Transport help request!

bJN

bJN

bJN

Soldato
Joined
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Norwich
Evening all!

It's not often I resort to GD for help, yet here I am today!

The breakdown, I need to find the cheapest method of travelling from Edinburgh to Paris for a set date. I've been searching around for a fair while and my hopes keep getting battered by the astonishing taxes placed on flights that are eye-wateringly ridiculous - 150% of the ticket price? Sure, why not!

So, what's the best you can find? I do not care about what method of transport is used - planes, trains but preferably not (my own) automobiles - but simply the cost of it providing it meets certain criteria.

It / I must:
Can leave Edinburgh any time after 17;00 on 7th December.
Must arrive arrive in Paris before 19;00 (CET) on 8th December.
Must be able to return to Edinburgh preferably before the morning of the 10th.
It is for two people, myself will be 21, and the second is 18.

I do have a car, so I'm able to drive around a bit if needed, but not looking to drive the entire distance.

Come on GD, restore my faith in transport costs! :D
 
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So you are basically going to Paris for one day? Because you'll need to leave on the 9th if you wish to be back BEFORE the morning of the 10th. Seems like a complete waste of time and money to me, what exactly are you going to do on Paris given you'll arrive at 6ish on the 8th and leave again on the morning of the 9th!?

But still, using your requirements..

08:30 Edinburgh to London Kings Cross, £32.65 Advance.
15:31 St Pancras International to Paris Gare du Nord £54.50 Standard non Flex

Return..

10:13 Paris to London £74.50 Standard non Flex
13:00 London to Edinburgh £39.95 Advance

+ 16-25 Railcard (Which you can use again for a year) £28

Total cost £229.60 per person.

Lot of money to spend on under 24 hours in Paris, mind.
 
Driving will be cheaper than the above unless you drive a HumVee.

Alternatively you can do what a normal person would do and fly.
 
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It does seem like a mad thing to do for such a short amount of time, however it would be for a gig (Swedish House Mafia, One Last Tour). I may be able to pick up tickets for it incredibly cheap, hence why I'm desperate to see how much the travelling costs will be!

Driving there would be a long old trip as well, plus the limitation of little to no drink. It would take me a tank and a half of fuel to get down there, so that's £100 each way, plus the cost of getting over / under the Channel.
 
It is a 1400 mile round trip which in an average car doing 40mpg would cost circa £220 in fuel. You'd then need 2 days European breakdown cover (It will ruin your year if you don't have this) at about £20. Crossing the channel, bizarrely Eurotunnel comes in cheapest at £70. They've probably got a deal on as I paid that one way earlier in the year!

You'll need to pay a 21 euro toll each way for the Autoroute. So thats about 30 quid.

Then you've got to park in central Paris which is probably going to be circa £15-20 for 24 hours. Add on 1-2p a mile misc expenses for the trip (ie tyre wear, etc etc) which is another £28 and we have a total cost of driving a 40mpg car from Edinburgh to Paris and back of...

£368.

So a saving of about 30 quid each. Not really sure its worth the faff!
 
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bJN said:
It does seem like a mad thing to do for such a short amount of time, however it would be for a gig (Swedish House Mafia, One Last Tour). I may be able to pick up tickets for it incredibly cheap, hence why I'm desperate to see how much the travelling costs will be!
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Take a bit more time off work and stay a few days extra. It's pointless to spend almost 500 quid travelling somewhere just so you can spend a few hours at a gig. Extend your stay and spend some time in Paris, too. Then it starts to be a little more worth the disproportionately big travel costs.

I wouldn't even consider driving for a city-orientated trip like this, complete faff. No idea why mjt is so hung up on the idea :p

It also takes 12 hours to drive versus 6 hours by train! Why would anyone choose the car?
 
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[TW]Fox;23162214 said:
Take a bit more time off work and stay a few days extra. It's pointless to spend almost 500 quid travelling somewhere just so you can spend a few hours at a gig. Extend your stay and spend some time in Paris, too. Then it starts to be a little more worth the disproportionately big travel costs.

I wouldn't even consider driving for a city-orientated trip like this, complete faff. No idea why mjt is so hung up on the idea :p

It also takes 12 hours to drive versus 6 hours by train! Why would anyone chose the car?
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Unfortunately time off work is something I cannot do and won't be able to for the best part of a year and a half - in an apprenticeship full time within college at the moment...

If the cost difference was huge, I wouldn't be adverse to driving, however that oddly comes out as the exact same price as I found a train journey from Edinburgh all the way to Gard du Nord anyway! :eek:
 
Don't discount flying though. Why waste 2 days sitting on a train then flights are roughly the same cost?
You can fly EDI-CDG on Saturday morning and be back in EDI on Monday morning at 8:20 for £218.
 
Ah yea, I didn't notice that - you can book the entire thing on the Eurostar site for less than the cost of the seperate tickets whilst using the same trains as I suggested.
 
Flights are coming in circa £50 per person each way. Add on the £150 of tax to each ticket for each direction.

I haven't discounted it, but the days of cheap, short flights are over I fear... :(
 
bJN said:
Flights are coming in circa £50 per person each way. Add on the £150 of tax to each ticket for each direction.

I haven't discounted it, but the days of cheap, short flights are over I fear... :(
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But it's the same price as the train!
 
mjt said:
Don't discount flying though. Why waste 2 days sitting on a train then flights are roughly the same cost?
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2 days sitting on a train? He's going to Paris not Budapest. It's 7 hours sat on a train each way.

Which isn't hugely different to 30 minutes getting to Edinburgh airport, 60 minutes of checkin time, 2 hours on the plane, then about 90 minutes to get off the plane and get into the centre of Paris as the airport isn't central.

But it's the same price as the train!
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Using Ryanair, sure! They don't even fly to Paris, they fly to an airport MILES outside of Paris and he'd need to get to Glasgow to get the Ryanair flight.

There is a reason why Eurostar is the market leader between the UK and Paris. It's just better!

Booking the entire thing as a through journey on the Eurostar site shows prices for his dates as low as £157. From the centre of Edinburgh to the centre of Paris. You try and find the same total cost by plane.
 
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I was going on your figures of £230pp
 
You said £230pp!

Anyway, it'll be nowhere near 7 hours door-to-door on EDI-CDG direct.

FWIW, youth tickets might be even cheaper still on the Eurostar.
 
mjt said:
You said £230pp!

Anyway, it'll be nowhere near 7 hours door-to-door on EDI-CDG direct.

FWIW, youth tickets might be even cheaper still on the Eurostar.
Click to expand...

That's with youth tickets unfortunately :(
 
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