One friend in Newcastle, the other in Birmingham. Train cost £105 ... so they met in Malaga for £75!
LIVING 200 miles apart, former university friends Lucy Walker and Zara Quli looked forward to a rare weekend together … until they checked the train fare.
The cost of a return ticket from Miss Walker’s home in Newcastle to Birmingham, where her friend lives, was £105.
So the pair decided instead to fly to Spain, where they enjoyed a sunshine break together with total travel costs working out less than if Miss Walker, 27, had visited Miss Quli by rail.
The former Nottingham University student, who now teaches English as a foreign language, went online and found she could fly to Malaga and back for less than £20 with Ryanair and that hostels were as cheap as £10 a night.
Miss Quli, a charity worker, was unable to travel quite as cheaply, getting a return flight with the Spanish budget airline Vueling for just over £55.
Even so, their combined travel costs were almost £30 less than the rail ticket.‘Trying to travel last minute in the UK is always a kick in the teeth as they put such a big premium on it,’ said Miss Walker. ‘There are always last-minute deals
‘It’s always a kick in the teeth’
for flights, so we just checked for a better deal. We realised it was cheaper for both of us to go to Malaga instead.’
She paid £9.99 each way for her flight from Newcastle, while Miss Quli, 26, paid £55.29 to fly from Birmingham and back.
They met in Malaga last Saturday and spent three nights enjoying the 68F weather in the south of Spain.
‘It was more expensive to check a bag in than the cost of the tickets,’ said Miss Walker. ‘You get quite a generous hand luggage allowance, though, so we didn’t even need to.’
The pair spent two nights in a hostel for about £10 a night, then travelled to Granada and spent a night in a hotel for £11 each.
Miss Walker said: ‘Everything is cheaper out there – lots of things that add up in the UK.’
The pair saved money on food by filling up on tapas served with their drinks. ‘They start off quite basic but by the time you are on your third drink they start to bring out prawns and things,’ she said.
‘It’s only about two euros for a bottle of beer, which is a lot cheaper than over here, and by the time you have had a few drinks and the tapas, you are stuffed for the price of one cocktail in London.’
While advance rail fares work out cheaper, booking sites quoted more than £100 return yesterday for a journey between Newcastle and Birmingham in the next two months. Research by price comparison website Skyscanner last year found a return flight between some British cities was on average £76 cheaper than travelling by train.