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From the cost of booking to the fanfare of getting yourself there on time, train travel can come with its added stresses.
But what if there was a way to enjoy a smoother journey on a budget?
Now, an influencer has revealed a nifty way to get first-class train tickets across one train line – without actually paying for them.
Olly Bowman (@ollybowman) often posts travel-related content across his socials – and his latest hack, documented during his five-hour train journey from Cornwall to London with Great Western Railway, is an absolute game changer.
‘New travel hack unlocked,’ Olly shared in a video posted to Instagram.
‘So we started off, it was like a rammed train, just full of people and we thought we’d go to the restaurant.
‘And then we walk up to this restaurant and the lady’s like “are you sure you’re meant to be here” and we were like “oh we were just gonna get some food.”
‘And we find out you can either pay £100 to upgrade your ticket, minimum £100, or you can just pay £37 which is to eat at the restaurant.
‘They say you can just stay there the whole ride so you just sit in first class in the comfortable seats, you can move your bags up there…they actually allow you to just stay there the whole time once you’ve bought that.’
However, Olly did add one technicality – that it has to be a ‘minimum of two courses’ (which comes with the £37 price tag). It’s still a notable saving though, as he noted that you still ‘save a lot of money from actually trying to upgrade.’
Naturally, the comments were inundated with followers who were desperate to test out the hack themselves – and livid that they didn’t know about this sooner.
‘Travel hacks meets girl math,’ @amyjs13 joked, while @vinnietovindaloo labelled it ‘game changing.’
‘I just spent this exact train journey waiting for the food trolley to come up,’ @wizardtrimes penned. ‘It never did…can’t believe I’m just seeing this.’
Elsewhere, some had tried similar hacks on other train lines.
‘The best! Did that before in Germany. The board bistro is not as fancy as your restaurant, but you don’t have to order a lot to stay there,’ @kopf_meets_intuition noted.
‘I used to use exactly the same hack,’ @london_garden_designer added. ‘Well done.’
Now, it’s worth pointing out that Olly used this trick on Great Western Railway – so it wouldn’t necessarily apply on other train lines.
‘Customers holding a First Class ticket can reserve their Pullman Dining table up to two weeks in advance of their journey,’ Great Western Railway’s website reads.
‘For customers in Standard Class, please speak to the Pullman Dining restaurant manager when boarding and we’ll be happy to accommodate you subject to availability.’
As such, the restaurant service is offered Monday to Friday throughout the year apart from bank holidays – and only on journeys above 50 minutes.
But if you are travelling to the west country this summer, why not give it a go? After all, it’s certainly one sneaky way to access a champagne lifestyle on a lemonade budget.
The travel hack every commuter needs to know to get a seat on a busy train
We can’t be the only ones who have found themselves sprinting through a station, hoping to grab one of the few seats on a busy commuter train.
But now, a travel expert has revealed a handy way to work out which carriages have the most available seats – and we bet you had no idea about it.
Chelsea Dickenson, who goes by Cheap Holiday Expert online, posts tons of tips and tricks to save money and make travelling that little bit easier.
In a recent video titled ‘I Bet You Didn’t Know This Train Tip’, Chelsea told viewers about a feature of the electronic platform signs that will help you find a quieter cabin.
In the video, Chelsea stands in Manchester Piccadilly station, pointing at one of the signs that often appears at the top of each platform, listing the stops the train will be making.
Under the list of destinations, there’s a symbol indicating a train.
‘You see that little drawing of a train, that actually gives you loads of information about how busy each of the carriages are,’ explains Chelsea.
‘So the more coloured in it is, the more busy and full it is, the more booked seats there are.
‘And therefore, if you do not have a seat booked, you are best heading to the ones that are not filled in at all.’
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