites as well if you'd like to read about travel, all about your train stuff.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_02: Now you covered a lot of ground, so can you you know share with us an overview of where your rail journeys took you?
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Well, uh now where to start on that one.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, well, as I say, we sat down and we we arranged for me to do the journeys that we get asked most about.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, a lot of base from London and around London itself, but to list some of the places I've visited, we have Bath, Oxford, Canterbury, Liverpool, Cambridge, Edinburgh, York, Salisbury, Brighton, Rye in Sussex, and also the Cotsford line up to Morton in Marsh.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_02: Excellent.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that was really good.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: I also took some uh footage of how to travel out to Windsor and Hampton Court because we get that as quite often.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: And also for the Harry Potter studios, I headed up from Houston to Watford Junction.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Now, and also from the trains, we have you have the multiple train options from uh Heathrow into London and also from Gatwick into London.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I looked at those and took, you know, looked at different options available.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then to support all of that, we have one very popular article uh detailing nine of the London terminus stations.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I visited them all of them in one day, which is quite a day, and I took some footage of that, which will make an excellent YouTube video, I think, when I've got that one done.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, it's amazing! So you actually went to all the main train stations of London terminals?
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: There is far more than nine, but these are nine of the most because I what I wanted to do was cover travelling in each direction from London.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I looked at these nine articles we have in our um uh website article, which we wrote together, and so I visited all of those, and just to give you some you know on-the-ground sort of footage of what to expect when you're travelling from those stations.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: And also, again, one of the later questions, one of my highlights was also taking the Great Western Riviera uh night sleeper from Paddington down to Penzance, absolutely fantastic.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'll explain that later.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_02: I know.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_02: Well, we have a whole podcast episode about that previously, um, and that's been really popular.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_02: We've actually heard so of from so many people via Speakpipe and email saying how they're they they're really excited about the night Riviera and they're gonna book it.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so that's absolutely fantastic.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_02: We're really happy about that.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, one interesting um uh point about that one is it surprised a lot of people just how far the tip of Cornwall is away from London.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_02: Oh well, we say that all the time in consults, don't we?
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, because often um you know we we hear in concerts people want to just head down to Cornwall for a day or two.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_02: It's a long way.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: It is a long way.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Even when I've been talking to people on trains around the country and they ask what I've been doing, and I say down to um down to Cornwall and Penzance, and they say, What on a sleeper?
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: So even people, you know, within the UK don't fully appreciate that that distance.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, how far that is.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_02: Now, out of all the routes you travelled, which journey stands out as your personal favourite on my?
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, see, this is a tricky question as well, but I did enjoy every single one of the journeys, even when they didn't entirely go to Pan, I do enjoy it.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, that great Western Railway service, the Night Riviera, was particularly special.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the reason I say that really is just the overall experience from the booking to arriving at Paddington and obviously the journey itself, it was just also seamless and effortless and well, stress-free.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: There really was no part of the entire journey that caused you any stress, um, yeah, or difficulty.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: It was just very, very straightforward.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: And the staff were so friendly.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: I have to say, I've told you at the time, didn't I?
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they did, yeah.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: The staff were all friendly, incredibly helpful.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I didn't need much help because I've done these things before, but I heard them and I was there when they're helping other people, asking questions, and that they were just knowledgeable and patient, you know, in the middle of the night, probably more so than I would be.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, and the berth itself, um, the sleeping berth was faultless.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: The breakfast I enjoyed, and talking to um the staff in the lounge car was well, they're just just over and above what you might expect from staff.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_02: That's lovely.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_02: And I say we've got a whole podcast episode about that, which was a few weeks ago.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not sure the number, maybe 170, 171, but again, I'll I'll link to that in the show notes.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and but that's one journey.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: I know you asked me for one, but you know, the journal of the West Coast Main Line, I thoroughly enjoyed that with the Vante West Coast service.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: I thoroughly enjoyed the Where does that go from though?
