November 4, 2025 • 32 mins
In episode 174 of the UK Travel Planning Podcast, host Tracy Collins is joined by resident train travel expert Doug Collins to share highlights from his six-week rail adventure across the UK. Travelling from London to Scotland and back again, Doug explored major cities, rural stations and some of Britain’s most scenic routes while gathering video content for upcoming YouTube guides.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
✅ Which UK train routes offer the most spectacular views
✅ How to use passes like the BritRail Flexipass to save money and travel easily
✅ Tips for planning, booking and adapting a multi-week rail itinerary
✅ What to expect when travelling by train across England, Scotland and Wales
✅ How to make the most of UK Travel Planning resources, from our Guide to UK Train Travel ebook and itinerary consults to upcoming train workshops
Whether you’re dreaming of a rail-focused itinerary or just want insider insight into how the UK rail network really works, this episode is packed with practical advice, first-hand stories and expert recommendations to help you travel with confidence.
📹 Follow UK Travel Planning on YouTube
📝 Show Notes - Episode 174
🎧 Listen to next
- Episode 171 – Guide to the Night Riviera Sleeper Train (London to Penzance)
- Episode 157: 15 UK Train Travel Mistakes First-Time Travellers Make and How to Avoid Them
- Episode 141 – Caledonian Sleeper Update [+ Route Choices and Travel Tips]
⭐️ Need help planning your UK trip? Choose the option that works best for you:
- Video Reviews (available anytime) — send us your itinerary for detailed feedback.
- 1:1 Consultations - live Zoom session with Doug & Tracy.
🎤 Leave us a voice message via SpeakPipe
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02 (00:00):
Dog's been crisscrossing the UK by training
(00:01):
to bring you even more traveltips.
Tune in for his trip highlightsand a preview of the new videos
that will help you plan your ownreal adventures from London and
beyond.
SPEAKER_01 (00:12):
Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
Your host is the founder of theUK travel planning website,
Tracy Collins.
Each week, Tracy sharesdestination guides, travel tips
and itinerary ideas, as well asinterviews with a variety of
guests who share their knowledgeand experience of UK travel to
help you plan your perfect UKvacation.
Join us as we explore the UKfrom cosmopolitan cities to
(00:35):
quaint villages, from historiccastles to beautiful islands,
and from a picturesquecountryside to seaside towns.
SPEAKER_02 (00:45):
Hi and welcome to episode 174 of the UK Travel
Plan and Podcast.
Now this week I have Dougsitting next to me.
Now Doug's just got back aftersix weeks in the UK, a lucky
person.
He flew direct from Perth,Australia, Western Australia, to
Heathrow.
It's the first time either of ushave taken that flight.
So that was one of the reasonsthat we flew from here.
(01:06):
But also our daughter lives inPerth, so we we kind of drove
across Australia.
So if you actually want to hearall about our trip across
Australia as well by car, we dohave a global travel planning
podcast all about that, whichI'll share in the show notes.
But basically, this episode isDoug's trip report.
SPEAKER_00 (01:20):
Yep.
SPEAKER_02 (01:21):
And it's talking a lot about the train travel that
you did.
SPEAKER_00 (01:23):
Yeah, it was trains, trains, and well, more trains.
SPEAKER_02 (01:26):
Yeah, exactly.
Because obviously, you know, ifyou listen to the podcast, Doug
is the our resident train travelexpert.
Yep.
Um, so he went back to the UK todo all that stuff.
So anyway, we've got a whole lotof questions.
We're going to go through all ofthis with you.
As always, anything we'retalking about, we'll put in the
show notes.
So do check the show notes.
Um, also leave us a message onSpeakpipe if there's some
(01:47):
questions or something you wantto comment about this episode.
We love hearing from people,don't we?
SPEAKER_00 (01:51):
Yeah, we do.
It's really interesting to hearabout people's experiences for
the things that I know, youknow, for an industry I know
insider now, but hearing aboutother people's experiences is
actually really interestingbecause it sort of focuses my
interest and the points that weneed to clarify and explain in
greater detail.
SPEAKER_02 (02:08):
Yeah, absolutely.
And um, I've also got anexciting announcement at the
very end of the podcast.
So keep uh uh uh yeah, so stayto the very end to find out
where what's coming at the endof January.
Um, right, so let's let's talkthrough it.
So it's been six weeks of almostdaily travel around the UK by
train.
SPEAKER_00 (02:25):
Yes.
SPEAKER_02 (02:26):
Um, so tell us what inspired this railway adventure
in the first place.
SPEAKER_00 (02:29):
Well, it's all about our YouTube, isn't it, really?
Because I've already put a fewuh YouTube videos on there, but
this was developing that.
So we listened to what peoplesuggested as regards uh journeys
for me to take, what possibleproblem areas they have, and we
developed it from there.
So we developed developed theitinerary based on that, really.
SPEAKER_02 (02:49):
Yeah, so we we I know we've actually had so many
requests over the last few yearsfor YouTube videos, and please
do it on YouTube, please do iton YouTube.
So this is exactly what you weredoing, and we also we kind of
know some of the pain points.
We also know that obviously, youknow, a lot of a lot of you like
to watch, and I know I like togo on look at YouTube and can it
make it real when you actuallycan see it.
SPEAKER_00 (03:11):
Most definitely so.
But I mean, there's also thepoint of there's been a lot of
engineering works and trackupgrades, so obviously there's
new trains as well.
So I needed to refresh someinformation as regards journey
times and the new trains thatare now running as well.
Okay, and obviously and the bigpoint as well, I actually
thoroughly enjoy it.
SPEAKER_02 (03:29):
Of course, I was gonna say as a yeah, you love
trains, but um, and also we havegot you know, you you do have
the train travel hub on thewebsite, the UK travel planner
website.
So, and we actually do have abit on day trips from London as
well on the London TravelPlanner website.
So we are there's plenty on thewebsites as well if you'd like
to read about travel, all aboutyour train stuff.
Now you covered a lot of ground,so can you you know share with
(03:54):
us an overview of where yourrail journeys took you?
SPEAKER_00 (03:58):
Well, uh now where to start on that one.
Um, well, as I say, we sat downand we we arranged for me to do
the journeys that we get askedmost about.
Um, a lot of base from Londonand around London itself, but to
list some of the places I'vevisited, we have Bath, Oxford,
Canterbury, Liverpool,Cambridge, Edinburgh, York,
(04:19):
Salisbury, Brighton, Rye inSussex, and also the Cotsford
line up to Morton in Marsh.
SPEAKER_02 (04:25):
Excellent.
SPEAKER_00 (04:26):
Yeah, that was really good.
I also took some uh footage ofhow to travel out to Windsor and
Hampton Court because we getthat as quite often.
And also for the Harry Potterstudios, I headed up from
Houston to Watford Junction.
Now, and also from the trains,we have you have the multiple
train options from uh Heathrowinto London and also from
(04:47):
Gatwick into London.
So I looked at those and took,you know, looked at different
options available.
And then to support all of that,we have one very popular article
uh detailing nine of the Londonterminus stations.
So I visited them all of them inone day, which is quite a day,
and I took some footage of that,which will make an excellent
YouTube video, I think, whenI've got that one done.
SPEAKER_02 (05:08):
Oh, it's amazing! So you actually went to all the
main train stations of Londonterminals?
SPEAKER_00 (05:12):
There is far more than nine, but these are nine of
the most because I what I wantedto do was cover travelling in
each direction from London.
So I looked at these ninearticles we have in our um uh
website article, which we wrotetogether, and so I visited all
of those, and just to give yousome you know on-the-ground sort
of footage of what to expectwhen you're travelling from
(05:34):
those stations.
And also, again, one of thelater questions, one of my
highlights was also taking theGreat Western Riviera uh night
sleeper from Paddington down toPenzance, absolutely fantastic.
I'll explain that later.
SPEAKER_02 (05:47):
I know.
Well, we have a whole podcastepisode about that previously,
um, and that's been reallypopular.
We've actually heard so of fromso many people via Speakpipe and
email saying how they're theythey're really excited about the
night Riviera and they're gonnabook it.
Um, so that's absolutelyfantastic.
We're really happy about that.
SPEAKER_00 (06:03):
Yeah, one interesting um uh point about
that one is it surprised a lotof people just how far the tip
of Cornwall is away from London.
SPEAKER_02 (06:13):
Oh well, we say that all the time in consults, don't
we?
I mean, because often um youknow we we hear in concerts
people want to just head down toCornwall for a day or two.
It's a long way.
SPEAKER_00 (06:22):
It is a long way.
Even when I've been talking topeople on trains around the
country and they ask what I'vebeen doing, and I say down to um
down to Cornwall and Penzance,and they say, What on a sleeper?
So even people, you know, withinthe UK don't fully appreciate
that that distance.
