OK, so after Amsterdam, I am travelling to Cheltenham and Evesham to spend around a week with Dad & Jan and Cheltonian friends. The next week I am travelling to Clydach, near Swansea to see Mum & John, and then some time after down to Falmouth to see my brother for his birthday (12th October).
With the Cheltenham/Evesham to Clydach journey, I need to decide whether to travel on a train, catch a coach or rent a hire car for the day.
The advantages that I can see of each…
Train – plenty of room to stretch my legs, normally has a little buffet section on board
Coach – get on coach, read/listen to music/sleep, get off at other end, often no changes required, usually cheaper than a train
Hire car – a lot more flexibility with when I leave, taking a rest break and don’t need to worry about my luggage getting too battered/stolen
The disadvantages…
Train – often pricey compared to a coach, most previous journeys I have taken have involved a change of trains
Coach – cramped, no food or drink onboard, risk of noisy/smelly/annoying passenger sitting next to me, at least on busy routes
Car – can be expensive in comparison to the others, need to get myself to the pick up and drop off points (hire car company offices)
So, after a little research, things are not as simple as I hoped. The coach (National Express) doesn’t seem to have a terminal in Swansea, the trains are not running on the first date I was looking at (Bank holiday maybe?), and the hire car company comparison sites don’t allow for picking up a car in Cheltenham/Evesham and dropping it off in Swansea to be entered into their comparison search table.
So, does anyone have any advice?
[edit]
Another option I considered would be to buy a bargain banger with at least a month’s tax and MOT left, and hope it lasted while I was in the UK…