Ian F. wrote:
Mark Brader" wrote in message
...
Well, duh! On earth, you get on the first train available. And on
services that don't require reservations, you get to pick your seat.
I would never reserve in advance unless there was a good reason to do so.
Well, duh! Obviously I didn't mean local services, which I use on spec most
days. I'm talking about travelling any distance.
I often just turn up for long distance trains in the UK, without a
problem. I'd say I book in advance half the time, other occasions I
can't.
Why stress yourself out, having to get to the station early enough to queue
for a ticket and then pay top price? Just book it in advance.
For leisure travel, yes, but I often need need the flexibility. I never
find buying tickets at train stations here a problem, and the main
stations have plenty of machines. (Indeed, I often wonder why people
queue and assume they have particular questions about tickets, etc.)
Even for leisure travel, the cheap advance purchase tickets may have
disappeared. I couldn't get any cheap tickets for the Barcelona-Valencia
trains for example- not a surprise as it was holy week. This was
compounded by none of their long distance machines working at Sants and
us having to queue for an hour just to get a damn ticket.
--
(*) of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
www.davidhorne.net (email address on website)
"The fact is that when I compose I never think of and never
have thought of meeting the listener." -George Perle (RIP 2009)