SPEAKER_02 (06:36):
Yeah, how far that is.
Now, out of all the routes youtravelled, which journey stands
out as your personal favouriteon my?
SPEAKER_00 (06:44):
Yeah, see, this is a tricky question as well, but I
did enjoy every single one ofthe journeys, even when they
didn't entirely go to Pan, I doenjoy it.
But yeah, that great WesternRailway service, the Night
Riviera, was particularlyspecial.
Uh the reason I say that reallyis just the overall experience
from the booking to arriving atPaddington and obviously the
(07:04):
journey itself, it was just alsoseamless and effortless and
well, stress-free.
There really was no part of theentire journey that caused you
any stress, um, yeah, ordifficulty.
It was just very, verystraightforward.
And the staff were so friendly.
I have to say, I've told you atthe time, didn't I?
(07:25):
Yeah, they did, yeah.
The staff were all friendly,incredibly helpful.
Um, I didn't need much helpbecause I've done these things
before, but I heard them and Iwas there when they're helping
other people, asking questions,and that they were just
knowledgeable and patient, youknow, in the middle of the
night, probably more so than Iwould be.
SPEAKER_02 (07:44):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (07:45):
Um, yeah, and the berth itself, um, the sleeping
berth was faultless.
The breakfast I enjoyed, andtalking to um the staff in the
lounge car was well, they'rejust just over and above what
you might expect from staff.
SPEAKER_02 (07:59):
That's lovely.
And I say we've got a wholepodcast episode about that,
which was a few weeks ago.
I'm not sure the number, maybe170, 171, but again, I'll I'll
link to that in the show notes.
SPEAKER_00 (08:07):
Yeah, and but that's one journey.
I know you asked me for one, butyou know, the journal of the
West Coast Main Line, Ithoroughly enjoyed that with the
Vante West Coast service.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Wheredoes that go from though?
I called that from London,Houston, and that was uh to
Edinburgh.
Yes, it's not as fast as theEast Coast Main Line, but I
wanted to experience this onebecause I like going through the
(08:29):
lake district.
You know, it's uh on the edge ofthe lake district.
I thoroughly enjoyed that one aswell.
And I also involved when when Iwas working on the railways, I
was involved with the West Coastas well, so it was a bit of a
you know nostalgic, bit of anostalgic part of it as well.
But and also I have to say, fromLondon Paddington to Bath and
Bravford upon Avon, I love thatas well.
It's always been one of myfavourite routes that has as
(08:52):
well.
Um, but yeah, but the serviceswere on time and the sun was
shining as well when I went outthere, which was always always
makes it better, doesn't it?
And then one of my favourite UKjourneys, the Settle Carlisle
line, albeit the British weathersort of uh intervened on that
day when I was climbing upthrough the uh Yorkshire Dales.
Uh but you know what, it's youyou can't fault it.
(09:14):
I mean, it's just lovely.
And so that's more than one, soso sorry about that, but yes, I
enjoyed the lot.
SPEAKER_02 (09:20):
Uh well, uh yeah, I know you would have done.
Um so now you were filmingYouTube videos and you've
gathered a lot of content, so Iknow you're gonna be busy over
the next few months um makingvideos.
What's been the most rewardingpart of documenting it all?
SPEAKER_00 (09:36):
I think that I managed to accomplish so much.
I always by choice, I when I'mputting an itinerary together
for myself when it's a realitinerary, I always have I'm
always over ambitious, I think.
So I find that I achievedprobably about 90% of what I set
out to do, I was very, veryhappy with.
(09:58):
Um but yeah, now I've got to putit all together, and you know,
the work really starts now,doesn't it?
SPEAKER_02 (10:04):
Yeah, I've got to say we do have a few videos on
YouTube that have doneparticularly well.
We've got the how to get theEdinburgh to London one has done
really well.
Yeah.
Um, and you've got small likehow to use the tram from the
airport in Edinburgh intoEdinburgh itself, and you've
done the Lowlander Sleeper oneas well, and we've got a travel,
you've got a train travel tipsone as well.
But um, yeah, it's we're reallygoing to get on YouTube in
(10:26):
earnest soon and get all thesevideo videos out.
So if you're listening, do goand follow our YouTube channel,
please.
It really will help us as wellto get kind of to see, get seen
more.
Um, and it really motivates youwhen you get followers and you
get nice comments from people,and we know that we're helping
with that.
Now, um, obviously, you you youwe were away for six weeks and
(10:46):
you planned all well, youplanned it all before you went,
what you were going to do, whatyou want to see, and we chatted
about what kind of prioritieswere.
Did you have to change any planslast minute?
SPEAKER_00 (10:55):
Well, I did, yeah, not always last minute either.
Um, because I always check mytimes and schedules, the same as
I tell everybody else when we dothe consuls is you know, you you
look days before is there anyservice changes?
Um, and even on the date, I waslooking, and there were some
timetable changes due toengineering works or
cancellations.
And yes, I've dealt with thatfor many years with a traveling
(11:18):
in the UK, so I know how itworks, and I know because I have
blown my own chumper, I do havegood root knowledge, and
sometimes I had to sort of lookat my plans to modify it
slightly to make it fit, youknow.
It's but to me that's enjoyable.
I I enjoy that, I find it umrewarding when I have faced with
a problem and then I can sort itout.
(11:39):
But being prepared and knowingwhat to expect, I think is the
big thing there.
You know, use the these the appsout there and check your details
before you get there.
Give yourself plenty of time.
I always got to the station,whatever you know, day or night,
I always got to the station inplenty of time to give myself
time to sort of look at changesand what needs to needs to
(12:01):
happen.
SPEAKER_02 (12:02):
And we have been asked about that because I know
somebody asked us about what howlong to get to the train
station, and and it's such adifficult question to answer
because it really depends onyour mobility, how much luggage
you've got, how you know howmuch knowledge you have about
that station anyway.
And we did kind of say when Ithink we got a bit of we got a
bit of flack and a bit ofcriticism because you didn't
(12:23):
answer that question as a directthis how many minutes we kind of
say minimum of 30 minutes, sothat's what we're gonna say, but
really you need to think aboutyourself in terms of mobility,
logistics, you know, giveyourself plenty of time.
SPEAKER_00 (12:36):
Yeah, I always do that.
I mean, everything we said wetalk about on other podcasts and
when we do consoles, I got therein plenty of time.
I've made sure I got um somefood and drink for the journey,
even when there was gonna be onboard facilities expected,
sometimes that was not there.
I've had cancellations on theway, so that's presented a
(12:56):
problem.
My trains diverted one, therewas an incident on the line, I
was already on the train, sothat changed changed plans as
well.
So I had to use my knowledge andI had to sort of you know modify
those plans you know, sometimeson the journey already.
SPEAKER_02 (13:11):
Well, I mean, you do have your your train knowledge.
I don't honestly is is I don'tknow anybody else who has the
amount of train knowledge thatyou have personally, um, because
you've worked so much on theactual railways itself in so
many different ways andcapacities, and so you have an
excellent geographicalknowledge.
Um, I I mean it always comes inhandy.
(13:31):
I know when when a daughter wasover in the UK a couple of years
ago, you helped her when anemergency came up and managed to
get them to Edinburgh becausethey weren't going to be able to
get there.
And she said people on the trainstations weren't able to help,
but she you managed to give herthe route to actually go.
Um, and I mean, you know, youshare that knowledge and
experience in consults whenpeople book us for one-to-one
consults.
If people book us for a videoconsult to go through that
(13:52):
itinerary, and also obviously inour Facebook groups as well, and
you know, you know, you'veyou've written an ebook, there's
all those sort of ways thatyou've you've helped people, and
obviously not the YouTubechannel as well.
SPEAKER_00 (14:01):
I've also helped people um once or twice when
they've been already in the UK,when they've had um consults.
Um, I've helped them out on thego, as it were.
SPEAKER_02 (14:13):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
So, now how flexible were yourplans when you put them
together?
SPEAKER_00 (14:18):
I did build in flexibility with each of my
days' travel, to be honest withyou.
So I set myself a primaryobjective and then a secondary
objective.
Um, in other words, looking anexample, went from London to
Windsor the same day I plannedto do London to Hampton Court.
Turned out that was gonna be adifferent day because, quite
honestly, I spent longer inWindsor than I expected to
(14:40):
because the day was nice, wentfor a longer walk.
SPEAKER_02 (14:42):
I was gonna say, we wouldn't we wouldn't recommend
if you listen that you doWindsor and Hampton Court on the
same day.
It was just that Doug was doingthis for videos.
SPEAKER_00 (14:51):
It was supposed to be purely trains, trains, and
trains to get to Windsor andthen come back again.
But the day was nice and whywouldn't you want to stay a
training?