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: I called that from London, Houston, and that was uh to Edinburgh.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, it's not as fast as the East Coast Main Line, but I wanted to experience this one because I like going through the lake district.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's uh on the edge of the lake district.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: I thoroughly enjoyed that one as well.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I also involved when when I was working on the railways, I was involved with the West Coast as well, so it was a bit of a you know nostalgic, bit of a nostalgic part of it as well.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: But and also I have to say, from London Paddington to Bath and Bravford upon Avon, I love that as well.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's always been one of my favourite routes that has as well.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, but the services were on time and the sun was shining as well when I went out there, which was always always makes it better, doesn't it?
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then one of my favourite UK journeys, the Settle Carlisle line, albeit the British weather sort of uh intervened on that day when I was climbing up through the uh Yorkshire Dales.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but you know what, it's you you can't fault it.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's just lovely.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's more than one, so so sorry about that, but yes, I enjoyed the lot.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh well, uh yeah, I know you would have done.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um so now you were filming YouTube videos and you've gathered a lot of content, so I know you're gonna be busy over the next few months um making videos.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_02: What's been the most rewarding part of documenting it all?
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: I think that I managed to accomplish so much.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: I always by choice, I when I'm putting an itinerary together for myself when it's a real itinerary, I always have I'm always over ambitious, I think.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: So I find that I achieved probably about 90% of what I set out to do, I was very, very happy with.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um but yeah, now I've got to put it all together, and you know, the work really starts now, doesn't it?
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I've got to say we do have a few videos on YouTube that have done particularly well.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_02: We've got the how to get the Edinburgh to London one has done really well.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and you've got small like how to use the tram from the airport in Edinburgh into Edinburgh itself, and you've done the Lowlander Sleeper one as well, and we've got a travel, you've got a train travel tips one as well.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_02: But um, yeah, it's we're really going to get on YouTube in earnest soon and get all these video videos out.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_02: So if you're listening, do go and follow our YouTube channel, please.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_02: It really will help us as well to get kind of to see, get seen more.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and it really motivates you when you get followers and you get nice comments from people, and we know that we're helping with that.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_02: Now, um, obviously, you you you we were away for six weeks and you planned all well, you planned it all before you went, what you were going to do, what you want to see, and we chatted about what kind of priorities were.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_02: Did you have to change any plans last minute?
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I did, yeah, not always last minute either.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because I always check my times and schedules, the same as I tell everybody else when we do the consuls is you know, you you look days before is there any service changes?
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and even on the date, I was looking, and there were some timetable changes due to engineering works or cancellations.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: And yes, I've dealt with that for many years with a traveling in the UK, so I know how it works, and I know because I have blown my own chumper, I do have good root knowledge, and sometimes I had to sort of look at my plans to modify it slightly to make it fit, you know.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's but to me that's enjoyable.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: I I enjoy that, I find it um rewarding when I have faced with a problem and then I can sort it out.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: But being prepared and knowing what to expect, I think is the big thing there.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know, use the these the apps out there and check your details before you get there.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: Give yourself plenty of time.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: I always got to the station, whatever you know, day or night, I always got to the station in plenty of time to give myself time to sort of look at changes and what needs to needs to happen.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_02: And we have been asked about that because I know somebody asked us about what how long to get to the train station, and and it's such a difficult question to answer because it really depends on your mobility, how much luggage you've got, how you know how much knowledge you have about that station anyway.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_02: And we did kind of say when I think we got a bit of we got a bit of flack and a bit of criticism because you didn't answer that question as a direct this how many minutes we kind of say minimum of 30 minutes, so that's what we're gonna say, but really you need to think about yourself in terms of mobility, logistics, you know, give yourself plenty of time.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I always do that.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, everything we said we talk about on other podcasts and when we do consoles, I got there in plenty of time.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: I've made sure I got um some food and drink for the journey, even when there was gonna be on board facilities expected, sometimes that was not there.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: I've had cancellations on the way, so that's presented a problem.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: My trains diverted one, there was an incident on the line, I was already on the train, so that changed changed plans as well.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I had to use my knowledge and I had to sort of you know modify those plans you know, sometimes on the journey already.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I mean, you do have your your train knowledge.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_02: I don't honestly is is I don't know anybody else who has the amount of train knowledge that you have personally, um, because you've worked so much on the actual railways itself in so many different ways and capacities, and so you have an excellent geographical knowledge.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I I mean it always comes in handy.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_02: I know when when a daughter was over in the UK a couple of years ago, you helped her when an emergency came up and managed to get them to Edinburgh because they weren't going to be able to get there.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_02: And she said people on the train stations weren't able to help, but she you managed to give her the route to actually go.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I mean, you know, you share that knowledge and experience in consults when people book us for one-to-one consults.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_02: If people book us for a video consult to go through that itinerary, and also obviously in our Facebook groups as well, and you know, you know, you've you've written an ebook, there's all those sort of ways that you've you've helped people, and obviously not the YouTube channel as well.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: I've also helped people um once or twice when they've been already in the UK, when they've had um consults.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I've helped them out on the go, as it were.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_02: So, now how flexible were your plans when you put them together?
