~ Transportation--The Final Word (Originally Posted 3/2/08)

Ok...I suppose by now you think I’ve beat a dead horse but I haven’t really. Aside from the money for your lodging, the money you spend on transportation will probably be your next largest expense so you need to make sure that your spending it wisely, no? I suppose if you aren’t a budget traveler like I am it might not be that big a deal but if you travel on a tight budget like I do, you’ll want to know exactly where your money is going and what you can do to save a bit if you can.

If you go back a couple of entries and read my first blog about transportation, you’ll see I mentioned that I traveled exclusively by rail when I went to Italy (minus the one coach trip). I basically tallied ahead of time the number of trips I would have to take using Rick Steve’s rail-friendly map and determined it would probably be cheaper to purchase my tickets for travel while I was in Italy and on the day of travel.

For the England trip, though, I’ve used the actual website for train travel in the UK (National Rail) and using it, determined that it would probably save me more money to purchase my rail pass now rather than wait.

You can purchase your rail passes through several websites as I pointed out in one of my earlier blogs, I used Rick Steves’ website and got 20% off some travel gear I wanted to order as well.

Whatever you decide to do, make sure you do your research, (or hire me to do it for you) plan in advance and you’ll be fine.