SPEAKER_02 (14:59):
I spend long in Windsor.
SPEAKER_00 (15:01):
I spent long in Windsor and quite honestly, I
met somebody and I ended uphaving a nice chat to them for
quite a while about trains atthe station, so that also slowed
me down.
So, yes, I always said that wasmy primary objective for the
day, but I ended up with timeswhere I had to reschedule and
look at my plans.
And I mean, on another occasionI was just basically too tired
(15:22):
after one of the days, and so Ithought, well, leave it to
another day.
And I never travelled anywhereon a Sunday.
If that was my day to catch upwith bits and pieces as well,
you know, putting the videostogether and storing the videos
ready, yeah, ready for me toedit.
SPEAKER_02 (15:35):
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 makethese videos?
SPEAKER_00 (15:43):
Yeah, a thought occurred to me once or twice,
but the big difference is for myrailway working days that I'm
not just commuting backwards andforwards on the same route on
you know every day, but moreable to sit back and soak up the
scenery and you know look at therail travel itself in more
detail.
So now I'm writing about railtravel and helping others to
(16:04):
plan their perfect railadventure.
It gives me opportunity to sortof pass on my vast railway
knowledge and experience toothers, I guess.
SPEAKER_02 (16:11):
Yeah, absolutely, and it's great obviously keeping
up to date with it as well.
So now for visitors coming tothe UK and thinking about
travelling by train, what tipscan you give them from your own
recent experience?
SPEAKER_00 (16:21):
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 consultas well, because time and time
again we we talk to people abouttheir UK trip and we save them
time, we save them money.
And we it's basically aboutstreamlining their uh itinerary,
(16:42):
isn't it?
You know, people do come back tous and they've given that
feedback, haven't they?
Oh, yeah, yeah.
I mean you've got mostoccasions.
SPEAKER_02 (16:49):
I mean you've helped some people on multiple trips to
the UK with their with theirtrain trips every time.
SPEAKER_00 (16:54):
That's right, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (16:55):
Um, and obviously you've got you've written an
ebook as well.
SPEAKER_00 (16:58):
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 Irecommend as well.
SPEAKER_02 (17:10):
Yeah, okay, that's perfect.
Now you used the brick rail passduring your trip.
How did you find it in practiceand would you recommend it?
SPEAKER_00 (17:19):
Yes, I did use the brick rail flexive pass, it was
incredibly straightforward andeasy to use.
I bought this when we were stillin Australia and activated on
the first morning when I wassetting out for my
accommodation.
I had to enter my passportnumber, you select your date,
and then you select the date oftravel, I mean, and then receive
a confirmation emailinstantaneously.
(17:41):
And this basically just saysyour pass is activated from this
day.
And I then saved a copy of theQR code on my phone, and that
was that worked at ticketbarries, it worked on board
trains.
Um, I've never had a singleissue with that at all with the
with the card readers from thethe conductors on board the West
Coast um Avanti West Coastservice from Lola Houston to uh
(18:07):
Edinburgh.
I also took the opportunity toupgrade as well, which it says
on the uh Brit Rail Pass.
I think it cost about£45, andthat was because the Avanti West
Coast has three classes oftravel.
So the we bought um I bought astandard class travel for the
Brit Rail and it upgraded to thestandard premium premium, yeah,
(18:28):
which was really really good.
So, sorry, the overall answer toyour question is yes, I would
recommend it.
I would definitely recommend itas regards flexibility and
catching any service that day,but you must do your maths first
because you've got to work outwhether it's actually worth it
for your planned itinerary forthat day.
(18:48):
So that's in terms of uh againstadvanced tickets, renting time
tickets, or tickets bought onthe day.
You have to do your maths, whichI did for everything I planned
every day of using it.
Was is it cost effective forthat day?
Which is why I wanted the flexipass because even though I was
travelling by train just aboutevery single day, as I say,
excluding Sundays, Sundays itjust was not gonna be worth it.
SPEAKER_02 (19:11):
Yeah, okay, so that's really good.
I'm gonna say as well that wehave got an article about the uh
Brit Rail Pass on the website,which I'll link in the show
notes.
And I'm just gonna put a kind ofa bit of appeal out for anybody
listening to the podcast.
And if you are thinking aboutgetting a Brit rail pass, we do
have an affiliate link whichwill cost you nothing extra if
you book through.
And we would we would really askif you would use that link
(19:31):
because it supports all of thework that we do, the podcast
that we put out, your YouTubechannel that we're now kind of
getting off the ground, um, thepodcast, it just supports our
work.
If you're able to do that, itwill put that in the show notes.
It's also in that article aboutthe Brit Rail Pass.
So if you click through that,that is an affiliate link for
us, but it does not cost youanything extra.
But as I say, it really, reallyhelps us to continue to do this
(19:53):
work.
SPEAKER_00 (19:53):
Most definitely so, yeah.
And we will be covering that inuh future workshop.
SPEAKER_02 (19:58):
Um about a oh, that was a surprise for the end.
But anyway, I'll Doug's kind ofgiving it away, but I'll tell
you more at the end of themoment to the point.
SPEAKER_00 (20:07):
But it will be covering more on that one.
Also, in one of the YouTubevideos, I might see if I can
incorporate that within how touse it as well.
Because you've got to be carefulwhen you do a presentation like
because you put your passportnumber in there as well.
SPEAKER_02 (20:19):
So okay, okay, no worries.
Now, were there any surprisesalong the way, good or bad, that
you didn't expect when you firstplanned your route?
SPEAKER_00 (20:28):
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 theroute so many times.
Um, but I did find on well notan entire surprise to me, but on
some of the newer trains,especially in standard class, I
did to be honest, find some ofthe seats not as comfortable as
they used to be on the oldertrains.
(20:48):
Uh, the term is used for ironingboard seats on some of the newer
trains in standard class, andI've got to be honest, after a
few hours on some of them,they're not the most
comfortable.
Um, also, I found, in allhonesty, the Wi-Fi to be a bit
more patchy than it ever used tobe.
Um, but I'm not sure if that'sjust down to the fact there was
a lot of users, a lot oftravellers on the trains.
(21:11):
They do say that the um numberof people travelling has
exceeded pre-COVID levels.
SPEAKER_02 (21:18):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (21:18):
So a lot of services were very busy.
SPEAKER_02 (21:21):
So I guess underlines having your own eSIM
and your own data that you canuse on the streets.
SPEAKER_00 (21:25):
I yeah, I did as well.
I never once relied entirely onthe Wi-Fi.
SPEAKER_02 (21:30):
Okay.
So those are good.
Um I'm just gonna actually I'mgonna throw a quick question in
there because you took a lot ofvideos.
Did you take because the one ofthe questions we get asked all
the time is about luggage on thetrain.
So you took videos of theluggage storage?
SPEAKER_00 (21:42):
I I did.
I quite often took um photos andvideos of the luggage uh racks
and stacks.
The stacks are the industry namefor the floor to ceiling shelves
that you get at the end of thetrain.
Um, there's more of them in uhfirst class than there is in
standard class.
And what that's a good question,actually, because I did notice
(22:05):
um the different operatorswithin particularly the new
trains, the depth of the youknow, the shelf that runs the
entire length of the train onboth sides, some of those are
definitely deeper than others,and some of them you can only
fit uh small bags in.
So I saw people struggling on Iwon't know the name of the
operators, but some werecertainly better than others.
(22:26):
If anybody wants moreinformation about that
specifically, I can give thatsupport.
SPEAKER_02 (22:31):
Okay, cool.
SPEAKER_00 (22:32):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (22:32):
Now you've spent time in major cities and some
small rural stations alike, buthow does the UK rail network
link the country together forvisitors?
I think this is a reallyimportant geographical question.
SPEAKER_00 (22:45):
I think it is, yeah.
I mean the UK railway is prettyuh pretty much well covered
around uh the big towns andcities, and this is growing all
the time with new projects, uhsuch as the East West Rail line,
north of London from west toeast and east to west.
It's basically replacing the olduniversity line, so it goes from
Oxford Oxford to Cambridge,which is due to be finished, um
(23:08):
I think it's 2026.
Uh then you've also got the HS2route, high speed route that is,
uh up the country.
I mean, that's not going as farnorth as it once was, but it's
still a big project.
There does, however, remain umuh gaps really in the railway
coverage in Wales and Scotland.
(23:28):
But who knows, and futureprojects might address that.
SPEAKER_02 (23:32):
So I mean it it is it's very easy that you can get
from city to city, that's nevermuch of a problem.
SPEAKER_00 (23:37):
No, that's that's that's not a problem.
Yeah, not a problem.
Um yeah, Monday to Saturday.
Sunday travel, I still think isnot the best for reasons I've
covered before.
