Last week I came back from England and brought loads of ideas (and photos.) On my way back I did Inter Rail (this year France&Spain) but 3 years ago I did Brit Rail . It's high time to encourage you to travel by train in Britain and discover places you've never dreamed of!
Brit Rail is a pass which allows you to travel across Great Britain by train. You can hop on and hop off at any stations and at any time you want. When planning your trip think of places you'd like to see. Are you interested only is seeing big cities (London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool) or maybe small places, little villages (Wales is perfect!)? Open that map, do some research about the places you've chosen and start planning you train trip.
- check the types of tickets available on the website. There are two types of passes Consecutive (allows you to travel on select number of continuous days) and Flexible
- think where you want to sleep (I recommend using CouchSurfing or Airbnb)
- get a good guidebook (not too heavy as you have to carry it with you all the time but still choose the one that has all the useful info and maps in it)
- try to see as many places as possible-remember that you can hop on and hop off at any station. If there are castles worth seeing, a bakery famous among the locals or just the best fish&chips don't hesitate and get off on the nearest station
- don't take too much things it's better to buy some and take home:)
It's good to know that the first passenger railway was opened in 1825 between Stockton and Darlington. In general traveling by train in England is: easy, safe and comfortable. For me it's the best way to get to know Brits and the way they live. While being on the train have a look on what people are wearing, reading or saying. I know it's not nice to listen when someone's on the phone but if you can do it unnoticeable try to focus not on the content fo the conversation but on the grammar structure ( listening comprehension task!)