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: I did build in flexibility with each of my days' travel, to be honest with you.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I set myself a primary objective and then a secondary objective.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, in other words, looking an example, went from London to Windsor the same day I planned to do London to Hampton Court.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: Turned out that was gonna be a different day because, quite honestly, I spent longer in Windsor than I expected to because the day was nice, went for a longer walk.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_02: I was gonna say, we wouldn't we wouldn't recommend if you listen that you do Windsor and Hampton Court on the same day.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_02: It was just that Doug was doing this for videos.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: It was supposed to be purely trains, trains, and trains to get to Windsor and then come back again.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: But the day was nice and why wouldn't you want to stay a training?
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_02: I spend long in Windsor.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: I spent long in Windsor and quite honestly, I met somebody and I ended up having a nice chat to them for quite a while about trains at the station, so that also slowed me down.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: So, yes, I always said that was my primary objective for the day, but I ended up with times where I had to reschedule and look at my plans.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, on another occasion I was just basically too tired after one of the days, and so I thought, well, leave it to another day.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I never travelled anywhere on a Sunday.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: If that was my day to catch up with bits and pieces as well, you know, putting the videos together and storing the videos ready, yeah, ready for me to edit.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_02: So, how did it feel revisiting the railway you know so well from your working days, but now seeing it from a traveller's perspective to make these videos?
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, a thought occurred to me once or twice, but the big difference is for my railway working days that I'm not just commuting backwards and forwards on the same route on you know every day, but more able to sit back and soak up the scenery and you know look at the rail travel itself in more detail.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: So now I'm writing about rail travel and helping others to plan their perfect rail adventure.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: It gives me opportunity to sort of pass on my vast railway knowledge and experience to others, I guess.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely, and it's great obviously keeping up to date with it as well.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_02: So now for visitors coming to the UK and thinking about travelling by train, what tips can you give them from your own recent experience?
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think the primary uh best bit of advice really is talk to the experts, i.e., us, me, uh, but listen to our podcast and book a consult as well, because time and time again we we talk to people about their UK trip and we save them time, we save them money.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: And we it's basically about streamlining their uh itinerary, isn't it?
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know, people do come back to us and they've given that feedback, haven't they?
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, yeah.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: I mean you've got most occasions.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_02: I mean you've helped some people on multiple trips to the UK with their with their train trips every time.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's right, yeah.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and obviously you've got you've written an ebook as well.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: I've written an ebook, a guide to UK train travel, which is very popular, including that is uh ticket information, the ticket types, um, and also I have a list of uh scenic rail routes which I recommend as well.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, okay, that's perfect.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_02: Now you used the brick rail pass during your trip.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_02: How did you find it in practice and would you recommend it?
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I did use the brick rail flexive pass, it was incredibly straightforward and easy to use.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: I bought this when we were still in Australia and activated on the first morning when I was setting out for my accommodation.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: I had to enter my passport number, you select your date, and then you select the date of travel, I mean, and then receive a confirmation email instantaneously.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: And this basically just says your pass is activated from this day.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I then saved a copy of the QR code on my phone, and that was that worked at ticket barries, it worked on board trains.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I've never had a single issue with that at all with the with the card readers from the the conductors on board the West Coast um Avanti West Coast service from Lola Houston to uh Edinburgh.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: I also took the opportunity to upgrade as well, which it says on the uh Brit Rail Pass.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think it cost about£45, and that was because the Avanti West Coast has three classes of travel.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: So the we bought um I bought a standard class travel for the Brit Rail and it upgraded to the standard premium premium, yeah, which was really really good.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: So, sorry, the overall answer to your question is yes, I would recommend it.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: I would definitely recommend it as regards flexibility and catching any service that day, but you must do your maths first because you've got to work out whether it's actually worth it for your planned itinerary for that day.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: So that's in terms of uh against advanced tickets, renting time tickets, or tickets bought on the day.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: You have to do your maths, which I did for everything I planned every day of using it.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: Was is it cost effective for that day?