And yeah, as of all, I I avoidedtraveling on the Sunday full
stop, and I did speak to one ortwo other people that do travel
on Sundays, and there was a lotof reported problems, even the
(24:00):
time I was there.
Yeah, and you can get lucky ifyou have to do it sometimes, but
you do get lucky, and I knowthat is a fact.
SPEAKER_02 (24:06):
Yeah, it's just one of those cautions that you kind
of put out, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00 (24:09):
Yeah, if you don't have to, don't travel.
SPEAKER_02 (24:11):
Okay, I'm gonna throw another third throw uh
throw another curveball questionin is that you specifically went
up to the Cotswolds because wewe work really closely with Lisa
from Go Cotswolds and they'refantastic, fantastic small group
tour company, award-winning,they're always winning awards
like Cotswolds.
So you actually wanted to kindof show, and we're gonna be able
(24:32):
to share that on YouTube aswell.
Actually, how to get from Londonto Morton and Marsh to actually
meet up with the Go Cotzwirlsshow in the morning.
So, how did that go?
SPEAKER_00 (24:42):
That went really well getting there to meet them,
and so what I did was Itravelled from London.
Um, you can catch a direct trainto Morton and Marsh.
On the day I did it, I broke itup because again the sun was
shining, and I wanted a coupleof hours around Oxford because
it's very easy to do.
So then it's a quick journey upto Morton Marsh, and you're
(25:04):
gonna be picked up outside thestation by Lisa Go Cottswalls.
And yes, I did a tour.
Thank you very much, Lisa, andit was amazing.
SPEAKER_02 (25:12):
I know they're brilliant, absolutely brilliant.
SPEAKER_00 (25:13):
Loved it, absolutely loved it.
SPEAKER_02 (25:15):
So you've got a video that you're gonna be able
to share about that?
SPEAKER_00 (25:17):
That's one I'll put together.
I've got the footage for that,yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (25:19):
Okay, so that's brilliant because we know we
have a lot of people kind ofwant to go and join the
go-cottswells tours and and theyleave from Morton and Marsh.
So it's always like, How do weget there?
It's actually very easy.
I know Lisa gives thatinformation as well on her
website, but a video is great.
SPEAKER_00 (25:31):
I will and I'll actually add on to that that
it's uh it was actually seamlessas well.
SPEAKER_02 (25:34):
Yeah, that's good.
SPEAKER_00 (25:36):
The way um go-cotswalls they they meet,
meet you there, and it's time tomeet that first train arriving
as well.
So yeah, perfect.
SPEAKER_02 (25:44):
Now, if you could share just one scenic route from
your adventure with everyonelistening and me, because I'm
also interested, which would itbe and why?
SPEAKER_00 (25:54):
Oh yeah, that's a difficult one.
I'm gonna have to say the subtleCarlisle because a lot of the
other train routes I've taken,uh, it's either one side or the
other of the train that givesyou water, you know, decent, you
know, quality scenery.
I mean, you've got the theScotland Main Line, um, West
Highland Main Line falls intothe same category, but I did I
(26:16):
did not do it on this trip, soI'll stick to the one that I did
do, which was the SettleCarlisle.
Now, those that don't know,Settle is just outside Leeds.
You catch the train betweenLeeds and Carlisle in Cumbria.
So the line moves, sort of risesup into the uh Yorkshire Dales,
and you should get beautifulscenery both sides of the train.
(26:38):
We didn't get so much becausethe British weather decided it's
going to put a lot and a lot oflow cloud and rain and wind and
everything else.
It was lovely when we leftLeeds, it was lovely when we
arrived at Carlisle, but inbetween, not so much.
In between, it was a little bitdodgy.
I still took some videos and Istill took some photos, and I'll
put that together because youknow it is what it is.
Uh, but that was a lovelyservice.
(26:58):
It was really lovely service.
SPEAKER_02 (27:00):
And you've got you actually have got an article on
the website about your kind often favourite scenic train
journeys, and we actually havedone other podcasts as well,
particularly about theCaledonian sleeper from London
up to um we've done it up toInverness and up to Fort
William, which we've taken yeah,we've taken that numerous times
actually.
Um that's one of our favourites.
I just love waking up and seeingthe scenery in Scotland, it's
(27:20):
just fabulous.
SPEAKER_00 (27:21):
But by the same token, on the uh Night Riviera,
you can wake up and you've gotthe entire coastline, which is
absolutely stunning.
Again, there was rain and windthere as well, so but it was
nice when I left on the wayback.
SPEAKER_02 (27:35):
But that's British weather, but I'm also jealous of
that one because I've actuallynot done that trip.
So hopefully next time when Iget to the UK, I'll have to do
it again with you.
Oh, absolutely.
So, what's next, Doug?
Then, as our train expert, whatplans have you got for any more
UK rail journeys or futurevideos?
SPEAKER_00 (27:52):
Well, there's definitely gonna be more YouTube
videos um after this trip when Iput them all together, but in
the future it will be based onarising topics and questions and
queries we have.
If there's anything we need tocover in more detail, you know,
I'm fallible.
So, you know, if there'ssomething I've missed in one
particular detail, we'll have todo it again.
(28:13):
Yeah.
Because I've done all theselines so many times in the past,
haven't I?
I mean so it's it's a questionof just of them doing them again
because when the train's movingalong at speed, you're videoing
this bit or that bit, you can'tdo both sides of the train at
the same time, obviously.
SPEAKER_02 (28:27):
Yeah, yeah.
And I mean, well, I know we'vewe've given so much help over
the last few years for people totravel in the UK by train.
So obviously the consults areopen.
Uh we're actually recording thisin October.
Consults are open now forJanuary and February.
We are getting booked up, it'sfantastic.
Um, so Doug can help you withyour plan your route throughout
the UK.
You can see you can do a consultwith Doug, with myself as well.
(28:49):
Um, if you already have anitinerary and you want us to go
through it, we can do that witha video.
So we you send us the itineraryand we will send a video back.
So that's slightly different,and that you don't have the
one-to-one time with us.
But also, there's a couple ofannouncements actually for next
year.
Is that one we're actually goingto be offering a service where
we can plan your UK adventure?
(29:09):
So that could be by train, um,including train travel, so we
can work on the logistics.
Uh, so obviously chat to youabout the places that you want
to go, and then we can developthat itinerary for you.
So that's brand new.
But also, you're going to bedoing a workshop at the end of
January.
SPEAKER_00 (29:23):
Yes, I am on train travel and answer your queries,
questions, and the problemareas, for example, like I've
already said, we should give thegame away.
The uh the Britrail pass, how touse them, how they work, and how
you can actually go aboutworking out whether it's
actually good value morning foryou because they're not cheap.
You know, they're not cheap, butit can make life a lot easier
(29:45):
and more straightforward for youif you have reservations about
the uh the ticketing and whywhich tickets to buy.
This is a cover all.
SPEAKER_02 (29:52):
And also just sharing tips, things that you
need to know.
So obviously, don't overlook thetrain book.
Our train book is a isexcellent, and you can have that
with.
All the time, but and also Iguess the the workshop will be a
live workshop with a QAafterwards.
If you can't make that, it willbe available to purchase
afterwards to be recorded.
So that's going to be the end ofJanuary.
SPEAKER_00 (30:11):
It is.
I mean, I should stress, youknow, I I have got experience
across the entire UK.
I have been to say every singlemainline station.
I passed through quite a few ofthem, but I have done all the
track.
Yeah, I have done all that umover the years.
So there's no question you'dfire at me which I've not come
across before, or got I got atleast got an answer for.
SPEAKER_02 (30:33):
Yeah, and also actually European train travel
is also something that you havea lot of knowledge on.
SPEAKER_00 (30:37):
I have a huge amount of knowledge on that as well.
SPEAKER_02 (30:39):
Yeah, so those are the exciting announcements that
we have coming for the end ofJanuary.
So there'll be more informationcoming about those on the
website soon.
Um, obviously, you can find thelinks in the show notes to this
episode at uktravelplanning.com.
Um, but I guess you had a reallycool trip.
You had a really great time.
I can't wait to see.
I've seen lots of the footage,but I went and see this all put
together on YouTube.
It's going to be exciting.
(31:00):
So thanks for tuning in to thisweek's episode.
Go and follow us on YouTube,please.
UK Travel Planning.
Um, follow us on Instagram aswell.
We do have some videos onInstagram.
Hope to try and do a little bitmore on that.
But obviously, doing the podcastand websites, and there's a lot
of work to do, so it it's alwaysjuggling and trying to get
everything out.
But um, yeah, thanks very muchas always for following along.
(31:21):
And um, I'm a bit jealous ofDoug's trip, so I'll be looking
forward to my trip when I goover in March next year.
SPEAKER_00 (31:26):
Most definitely.
SPEAKER_02 (31:27):
But anyway, thanks so much, Doug, for again coming
on the podcast and talkingtraining.
