Cheap trip / Eurostar ?

[Sid74]

Hi,

I am trying to sneak in an extremely cheap trip to DLP for my birthday, which also happens to be valentines day, and was wondering about using the Eurostar.

We usually drive, but as I am trying to do this on the cheap and leave the kids behind with my mum for the weekend, they will be 15 and 16, and have been lots of times before, so I don't feel too bad about leaving them at home. I have been looking at using the london to paris cheap return tickets.

I have priced up getting to london the catch the train and it will cost over £200 just to get from brum to london!

I was wondering if it would be ok to get the london to paris tickets and then get on at ashford? I looked for cheap return fares from ashford, but there don't seem to be any? We would drive to ashford and leave the hire car in the car park and get on the train there. Is it ok to do this?

I am trying to persuade my DH that we need to go on this trip to use up our remaining DVC points so they don't expire. I was already really good and sent my DSis and her DBF to DLP for free last month, but after having had to cancel our trip for january, I really want to go for my birthday, as I haven't been to DLP for 5 years!!

DH is worried that it will be too expensive and take money away from our trip to WDW next october, but as he has just had almost as much overtime call out as I think it will cost to do a cheap trip, I see it as only costing the extra money that we weren't expecting anyway!

Thanks for any help,

Sid

 

[Tinkjon]

You should be able to get London tickets but get on at Ashford, yes. But I definitely wouldn't leave it top chance, I'd telephone them first to let them know that's what you intend to do. We did this once and they had to make a note of it as far as I recall, but it was fine to do. I can't imagine the Eurostar being cheaper than driving though?

 

[joolz1910]

Hi, have you checked out the price of flights from Birmingham to CDG? Or Coventry to Beauvais? I just wondered what the difference would be. My daughter's birthday is Valentine's Day too! Did you realise it's also half term? It might work out cheaper to do it the week before or after...

 

[Sid74]

Hi,

we don't own a car, so we'd have to hire one and they charge a lot extra for taking them abroad, so far the cheapest one I can find is almost twice the price of the eurostar option.

I have priced up flights as well and the cheapest one there is £200 from birmingham, getting to coventry and then from the end french airport would cancel out the cheaper flight prices, and with the hire car to drop the kids at my mums, car parking at the airport and fares from the airport in paris as well, it is about £100 more than the eurostar option.

The whole point of going on the weekend of valentines day itself as it is almost impossible to get people together for a night out as they are all expected to stay home/ go out with their other half, so it makes it quite boring and disappointing.

I hope your daughter enjoy the date of her birthday more than I ever did growing up. I am sure that you make it more fun than my parents ever did.

 

[joolz1910]

Hi,

we don't own a car, so we'd have to hire one and they charge a lot extra for taking them abroad, so far the cheapest one I can find is almost twice the price of the eurostar option.

I have priced up flights as well and the cheapest one there is £200 from birmingham, getting to coventry and then from the end french airport would cancel out the cheaper flight prices, and with the hire car to drop the kids at my mums, car parking at the airport and fares from the airport in paris as well, it is about £100 more than the eurostar option.

The whole point of going on the weekend of valentines day itself as it is almost impossible to get people together for a night out as they are all expected to stay home/ go out with their other half, so it makes it quite boring and disappointing.

I hope your daughter enjoy the date of her birthday more than I ever did growing up. I am sure that you make it more fun than my parents ever did.

People have already started to forget her birthday because they are so concerned with their own Valentines gifts etc! I try to make it special for her!

If you really want to go, you should grit your teeth and book it! We are cutting corners at Christmas and selling stuff on eBay to afford it, and I'm glad we are. It will be worth it when you look up at the Castle on 14th February!

 

[sduffield]

Have you priced the train from Bham Snow Hill to London Marylebone? It should be cheaper than Bham to Euston but not as quick (and you will have to take the tube from Marylebone to St Pancras).

Also National Express sometimes do Bham to London Victoria for £1 per ticket. Maybe worth a look.

 

[Disneyfoo]

You have probably tried this already but have you priced up through tickets? I originally priced up tickets from Leeds to London, then on from London to Paris. I then priced up through tickets from Leeds to Paris and got two adult returns for £130 pounds. We are then getting the train from Paris to DLRP.

 

[Rachie B]

Sid,
do you collect airmiles (or tesco clubcard points )?

you can use them for eurostar travel via airmiles site,or flights


xx

 

[Sid74]

Thanks for your thoughts, everyone. I appreciate it.

Rachie B - I don't collect clubcard points or airmiles as our Tesco is a small one, and badly stocked, so we don't shop there much.

Disneyfoo - I would be really interested to know where you looked to find that great price on through tickets, I didn't know you could do that. Any info. would be greatly appreciated.

sduffield - I priced up all of the Birmingham train station routes, but they are all coming out expensive. I hadn't thought of using the coach. I will need to have a hire car to take the kids to my mums as she lives a distance from decent public transport, so getting to the airport/eurostar is taken care of, thanks.

Does anyone know of any offers or cheap flight deals from Birmingham or east midlands airports that I might be missing? I did a google search, but didn't find a great deal, and nothing for under £200. Any ideas?

Thanks.

 

[Disneyfoo]

I got through tickets from the Eurostar website, I just put in Leeds as the From station.

Everything was booked through Eurostar, and we are collecting the tickets from Leeds station and then from London. I am not sure how far in advance through tickets can be booked, I booked 2 months in advance of the travel date. I did have to juggle the times and dates a bit to get the cheapest option as it was about £60 pounds more to travel on a Friday.

I don't know if this is an option but if the trains from Birmingham continue to be expensive have you considered getting a train to Leicester then onto Paris? I completed my Undergraduate degree in Leicester and I went to Birmingham quite a few times via train!. It seems like smaller cities get cheaper seats, I actually live in Cheshire but I am getting a train to Leeds as the through trains from Manchester were over £100 more expensive!.

I forgot to ask, are you using the trainline to search for tickets to London from B'ham? I just quickly priced up some tickets for January(I know you aren't traveling then but it was the latest I could look for!) and I found advance singles for 5 pounds, both ways. The price may vary of course but I did look for Friday times when they are usually most expensive. I am sorry I can't be of more use! None of the train sites will let me look that far in advance