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: Which is why I wanted the flexi pass because even though I was travelling by train just about every single day, as I say, excluding Sundays, Sundays it just was not gonna be worth it.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, okay, so that's really good.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna say as well that we have got an article about the uh Brit Rail Pass on the website, which I'll link in the show notes.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm just gonna put a kind of a bit of appeal out for anybody listening to the podcast.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_02: And if you are thinking about getting a Brit rail pass, we do have an affiliate link which will cost you nothing extra if you book through.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_02: And we would we would really ask if you would use that link because it supports all of the work that we do, the podcast that we put out, your YouTube channel that we're now kind of getting off the ground, um, the podcast, it just supports our work.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_02: If you're able to do that, it will put that in the show notes.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_02: It's also in that article about the Brit Rail Pass.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_02: So if you click through that, that is an affiliate link for us, but it does not cost you anything extra.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_02: But as I say, it really, really helps us to continue to do this work.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: Most definitely so, yeah.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: And we will be covering that in uh future workshop.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um about a oh, that was a surprise for the end.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_02: But anyway, I'll Doug's kind of giving it away, but I'll tell you more at the end of the moment to the point.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: But it will be covering more on that one.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: Also, in one of the YouTube videos, I might see if I can incorporate that within how to use it as well.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: Because you've got to be careful when you do a presentation like because you put your passport number in there as well.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_02: So okay, okay, no worries.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_02: Now, were there any surprises along the way, good or bad, that you didn't expect when you first planned your route?
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: Well, not on the routes of operators I travel with, to be honest with you, because I've used them so many times, I've travelled on the route so many times.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I did find on well not an entire surprise to me, but on some of the newer trains, especially in standard class, I did to be honest, find some of the seats not as comfortable as they used to be on the older trains.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, the term is used for ironing board seats on some of the newer trains in standard class, and I've got to be honest, after a few hours on some of them, they're not the most comfortable.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, also, I found, in all honesty, the Wi-Fi to be a bit more patchy than it ever used to be.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I'm not sure if that's just down to the fact there was a lot of users, a lot of travellers on the trains.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: They do say that the um number of people travelling has exceeded pre-COVID levels.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of services were very busy.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_02: So I guess underlines having your own eSIM and your own data that you can use on the streets.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: I yeah, I did as well.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: I never once relied entirely on the Wi-Fi.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_02: So those are good.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um I'm just gonna actually I'm gonna throw a quick question in there because you took a lot of videos.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_02: Did you take because the one of the questions we get asked all the time is about luggage on the train.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_02: So you took videos of the luggage storage?
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: I I did.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: I quite often took um photos and videos of the luggage uh racks and stacks.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: The stacks are the industry name for the floor to ceiling shelves that you get at the end of the train.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there's more of them in uh first class than there is in standard class.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: And what that's a good question, actually, because I did notice um the different operators within particularly the new trains, the depth of the you know, the shelf that runs the entire length of the train on both sides, some of those are definitely deeper than others, and some of them you can only fit uh small bags in.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I saw people struggling on I won't know the name of the operators, but some were certainly better than others.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: If anybody wants more information about that specifically, I can give that support.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, cool.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_02: Now you've spent time in major cities and some small rural stations alike, but how does the UK rail network link the country together for visitors?