SPEAKER_00 (31:31):
Always happy to talk about trains.
SPEAKER_02 (31:33):
Yeah, okay.
Well, that just leaves us aguest to say as always until
next week.
Happy UK travel planning.
SPEAKER_00 (31:39):
Happy UK well travel.
SPEAKER_02 (31:40):
Oh yeah, okay.
Thanks very much and see yousoon.
Thank you for tuning in to thisweek's episode of the UK Travel
Planning Podcast.
As always, show notes can befound at uktravelplanning.com.
If you've enjoyed the show, whynot leave us feedback via text
or a review on your favouritepodcast app?
(32:01):
We love to hear from you, andyou never know, you may receive
a shout out in a future episode.
But as always, that just leavesme to say until next week, happy
UK travel planning!
Dog's been crisscrossing the UK by training
(00:01):
to bring you even more traveltips.
Tune in for his trip highlightsand a preview of the new videos
that will help you plan your ownreal adventures from London and
beyond.
SPEAKER_01 (00:12):
Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
Your host is the founder of theUK travel planning website,
Tracy Collins.
Each week, Tracy sharesdestination guides, travel tips
and itinerary ideas, as well asinterviews with a variety of
guests who share their knowledgeand experience of UK travel to
help you plan your perfect UKvacation.
Join us as we explore the UKfrom cosmopolitan cities to
(00:35):
quaint villages, from historiccastles to beautiful islands,
and from a picturesquecountryside to seaside towns.
SPEAKER_02 (00:45):
Hi and welcome to episode 174 of the UK Travel
Plan and Podcast.
Now this week I have Dougsitting next to me.
Now Doug's just got back aftersix weeks in the UK, a lucky
person.
He flew direct from Perth,Australia, Western Australia, to
Heathrow.
It's the first time either of ushave taken that flight.
So that was one of the reasonsthat we flew from here.
(01:06):
But also our daughter lives inPerth, so we we kind of drove
across Australia.
So if you actually want to hearall about our trip across
Australia as well by car, we dohave a global travel planning
podcast all about that, whichI'll share in the show notes.
But basically, this episode isDoug's trip report.
SPEAKER_00 (01:20):
Yep.
SPEAKER_02 (01:21):
And it's talking a lot about the train travel that
you did.
SPEAKER_00 (01:23):
Yeah, it was trains, trains, and well, more trains.
SPEAKER_02 (01:26):
Yeah, exactly.
Because obviously, you know, ifyou listen to the podcast, Doug
is the our resident train travelexpert.
Yep.
Um, so he went back to the UK todo all that stuff.
So anyway, we've got a whole lotof questions.
We're going to go through all ofthis with you.
As always, anything we'retalking about, we'll put in the
show notes.
So do check the show notes.
Um, also leave us a message onSpeakpipe if there's some
(01:47):
questions or something you wantto comment about this episode.
We love hearing from people,don't we?
SPEAKER_00 (01:51):
Yeah, we do.
It's really interesting to hearabout people's experiences for
the things that I know, youknow, for an industry I know
insider now, but hearing aboutother people's experiences is
actually really interestingbecause it sort of focuses my
interest and the points that weneed to clarify and explain in
greater detail.
SPEAKER_02 (02:08):
Yeah, absolutely.
And um, I've also got anexciting announcement at the
very end of the podcast.
So keep uh uh uh yeah, so stayto the very end to find out
where what's coming at the endof January.
Um, right, so let's let's talkthrough it.
So it's been six weeks of almostdaily travel around the UK by
train.
SPEAKER_00 (02:25):
Yes.
SPEAKER_02 (02:26):
Um, so tell us what inspired this railway adventure
in the first place.
SPEAKER_00 (02:29):
Well, it's all about our YouTube, isn't it, really?
Because I've already put a fewuh YouTube videos on there, but
this was developing that.
So we listened to what peoplesuggested as regards uh journeys
for me to take, what possibleproblem areas they have, and we
developed it from there.
So we developed developed theitinerary based on that, really.
SPEAKER_02 (02:49):
Yeah, so we we I know we've actually had so many
requests over the last few yearsfor YouTube videos, and please
do it on YouTube, please do iton YouTube.
So this is exactly what you weredoing, and we also we kind of
know some of the pain points.
We also know that obviously, youknow, a lot of a lot of you like
to watch, and I know I like togo on look at YouTube and can it
make it real when you actuallycan see it.
SPEAKER_00 (03:11):
Most definitely so.
But I mean, there's also thepoint of there's been a lot of
engineering works and trackupgrades, so obviously there's
new trains as well.
So I needed to refresh someinformation as regards journey
times and the new trains thatare now running as well.
Okay, and obviously and the bigpoint as well, I actually
thoroughly enjoy it.
SPEAKER_02 (03:29):
Of course, I was gonna say as a yeah, you love
trains, but um, and also we havegot you know, you you do have
the train travel hub on thewebsite, the UK travel planner
website.
So, and we actually do have abit on day trips from London as
well on the London TravelPlanner website.
So we are there's plenty on thewebsites as well if you'd like
to read about travel, all aboutyour train stuff.
Now you covered a lot of ground,so can you you know share with
(03:54):
us an overview of where yourrail journeys took you?
SPEAKER_00 (03:58):
Well, uh now where to start on that one.
Um, well, as I say, we sat downand we we arranged for me to do
the journeys that we get askedmost about.
Um, a lot of base from Londonand around London itself, but to
list some of the places I'vevisited, we have Bath, Oxford,
Canterbury, Liverpool,Cambridge, Edinburgh, York,
(04:19):
Salisbury, Brighton, Rye inSussex, and also the Cotsford
line up to Morton in Marsh.
SPEAKER_02 (04:25):
Excellent.
SPEAKER_00 (04:26):
Yeah, that was really good.
I also took some uh footage ofhow to travel out to Windsor and
Hampton Court because we getthat as quite often.
And also for the Harry Potterstudios, I headed up from
Houston to Watford Junction.
Now, and also from the trains,we have you have the multiple
train options from uh Heathrowinto London and also from
(04:47):
Gatwick into London.
So I looked at those and took,you know, looked at different
options available.
And then to support all of that,we have one very popular article
uh detailing nine of the Londonterminus stations.
So I visited them all of them inone day, which is quite a day,
and I took some footage of that,which will make an excellent
YouTube video, I think, whenI've got that one done.
SPEAKER_02 (05:08):
Oh, it's amazing! So you actually went to all the
main train stations of Londonterminals?
SPEAKER_00 (05:12):
There is far more than nine, but these are nine of
the most because I what I wantedto do was cover travelling in
each direction from London.
So I looked at these ninearticles we have in our um uh
website article, which we wrotetogether, and so I visited all
of those, and just to give yousome you know on-the-ground sort
of footage of what to expectwhen you're travelling from
(05:34):
those stations.
And also, again, one of thelater questions, one of my
highlights was also taking theGreat Western Riviera uh night
sleeper from Paddington down toPenzance, absolutely fantastic.
I'll explain that later.
SPEAKER_02 (05:47):
I know.
Well, we have a whole podcastepisode about that previously,
um, and that's been reallypopular.
We've actually heard so of fromso many people via Speakpipe and
email saying how they're theythey're really excited about the
night Riviera and they're gonnabook it.
Um, so that's absolutelyfantastic.
We're really happy about that.
SPEAKER_00 (06:03):
Yeah, one interesting um uh point about
that one is it surprised a lotof people just how far the tip
of Cornwall is away from London.
SPEAKER_02 (06:13):
Oh well, we say that all the time in consults, don't
we?
I mean, because often um youknow we we hear in concerts
people want to just head down toCornwall for a day or two.
It's a long way.
SPEAKER_00 (06:22):
It is a long way.
Even when I've been talking topeople on trains around the
country and they ask what I'vebeen doing, and I say down to um
down to Cornwall and Penzance,and they say, What on a sleeper?
So even people, you know, withinthe UK don't fully appreciate
that that distance.
SPEAKER_02 (06:36):
Yeah, how far that is.
Now, out of all the routes youtravelled, which journey stands
out as your personal favouriteon my?
SPEAKER_00 (06:44):
Yeah, see, this is a tricky question as well, but I
did enjoy every single one ofthe journeys, even when they
didn't entirely go to Pan, I doenjoy it.
But yeah, that great WesternRailway service, the Night
Riviera, was particularlyspecial.
Uh the reason I say that reallyis just the overall experience
from the booking to arriving atPaddington and obviously the
(07:04):
journey itself, it was just alsoseamless and effortless and
well, stress-free.
There really was no part of theentire journey that caused you
any stress, um, yeah, ordifficulty.
It was just very, verystraightforward.
And the staff were so friendly.
I have to say, I've told you atthe time, didn't I?
