Getting to Bournemouth

[squips]

Trying to get to Bournemouth from Derby, Stafford or Birmingham on 22nd December and even though it's this early the cheapest way I can find is �69 (return) on the train. National express takes FOREVER and flights are over �100. Coming back 29th Jan or round abouts. Any ideas?

[dzug]

If you buy a return it won't be valid anyway - they only last a month.

Buy a cheap single now if you can find one. (Actually it's possible they are not available yet - with Arriva taking over from Virgin there's probably a delay)

Then wait for the cheap singles for 29 January to be released (I doubt if it will be for another month) and buy another one.

Another suggestion is to travel via London and get megatrain to/from Bournemouth. You can only book megatrain 6 weeks or so in advance though but if you are lucky it can cost as little as �1.

[Buenchico]

Most rail companies withdraw all advance purchase offers from roughly one week before Christmas until just after New Year. So it might not be possible to get a cheap ticket for your outbound journey.

However, it's possible that CrossCountry might decide to accept advance bookings for the week prior to Christmas. At present they're not accepting advance bookings beyond 8 December. I suggest keeping an eye on their website to see when booking opens for dates beyond this:
http://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/
(If you're lucky you might get a single ticket for �12. That's what CrossCountry's lowest advance purchase fare is for Saturday, 8 December:
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ )

Chris

[dzug]

According to the new Cross Country site they will be releasing cheap fares from 9 December into the New Year on 24 October.

[Dassie]

Ryanair flies to Dublin from East Midlands airport and then on to Bournemouth on 22nd Dec and returns 28th Jan. Present cost of flights incl tax is �72.00.

[squips]

Ahhhh ! There are still no cheap trains for 22nd Dec (I'm forgetting about the return) does anyone know when they are coming out?

[buildersmate]

24th October (see above)
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