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_02: I think this is a really important geographical question.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: I think it is, yeah.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: I mean the UK railway is pretty uh pretty much well covered around uh the big towns and cities, and this is growing all the time with new projects, uh such as the East West Rail line, north of London from west to east and east to west.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's basically replacing the old university line, so it goes from Oxford Oxford to Cambridge, which is due to be finished, um I think it's 2026.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh then you've also got the HS2 route, high speed route that is, uh up the country.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's not going as far north as it once was, but it's still a big project.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: There does, however, remain um uh gaps really in the railway coverage in Wales and Scotland.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: But who knows, and future projects might address that.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_02: So I mean it it is it's very easy that you can get from city to city, that's never much of a problem.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: No, that's that's that's not a problem.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, not a problem.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, Monday to Saturday.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: Sunday travel, I still think is not the best for reasons I've covered before.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, as of all, I I avoided traveling on the Sunday full stop, and I did speak to one or two other people that do travel on Sundays, and there was a lot of reported problems, even the time I was there.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and you can get lucky if you have to do it sometimes, but you do get lucky, and I know that is a fact.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's just one of those cautions that you kind of put out, isn't it?
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, if you don't have to, don't travel.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, I'm gonna throw another third throw uh throw another curveball question in is that you specifically went up to the Cotswolds because we we work really closely with Lisa from Go Cotswolds and they're fantastic, fantastic small group tour company, award-winning, they're always winning awards like Cotswolds.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_02: So you actually wanted to kind of show, and we're gonna be able to share that on YouTube as well.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_02: Actually, how to get from London to Morton and Marsh to actually meet up with the Go Cotzwirls show in the morning.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_02: So, how did that go?
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: That went really well getting there to meet them, and so what I did was I travelled from London.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you can catch a direct train to Morton and Marsh.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: On the day I did it, I broke it up because again the sun was shining, and I wanted a couple of hours around Oxford because it's very easy to do.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: So then it's a quick journey up to Morton Marsh, and you're gonna be picked up outside the station by Lisa Go Cottswalls.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: And yes, I did a tour.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you very much, Lisa, and it was amazing.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_02: I know they're brilliant, absolutely brilliant.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: Loved it, absolutely loved it.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_02: So you've got a video that you're gonna be able to share about that?
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's one I'll put together.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: I've got the footage for that, yeah.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so that's brilliant because we know we have a lot of people kind of want to go and join the go-cottswells tours and and they leave from Morton and Marsh.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_02: So it's always like, How do we get there?
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_02: It's actually very easy.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_02: I know Lisa gives that information as well on her website, but a video is great.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: I will and I'll actually add on to that that it's uh it was actually seamless as well.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's good.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: The way um go-cotswalls they they meet, meet you there, and it's time to meet that first train arriving as well.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, perfect.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_02: Now, if you could share just one scenic route from your adventure with everyone listening and me, because I'm also interested, which would it be and why?
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, that's a difficult one.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna have to say the subtle Carlisle because a lot of the other train routes I've taken, uh, it's either one side or the other of the train that gives you water, you know, decent, you know, quality scenery.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you've got the the Scotland Main Line, um, West Highland Main Line falls into the same category, but I did I did not do it on this trip, so I'll stick to the one that I did do, which was the Settle Carlisle.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: Now, those that don't know, Settle is just outside Leeds.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: You catch the train between Leeds and Carlisle in Cumbria.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: So the line moves, sort of rises up into the uh Yorkshire Dales, and you should get beautiful scenery both sides of the train.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't get so much because the British weather decided it's going to put a lot and a lot of low cloud and rain and wind and everything else.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: It was lovely when we left Leeds, it was lovely when we arrived at Carlisle, but in between, not so much.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: In between, it was a little bit dodgy.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: I still took some videos and I still took some photos, and I'll put that together because you know it is what it is.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but that was a lovely service.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: It was really lovely service.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_02: And you've got you actually have got an article on the website about your kind of ten favourite scenic train journeys, and we actually have done other podcasts as well, particularly about the Caledonian sleeper from London up to um we've done it up to Inverness and up to Fort William, which we've taken yeah, we've taken that numerous times actually.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um that's one of our favourites.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_02: I just love waking up and seeing the scenery in Scotland, it's just fabulous.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: But by the same token, on the uh Night Riviera, you can wake up and you've got the entire coastline, which is absolutely stunning.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: Again, there was rain and wind there as well, so but it was nice when I left on the way back.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_02: But that's British weather, but I'm also jealous of that one because I've actually not done that trip.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_02: So hopefully next time when I get to the UK, I'll have to do it again with you.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, absolutely.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_02: So, what's next, Doug?