(07:25):
Yeah, they did, yeah.
The staff were all friendly,incredibly helpful.
Um, I didn't need much helpbecause I've done these things
before, but I heard them and Iwas there when they're helping
other people, asking questions,and that they were just
knowledgeable and patient, youknow, in the middle of the
night, probably more so than Iwould be.
SPEAKER_02 (07:44):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (07:45):
Um, yeah, and the berth itself, um, the sleeping
berth was faultless.
The breakfast I enjoyed, andtalking to um the staff in the
lounge car was well, they'rejust just over and above what
you might expect from staff.
SPEAKER_02 (07:59):
That's lovely.
And I say we've got a wholepodcast episode about that,
which was a few weeks ago.
I'm not sure the number, maybe170, 171, but again, I'll I'll
link to that in the show notes.
SPEAKER_00 (08:07):
Yeah, and but that's one journey.
I know you asked me for one, butyou know, the journal of the
West Coast Main Line, Ithoroughly enjoyed that with the
Vante West Coast service.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Wheredoes that go from though?
I called that from London,Houston, and that was uh to
Edinburgh.
Yes, it's not as fast as theEast Coast Main Line, but I
wanted to experience this onebecause I like going through the
(08:29):
lake district.
You know, it's uh on the edge ofthe lake district.
I thoroughly enjoyed that one aswell.
And I also involved when when Iwas working on the railways, I
was involved with the West Coastas well, so it was a bit of a
you know nostalgic, bit of anostalgic part of it as well.
But and also I have to say, fromLondon Paddington to Bath and
Bravford upon Avon, I love thatas well.
It's always been one of myfavourite routes that has as
(08:52):
well.
Um, but yeah, but the serviceswere on time and the sun was
shining as well when I went outthere, which was always always
makes it better, doesn't it?
And then one of my favourite UKjourneys, the Settle Carlisle
line, albeit the British weathersort of uh intervened on that
day when I was climbing upthrough the uh Yorkshire Dales.
Uh but you know what, it's youyou can't fault it.
(09:14):
I mean, it's just lovely.
And so that's more than one, soso sorry about that, but yes, I
enjoyed the lot.
SPEAKER_02 (09:20):
Uh well, uh yeah, I know you would have done.
Um so now you were filmingYouTube videos and you've
gathered a lot of content, so Iknow you're gonna be busy over
the next few months um makingvideos.
What's been the most rewardingpart of documenting it all?
SPEAKER_00 (09:36):
I think that I managed to accomplish so much.
I always by choice, I when I'mputting an itinerary together
for myself when it's a realitinerary, I always have I'm
always over ambitious, I think.
So I find that I achievedprobably about 90% of what I set
out to do, I was very, veryhappy with.
(09:58):
Um but yeah, now I've got to putit all together, and you know,
the work really starts now,doesn't it?
SPEAKER_02 (10:04):
Yeah, I've got to say we do have a few videos on
YouTube that have doneparticularly well.
We've got the how to get theEdinburgh to London one has done
really well.
Yeah.
Um, and you've got small likehow to use the tram from the
airport in Edinburgh intoEdinburgh itself, and you've
done the Lowlander Sleeper oneas well, and we've got a travel,
you've got a train travel tipsone as well.
But um, yeah, it's we're reallygoing to get on YouTube in
(10:26):
earnest soon and get all thesevideo videos out.
So if you're listening, do goand follow our YouTube channel,
please.
It really will help us as wellto get kind of to see, get seen
more.
Um, and it really motivates youwhen you get followers and you
get nice comments from people,and we know that we're helping
with that.
Now, um, obviously, you you youwe were away for six weeks and
(10:46):
you planned all well, youplanned it all before you went,
what you were going to do, whatyou want to see, and we chatted
about what kind of prioritieswere.
Did you have to change any planslast minute?
SPEAKER_00 (10:55):
Well, I did, yeah, not always last minute either.
Um, because I always check mytimes and schedules, the same as
I tell everybody else when we dothe consuls is you know, you you
look days before is there anyservice changes?
Um, and even on the date, I waslooking, and there were some
timetable changes due toengineering works or
cancellations.
And yes, I've dealt with thatfor many years with a traveling
(11:18):
in the UK, so I know how itworks, and I know because I have
blown my own chumper, I do havegood root knowledge, and
sometimes I had to sort of lookat my plans to modify it
slightly to make it fit, youknow.
It's but to me that's enjoyable.
I I enjoy that, I find it umrewarding when I have faced with
a problem and then I can sort itout.
(11:39):
But being prepared and knowingwhat to expect, I think is the
big thing there.
You know, use the these the appsout there and check your details
before you get there.
Give yourself plenty of time.
I always got to the station,whatever you know, day or night,
I always got to the station inplenty of time to give myself
time to sort of look at changesand what needs to needs to
(12:01):
happen.
SPEAKER_02 (12:02):
And we have been asked about that because I know
somebody asked us about what howlong to get to the train
station, and and it's such adifficult question to answer
because it really depends onyour mobility, how much luggage
you've got, how you know howmuch knowledge you have about
that station anyway.
And we did kind of say when Ithink we got a bit of we got a
bit of flack and a bit ofcriticism because you didn't
(12:23):
answer that question as a directthis how many minutes we kind of
say minimum of 30 minutes, sothat's what we're gonna say, but
really you need to think aboutyourself in terms of mobility,
logistics, you know, giveyourself plenty of time.
SPEAKER_00 (12:36):
Yeah, I always do that.
I mean, everything we said wetalk about on other podcasts and
when we do consoles, I got therein plenty of time.
I've made sure I got um somefood and drink for the journey,
even when there was gonna be onboard facilities expected,
sometimes that was not there.
I've had cancellations on theway, so that's presented a
(12:56):
problem.
My trains diverted one, therewas an incident on the line, I
was already on the train, sothat changed changed plans as
well.
So I had to use my knowledge andI had to sort of you know modify
those plans you know, sometimeson the journey already.
SPEAKER_02 (13:11):
Well, I mean, you do have your your train knowledge.
I don't honestly is is I don'tknow anybody else who has the
amount of train knowledge thatyou have personally, um, because
you've worked so much on theactual railways itself in so
many different ways andcapacities, and so you have an
excellent geographicalknowledge.
Um, I I mean it always comes inhandy.
(13:31):
I know when when a daughter wasover in the UK a couple of years
ago, you helped her when anemergency came up and managed to
get them to Edinburgh becausethey weren't going to be able to
get there.
And she said people on the trainstations weren't able to help,
but she you managed to give herthe route to actually go.
Um, and I mean, you know, youshare that knowledge and
experience in consults whenpeople book us for one-to-one
consults.
If people book us for a videoconsult to go through that
(13:52):
itinerary, and also obviously inour Facebook groups as well, and
you know, you know, you'veyou've written an ebook, there's
all those sort of ways thatyou've you've helped people, and
obviously not the YouTubechannel as well.
SPEAKER_00 (14:01):
I've also helped people um once or twice when
they've been already in the UK,when they've had um consults.
Um, I've helped them out on thego, as it were.
SPEAKER_02 (14:13):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
So, now how flexible were yourplans when you put them
together?
SPEAKER_00 (14:18):
I did build in flexibility with each of my
days' travel, to be honest withyou.
So I set myself a primaryobjective and then a secondary
objective.
Um, in other words, looking anexample, went from London to
Windsor the same day I plannedto do London to Hampton Court.
Turned out that was gonna be adifferent day because, quite
honestly, I spent longer inWindsor than I expected to
(14:40):
because the day was nice, wentfor a longer walk.
SPEAKER_02 (14:42):
I was gonna say, we wouldn't we wouldn't recommend
if you listen that you doWindsor and Hampton Court on the
same day.
It was just that Doug was doingthis for videos.
SPEAKER_00 (14:51):
It was supposed to be purely trains, trains, and
trains to get to Windsor andthen come back again.
But the day was nice and whywouldn't you want to stay a
training?
SPEAKER_02 (14:59):
I spend long in Windsor.
SPEAKER_00 (15:01):
I spent long in Windsor and quite honestly, I
met somebody and I ended uphaving a nice chat to them for
quite a while about trains atthe station, so that also slowed
me down.
So, yes, I always said that wasmy primary objective for the
day, but I ended up with timeswhere I had to reschedule and
look at my plans.
And I mean, on another occasionI was just basically too tired
(15:22):
after one of the days, and so Ithought, well, leave it to
another day.
And I never travelled anywhereon a Sunday.
If that was my day to catch upwith bits and pieces as well,
you know, putting the videostogether and storing the videos
ready, yeah, ready for me toedit.
SPEAKER_02 (15:35):
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 makethese videos?
