Need Some Help Pls Guys

[Dee Sa]

have a friend coming into Heathrow on Tues 8/6/14 @ 8am and we are going to meet up in London, she needs to be in IOW by 9pm same day so she wants to travel Waterloo/Ryde Pier Head via Guildford not Basingstoke as its faster anytime after 4/5pm.
The cheapest price single is £46 , but some say Waterloo East where is that ? I am thinking just Waterloo London main line station'
I always thought it was dearer to just go to the station and buy a ticket the same day, the cheaper way was to pre book on line but the fares seem the same, bit confused never done this before, can anyone kindly help me pls?

[Dee Sa]

Thanks for help I find it very confusing,Waterloo will be fine, but is it the same price if we just go to british rail ticket office at Waterloo & purchase on the 8th or do I have to purchase on her behalf tomorrow from Train Line ?

[Buenchico]

>>>but some say Waterloo East where is that ? I am thinking just Waterloo London main line station'

Waterloo East is like an annex of Waterloo station. It's just a fairly short (well-signposted) walk over the footbridge from the concourse at Waterloo. If your friend will be using the Jubilee Line she should alight at Southwark station, rather than at Waterloo, as its a bit closer - but it's not actually worth changing trains to get to Southwark as the walk from Waterloo is so easy.


>>>I always thought it was dearer to just go to the station and buy a ticket the same day, the cheaper way was to pre book on line but the fares seem the same,

Online booking ALWAYS offers exactly the same ('Walk Up') tickets as you can buy at any National Rail station. In addition it SOMETIMES offers discounted ('Advance') tickets but ONLY at times of low demand.

[Buenchico]

Please, please , please don't even consider using the dreaded Trainline.com. They can never offer any fares lower than you'll find by going to http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

Further, they might add a booking fee or (even worse) supply you with tickets that aren't even valid for travel on any train. (I used to run a railway station and I got fed up of explaining to people that their tickets weren't valid, meaning that they'd have to pay again if they wanted to travel, and then try to get a refund from Trainline.com ).

[Dee Sa]

thank you Chris, I am spending day with said lady so can get her to Waterloo after we do the afternoon tea on the Routmaster tour bus eg
http://www.bbbakery.co.uk/ it looks good to me what do you think ?

[Buenchico]

It looks fun (if, like all other London tours, rather expensive). I hope that you're able to get upstairs seating as you won't get much of a view from downstairs. Further, I hope that the weather isn't too hot or humid as Routemasters can be incredibly 'stuffy' on hot days!