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_02: Then, as our train expert, what plans have you got for any more UK rail journeys or future videos?
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: Well, there's definitely gonna be more YouTube videos um after this trip when I put them all together, but in the future it will be based on arising topics and questions and queries we have.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: If there's anything we need to cover in more detail, you know, I'm fallible.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, if there's something I've missed in one particular detail, we'll have to do it again.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: Because I've done all these lines so many times in the past, haven't I?
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: I mean so it's it's a question of just of them doing them again because when the train's moving along at speed, you're videoing this bit or that bit, you can't do both sides of the train at the same time, obviously.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_02: And I mean, well, I know we've we've given so much help over the last few years for people to travel in the UK by train.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_02: So obviously the consults are open.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_02: Uh we're actually recording this in October.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_02: Consults are open now for January and February.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_02: We are getting booked up, it's fantastic.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so Doug can help you with your plan your route throughout the UK.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_02: You can see you can do a consult with Doug, with myself as well.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um, if you already have an itinerary and you want us to go through it, we can do that with a video.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_02: So we you send us the itinerary and we will send a video back.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_02: So that's slightly different, and that you don't have the one-to-one time with us.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_02: But also, there's a couple of announcements actually for next year.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_02: Is that one we're actually going to be offering a service where we can plan your UK adventure?
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_02: So that could be by train, um, including train travel, so we can work on the logistics.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, so obviously chat to you about the places that you want to go, and then we can develop that itinerary for you.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_02: So that's brand new.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_02: But also, you're going to be doing a workshop at the end of January.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I am on train travel and answer your queries, questions, and the problem areas, for example, like I've already said, we should give the game away.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_00: The uh the Britrail pass, how to use them, how they work, and how you can actually go about working out whether it's actually good value morning for you because they're not cheap.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they're not cheap, but it can make life a lot easier and more straightforward for you if you have reservations about the uh the ticketing and why which tickets to buy.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: This is a cover all.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_02: And also just sharing tips, things that you need to know.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_02: So obviously, don't overlook the train book.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_02: Our train book is a is excellent, and you can have that with.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_02: All the time, but and also I guess the the workshop will be a live workshop with a QA afterwards.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_02: If you can't make that, it will be available to purchase afterwards to be recorded.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_02: So that's going to be the end of January.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_00: It is.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I should stress, you know, I I have got experience across the entire UK.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: I have been to say every single mainline station.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: I passed through quite a few of them, but I have done all the track.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I have done all that um over the years.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: So there's no question you'd fire at me which I've not come across before, or got I got at least got an answer for.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and also actually European train travel is also something that you have a lot of knowledge on.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: I have a huge amount of knowledge on that as well.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so those are the exciting announcements that we have coming for the end of January.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_02: So there'll be more information coming about those on the website soon.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um, obviously, you can find the links in the show notes to this episode at uktravelplanning.com.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I guess you had a really cool trip.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_02: You had a really great time.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_02: I can't wait to see.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_02: I've seen lots of the footage, but I went and see this all put together on YouTube.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_02: It's going to be exciting.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_02: So thanks for tuning in to this week's episode.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_02: Go and follow us on YouTube, please.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_02: UK Travel Planning.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um, follow us on Instagram as well.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_02: We do have some videos on Instagram.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_02: Hope to try and do a little bit more on that.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_02: But obviously, doing the podcast and websites, and there's a lot of work to do, so it it's always juggling and trying to get everything out.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_02: But um, yeah, thanks very much as always for following along.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_02: And um, I'm a bit jealous of Doug's trip, so I'll be looking forward to my trip when I go over in March next year.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_00: Most definitely.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_02: But anyway, thanks so much, Doug, for again coming on the podcast and talking training.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_00: Always happy to talk about trains.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, okay.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that just leaves us a guest to say as always until next week.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_02: Happy UK travel planning.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_00: Happy UK well travel.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah, okay.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks very much and see you soon.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_02: As always, show notes can be found at uktravelplanning.com.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_02: If you've enjoyed the show, why not leave us feedback via text or a review on your favourite podcast app?
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_02: We love to hear from you, and you never know, you may receive a shout out in a future episode.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_02: But as always, that just leaves me to say until next week, happy UK travel planning!