SPEAKER_00 (15:43):
Yeah, a thought occurred to me once or twice,
but the big difference is for myrailway working days that I'm
not just commuting backwards andforwards on the same route on
you know every day, but moreable to sit back and soak up the
scenery and you know look at therail travel itself in more
detail.
So now I'm writing about railtravel and helping others to
(16:04):
plan their perfect railadventure.
It gives me opportunity to sortof pass on my vast railway
knowledge and experience toothers, I guess.
SPEAKER_02 (16:11):
Yeah, absolutely, and it's great obviously keeping
up to date with it as well.
So now for visitors coming tothe UK and thinking about
travelling by train, what tipscan you give them from your own
recent experience?
SPEAKER_00 (16:21):
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 consultas well, because time and time
again we we talk to people abouttheir UK trip and we save them
time, we save them money.
And we it's basically aboutstreamlining their uh itinerary,
(16:42):
isn't it?
You know, people do come back tous and they've given that
feedback, haven't they?
Oh, yeah, yeah.
I mean you've got mostoccasions.
SPEAKER_02 (16:49):
I mean you've helped some people on multiple trips to
the UK with their with theirtrain trips every time.
SPEAKER_00 (16:54):
That's right, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (16:55):
Um, and obviously you've got you've written an
ebook as well.
SPEAKER_00 (16:58):
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 Irecommend as well.
SPEAKER_02 (17:10):
Yeah, okay, that's perfect.
Now you used the brick rail passduring your trip.
How did you find it in practiceand would you recommend it?
SPEAKER_00 (17:19):
Yes, I did use the brick rail flexive pass, it was
incredibly straightforward andeasy to use.
I bought this when we were stillin Australia and activated on
the first morning when I wassetting out for my
accommodation.
I had to enter my passportnumber, you select your date,
and then you select the date oftravel, I mean, and then receive
a confirmation emailinstantaneously.
(17:41):
And this basically just saysyour pass is activated from this
day.
And I then saved a copy of theQR code on my phone, and that
was that worked at ticketbarries, it worked on board
trains.
Um, I've never had a singleissue with that at all with the
with the card readers from thethe conductors on board the West
Coast um Avanti West Coastservice from Lola Houston to uh
(18:07):
Edinburgh.
I also took the opportunity toupgrade as well, which it says
on the uh Brit Rail Pass.
I think it cost about£45, andthat was because the Avanti West
Coast has three classes oftravel.
So the we bought um I bought astandard class travel for the
Brit Rail and it upgraded to thestandard premium premium, yeah,
(18:28):
which was really really good.
So, sorry, the overall answer toyour question is yes, I would
recommend it.
I would definitely recommend itas regards flexibility and
catching any service that day,but you must do your maths first
because you've got to work outwhether it's actually worth it
for your planned itinerary forthat day.
(18:48):
So that's in terms of uh againstadvanced tickets, renting time
tickets, or tickets bought onthe day.
You have to do your maths, whichI did for everything I planned
every day of using it.
Was is it cost effective forthat day?
Which is why I wanted the flexipass because even though I was
travelling by train just aboutevery single day, as I say,
excluding Sundays, Sundays itjust was not gonna be worth it.
SPEAKER_02 (19:11):
Yeah, okay, so that's really good.
I'm gonna say as well that wehave got an article about the uh
Brit Rail Pass on the website,which I'll link in the show
notes.
And I'm just gonna put a kind ofa bit of appeal out for anybody
listening to the podcast.
And if you are thinking aboutgetting a Brit rail pass, we do
have an affiliate link whichwill cost you nothing extra if
you book through.
And we would we would really askif you would use that link
(19:31):
because it supports all of thework that we do, the podcast
that we put out, your YouTubechannel that we're now kind of
getting off the ground, um, thepodcast, it just supports our
work.
If you're able to do that, itwill put that in the show notes.
It's also in that article aboutthe Brit Rail Pass.
So if you click through that,that is an affiliate link for
us, but it does not cost youanything extra.
But as I say, it really, reallyhelps us to continue to do this
(19:53):
work.
SPEAKER_00 (19:53):
Most definitely so, yeah.
And we will be covering that inuh future workshop.
SPEAKER_02 (19:58):
Um about a oh, that was a surprise for the end.
But anyway, I'll Doug's kind ofgiving it away, but I'll tell
you more at the end of themoment to the point.
SPEAKER_00 (20:07):
But it will be covering more on that one.
Also, in one of the YouTubevideos, I might see if I can
incorporate that within how touse it as well.
Because you've got to be carefulwhen you do a presentation like
because you put your passportnumber in there as well.
SPEAKER_02 (20:19):
So okay, okay, no worries.
Now, were there any surprisesalong the way, good or bad, that
you didn't expect when you firstplanned your route?
SPEAKER_00 (20:28):
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 theroute so many times.
Um, but I did find on well notan entire surprise to me, but on
some of the newer trains,especially in standard class, I
did to be honest, find some ofthe seats not as comfortable as
they used to be on the oldertrains.
(20:48):
Uh, the term is used for ironingboard seats on some of the newer
trains in standard class, andI've got to be honest, after a
few hours on some of them,they're not the most
comfortable.
Um, also, I found, in allhonesty, the Wi-Fi to be a bit
more patchy than it ever used tobe.
Um, but I'm not sure if that'sjust down to the fact there was
a lot of users, a lot oftravellers on the trains.
(21:11):
They do say that the um numberof people travelling has
exceeded pre-COVID levels.
SPEAKER_02 (21:18):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (21:18):
So a lot of services were very busy.
SPEAKER_02 (21:21):
So I guess underlines having your own eSIM
and your own data that you canuse on the streets.
SPEAKER_00 (21:25):
I yeah, I did as well.
I never once relied entirely onthe Wi-Fi.
SPEAKER_02 (21:30):
Okay.
So those are good.
Um I'm just gonna actually I'mgonna throw a quick question in
there because you took a lot ofvideos.
Did you take because the one ofthe questions we get asked all
the time is about luggage on thetrain.
So you took videos of theluggage storage?
SPEAKER_00 (21:42):
I I did.
I quite often took um photos andvideos of the luggage uh racks
and stacks.
The stacks are the industry namefor the floor to ceiling shelves
that you get at the end of thetrain.
Um, there's more of them in uhfirst class than there is in
standard class.
And what that's a good question,actually, because I did notice
(22:05):
um the different operatorswithin particularly the new
trains, the depth of the youknow, the shelf that runs the
entire length of the train onboth sides, some of those are
definitely deeper than others,and some of them you can only
fit uh small bags in.
So I saw people struggling on Iwon't know the name of the
operators, but some werecertainly better than others.
(22:26):
If anybody wants moreinformation about that
specifically, I can give thatsupport.
SPEAKER_02 (22:31):
Okay, cool.
SPEAKER_00 (22:32):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (22:32):
Now you've spent time in major cities and some
small rural stations alike, buthow does the UK rail network
link the country together forvisitors?
I think this is a reallyimportant geographical question.
SPEAKER_00 (22:45):
I think it is, yeah.
I mean the UK railway is prettyuh pretty much well covered
around uh the big towns andcities, and this is growing all
the time with new projects, uhsuch as the East West Rail line,
north of London from west toeast and east to west.
It's basically replacing the olduniversity line, so it goes from
Oxford Oxford to Cambridge,which is due to be finished, um
(23:08):
I think it's 2026.
Uh then you've also got the HS2route, high speed route that is,
uh up the country.
I mean, that's not going as farnorth as it once was, but it's
still a big project.
There does, however, remain umuh gaps really in the railway
coverage in Wales and Scotland.
(23:28):
But who knows, and futureprojects might address that.
SPEAKER_02 (23:32):
So I mean it it is it's very easy that you can get
from city to city, that's nevermuch of a problem.
SPEAKER_00 (23:37):
No, that's that's that's not a problem.
Yeah, not a problem.
Um yeah, Monday to Saturday.
Sunday travel, I still think isnot the best for reasons I've
covered before.
And yeah, as of all, I I avoidedtraveling on the Sunday full
stop, and I did speak to one ortwo other people that do travel
on Sundays, and there was a lotof reported problems, even the
(24:00):
time I was there.
Yeah, and you can get lucky ifyou have to do it sometimes, but
you do get lucky, and I knowthat is a fact.
SPEAKER_02 (24:06):
Yeah, it's just one of those cautions that you kind
of put out, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00 (24:09):
Yeah, if you don't have to, don't travel.
SPEAKER_02 (24:11):
Okay, I'm gonna throw another third throw uh
throw another curveball questionin is that you specifically went
up to the Cotswolds because wewe work really closely with Lisa
from Go Cotswolds and they'refantastic, fantastic small group
tour company, award-winning,they're always winning awards
like Cotswolds.
So you actually wanted to kindof show, and we're gonna be able
(24:32):
to share that on YouTube aswell.
Actually, how to get from Londonto Morton and Marsh to actually
meet up with the Go Cotzwirlsshow in the morning.
So, how did that go?
SPEAKER_00 (24:42):
That went really well getting there to meet them,
and so what I did was Itravelled from London.
Um, you can catch a direct trainto Morton and Marsh.
On the day I did it, I broke itup because again the sun was
shining, and I wanted a coupleof hours around Oxford because
it's very easy to do.
So then it's a quick journey upto Morton Marsh, and you're
(25:04):
gonna be picked up outside thestation by Lisa Go Cottswalls.
And yes, I did a tour.
Thank you very much, Lisa, andit was amazing.
SPEAKER_02 (25:12):
I know they're brilliant, absolutely brilliant.
SPEAKER_00 (25:13):
Loved it, absolutely loved it.
SPEAKER_02 (25:15):
So you've got a video that you're gonna be able
to share about that?
SPEAKER_00 (25:17):
That's one I'll put together.
I've got the footage for that,yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (25:19):
Okay, so that's brilliant because we know we
have a lot of people kind ofwant to go and join the
go-cottswells tours and and theyleave from Morton and Marsh.
So it's always like, How do weget there?
It's actually very easy.
I know Lisa gives thatinformation as well on her
website, but a video is great.
SPEAKER_00 (25:31):
I will and I'll actually add on to that that
it's uh it was actually seamlessas well.
SPEAKER_02 (25:34):
Yeah, that's good.
SPEAKER_00 (25:36):
The way um go-cotswalls they they meet,
meet you there, and it's time tomeet that first train arriving
as well.
So yeah, perfect.
SPEAKER_02 (25:44):
Now, if you could share just one scenic route from
your adventure with everyonelistening and me, because I'm
also interested, which would itbe and why?
SPEAKER_00 (25:54):
Oh yeah, that's a difficult one.
I'm gonna have to say the subtleCarlisle because a lot of the
other train routes I've taken,uh, it's either one side or the
other of the train that givesyou water, you know, decent, you
know, quality scenery.
I mean, you've got the theScotland Main Line, um, West
Highland Main Line falls intothe same category, but I did I
(26:16):
did not do it on this trip, soI'll stick to the one that I did
do, which was the SettleCarlisle.
Now, those that don't know,Settle is just outside Leeds.
You catch the train betweenLeeds and Carlisle in Cumbria.
So the line moves, sort of risesup into the uh Yorkshire Dales,
and you should get beautifulscenery both sides of the train.
(26:38):
We didn't get so much becausethe British weather decided it's
going to put a lot and a lot oflow cloud and rain and wind and
everything else.
It was lovely when we leftLeeds, it was lovely when we
arrived at Carlisle, but inbetween, not so much.
In between, it was a little bitdodgy.
I still took some videos and Istill took some photos, and I'll
put that together because youknow it is what it is.
Uh, but that was a lovelyservice.
(26:58):
It was really lovely service.
SPEAKER_02 (27:00):
And you've got you actually have got an article on
the website about your kind often favourite scenic train
journeys, and we actually havedone other podcasts as well,
particularly about theCaledonian sleeper from London
up to um we've done it up toInverness and up to Fort
William, which we've taken yeah,we've taken that numerous times
actually.
Um that's one of our favourites.
I just love waking up and seeingthe scenery in Scotland, it's
(27:20):
just fabulous.
SPEAKER_00 (27:21):
But by the same token, on the uh Night Riviera,
you can wake up and you've gotthe entire coastline, which is
absolutely stunning.
Again, there was rain and windthere as well, so but it was
nice when I left on the wayback.
SPEAKER_02 (27:35):
But that's British weather, but I'm also jealous of
that one because I've actuallynot done that trip.
So hopefully next time when Iget to the UK, I'll have to do
it again with you.
Oh, absolutely.
So, what's next, Doug?
Then, as our train expert, whatplans have you got for any more
UK rail journeys or futurevideos?
SPEAKER_00 (27:52):
Well, there's definitely gonna be more YouTube
videos um after this trip when Iput them all together, but in
the future it will be based onarising topics and questions and
queries we have.
If there's anything we need tocover in more detail, you know,
I'm fallible.
So, you know, if there'ssomething I've missed in one
particular detail, we'll have todo it again.
(28:13):
Yeah.
Because I've done all theselines so many times in the past,
haven't I?
I mean so it's it's a questionof just of them doing them again
because when the train's movingalong at speed, you're videoing
this bit or that bit, you can'tdo both sides of the train at
the same time, obviously.
SPEAKER_02 (28:27):
Yeah, yeah.
And I mean, well, I know we'vewe've given so much help over
the last few years for people totravel in the UK by train.
So obviously the consults areopen.
Uh we're actually recording thisin October.
Consults are open now forJanuary and February.
We are getting booked up, it'sfantastic.
Um, so Doug can help you withyour plan your route throughout
the UK.
You can see you can do a consultwith Doug, with myself as well.
(28:49):
Um, if you already have anitinerary and you want us to go
through it, we can do that witha video.
So we you send us the itineraryand we will send a video back.
So that's slightly different,and that you don't have the
one-to-one time with us.
But also, there's a couple ofannouncements actually for next
year.
Is that one we're actually goingto be offering a service where
we can plan your UK adventure?
(29:09):
So that could be by train, um,including train travel, so we
can work on the logistics.
Uh, so obviously chat to youabout the places that you want
to go, and then we can developthat itinerary for you.
So that's brand new.
But also, you're going to bedoing a workshop at the end of
January.
SPEAKER_00 (29:23):
Yes, I am on train travel and answer your queries,
questions, and the problemareas, for example, like I've
already said, we should give thegame away.
The uh the Britrail pass, how touse them, how they work, and how
you can actually go aboutworking out whether it's
actually good value morning foryou because they're not cheap.
You know, they're not cheap, butit can make life a lot easier
(29:45):
and more straightforward for youif you have reservations about
the uh the ticketing and whywhich tickets to buy.
This is a cover all.
SPEAKER_02 (29:52):
And also just sharing tips, things that you
need to know.
So obviously, don't overlook thetrain book.
Our train book is a isexcellent, and you can have that
with.
All the time, but and also Iguess the the workshop will be a
live workshop with a QAafterwards.
If you can't make that, it willbe available to purchase
afterwards to be recorded.
So that's going to be the end ofJanuary.
SPEAKER_00 (30:11):
It is.
I mean, I should stress, youknow, I I have got experience
across the entire UK.
I have been to say every singlemainline station.
I passed through quite a few ofthem, but I have done all the
track.
Yeah, I have done all that umover the years.
So there's no question you'dfire at me which I've not come
across before, or got I got atleast got an answer for.
SPEAKER_02 (30:33):
Yeah, and also actually European train travel
is also something that you havea lot of knowledge on.
SPEAKER_00 (30:37):
I have a huge amount of knowledge on that as well.
SPEAKER_02 (30:39):
Yeah, so those are the exciting announcements that
we have coming for the end ofJanuary.
So there'll be more informationcoming about those on the
website soon.
Um, obviously, you can find thelinks in the show notes to this
episode at uktravelplanning.com.
Um, but I guess you had a reallycool trip.
You had a really great time.
I can't wait to see.
I've seen lots of the footage,but I went and see this all put
together on YouTube.
It's going to be exciting.
(31:00):
So thanks for tuning in to thisweek's episode.
Go and follow us on YouTube,please.
UK Travel Planning.
Um, follow us on Instagram aswell.
We do have some videos onInstagram.
Hope to try and do a little bitmore on that.
But obviously, doing the podcastand websites, and there's a lot
of work to do, so it it's alwaysjuggling and trying to get
everything out.
But um, yeah, thanks very muchas always for following along.
(31:21):
And um, I'm a bit jealous ofDoug's trip, so I'll be looking
forward to my trip when I goover in March next year.
SPEAKER_00 (31:26):
Most definitely.
SPEAKER_02 (31:27):
But anyway, thanks so much, Doug, for again coming
on the podcast and talkingtraining.
SPEAKER_00 (31:31):
Always happy to talk about trains.
SPEAKER_02 (31:33):
Yeah, okay.
Well, that just leaves us aguest to say as always until
next week.
Happy UK travel planning.
SPEAKER_00 (31:39):
Happy UK well travel.
SPEAKER_02 (31:40):
Oh yeah, okay.
Thanks very much and see yousoon.
Thank you for tuning in to thisweek's episode of the UK Travel
Planning Podcast.
As always, show notes can befound at uktravelplanning.com.
If you've enjoyed the show, whynot leave us feedback via text
or a review on your favouritepodcast app?
(32:01):
We love to hear from you, andyou never know, you may receive
a shout out in a future episode.
But as always, that just leavesme to say until next week, happy
UK travel planning!
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