Navigating UK Train Travel with Rail Expert Doug Collins

UK Rail Planning Tips for Confident Travel

Planning train travel in the UK can feel confusing, even overwhelming. Conflicting advice online, outdated blog posts, and well-meaning Facebook comments often leave visitors unsure which tickets to buy, when to book, or whether they are even planning the right route.

In this episode Tracy and UK rail expert Doug talk through why UK train travel causes so much uncertainty for visitors and, more importantly, how to plan with confidence instead.

Doug explains the most common issues he sees when travellers come to him for help, including relying on incorrect information, misunderstanding ticket types, and trying to plan complex routes without understanding how the UK rail system actually works. We also discuss how to spot reliable rail advice, what questions you should be asking when planning your journey, and why personalised guidance can save both time and money.

You’ll hear how Doug supports travellers through UK Train Travel Q&A sessions, itinerary reviews, and practical planning tools, as well as when railcards and passes make sense for your trip.

If you are planning to travel by train in the UK and want clarity, reassurance, and realistic advice from someone who truly understands the system, this episode will help you feel far more prepared before you book a single ticket.

👉 Full show notes and helpful links at uktravelplanning.com/episode-188

🎧 Listen to next:

• Episode 157 - 15 UK Train Travel Mistakes First-Time Travellers Make and How to Avoid Them
• Episode 151 – Essential UK Train Travel Tips and Q&A for First-Time Travellers
• Episode 43 – Unravelling the Mysteries of Train Travel in the UK [Expert Answers to 15 Frequently Asked Questions]

🎟️ Sponsored by Walks Tours & Devour Tours. Explore London with expert guides, from sightseeing to food tours.

👉 Book London sightseeing tours with Walks
👉 Book London food tours with Devour

Transcript

Why UK Trains Feel Overwhelming

SPEAKER_08 0:00

If the UK rail system feels confusing or daunting, this episode explains how UK rail expert Doug Collins can help you understand your options, plan your train travel more realistically, and feel more confident about navigating the UK rail system as part of your trip.

SPEAKER_05 0:15

Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast. Your host is the founder of the UK travel planning website, Tracy Collins. Each week, Tracy shares destination guides, travel tips and itinerary ideas, as well as interviews with a variety of guests who share their knowledge and experience of UK travel to help you plan your perfect UK vacation. Join us as we explore the UK from cosmopolitan cities to quaint villages, from historic castles to beautiful islands, and from the picturesque countryside to seaside towns.

SPEAKER_08 0:46

Before we get started, we'd like to thank our sponsor, Walks and Devour Tours. If you're planning a trip to London, you'll already know the challenge. There's a lot you want to do and only a limited amount of time to fit it all in. That's where the right tour makes all the difference because you want experiences that are the best use of your time with more access, less waiting, and a deeper sense of the city. That's why we recommend Walks and Devour Tours. They offer walk-in tours and food tours designed to make your time count, often with early or after hours entry. You'll also be with exceptional local guides who add the stories and context so you leave with a richer understanding of what you're seeing and a trip that feels genuinely memorable. If you're visiting London as a couple with family or you simply prefer a more intimate experience, walks and devour tours also offer private tour options. To learn more, you'll find the link in the show notes. Now let's get into this week's episode. Hi everybody, and welcome to this week's episode of the UK Travel Planning Podcast. Now we know that train travel is a major kind of pain point for a lot of you. And I have Doug here this week.

SPEAKER_04 1:53

That's me!

Meet Doug And His Rail Background

SPEAKER_08 1:54

Gate crashing the podcast once again. But this is a perfect opportunity for Doug to kind of share his expertise and knowledge with you guys about train travel. Because we hear all the time that you're excited about your trip, but you're unsure once you start looking at train routes, ticket options. I mean, there's so many different ticket options, uh, passes, all the rest of it, how it all fits together. So I thought this would be a good opportunity for Doug to come on as our UK rail expert and tell you actually how he's an expert, why he's an expert, um, and how he can help you understand your options, plan your train travel more realistically, and feel more confident about this part of your trip. Now we work with travelers from all sorts of different places in the world and all sorts of different stages of planning. Um so if you just start now, if you already have an itinerary and you want some expert reassurance before you book anything, um we we we can cover all bases and we're gonna talk about that in this episode and what Doug can offer as well. Um, and actually, this came out of, I actually want to just say where this came out of Doug, because I think it's important. So I obviously on Facebook, um Doug's got his UK train travel tips Facebook group. Sure. Um, and also we have the UK Travel Planner Group and the London Travel Planner Group. So we often get questions about train travel. Um, and obviously I'm in other groups just to see what people are doing and asking. And I was incredibly frustrated about well, I don't know, maybe three or four days ago, when I was in a group where and I read the just the misinformation, disinformation, nonsense that was being spread about traveling in the UK by train. Um, and I I I struggle because I want to say to people, look, join the UK train travel chips group. Don't listen to somebody who's been traveled on a train for five minutes and think they know everything. Um because it's so important, it's so frustrating because I want to correct that information. And obviously, I can't because I'm gonna get kicked out of these groups.

SPEAKER_09 3:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 3:51

Um, but I have said to all the people in our groups, please recommend to people to listen to the podcast or join our Facebook groups. Anyway, so that that's what I wanted to come in to actually chat and wanted Doug to share with you his expertise, his knowledge, and why and how actually people get themselves in knots and so confused and so stressed out, and how he can help you with that. Right. So, Doug, do you want to just say hello again? I guess.

SPEAKER_11 4:17

Yeah, yeah, it's uh yes, Doug here. Yes, I've trains are in my blood. They are the same. I mean, I'm nearly weeks away from being 50 something, 57, and yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_08 4:33

Yes.

SPEAKER_11 4:33

And my father worked for the railways in the UK, so from a very, very young age, trains have been my entire life. And we travelled around by train when I was growing up, and then as soon as I was on I was out on the train all around the UK and away all weekend, and just non-stop travelling. And then I worked for the railways as well for many, many, many years.

SPEAKER_08 4:53

He worked in lots of different uh ways as well and roles in the railway. So I think I don't know anybody who is a kind of depth of knowledge about all the different train lines. Like you've done every single train line.

SPEAKER_11 5:04

I have when uh yeah, when I was uh an apprentice on the railway, uh electrical uh engineering apprentice, I had a good friend. We traveled the whole country and continue to travel by rail across the UK everywhere, new boat lines, and and and that's it. So, you know, I do have good route knowledge even when I worked on the railways because it was quite unique in the fact I had a lot of engineering and project management experience of trains themselves, but also on the operational side. Um so it was it was quite a unique um collection of roles I had. Yeah, and project management roles as well. So, yes, I've managed teams, I've managed to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_08 5:42

So try to say you know what you're talking about when it comes to no question.

SPEAKER_11 5:47

No question. Nothing, no question that could be asked on the about the railways that I've not come across or you know, experienced in one form or another.

Myths, Media, And Strike Reality

SPEAKER_08 5:54

Exactly. So let's talk about what it is that that people find daunting when they're starting to plan UK train travel. You know, what is confusing about the UK rail system?

SPEAKER_11 6:07

I think because it's comprehensive. Yes, there is gaps in the rail coverage around different parts of the country, but on about as a as a system, as a network, the UK railways is pretty damn good. Uh okay, and people can challenge that. Yes, they've had strikes in the past and various issues, but compared to a lot of countries, the UK rail system is absolutely excellent. And I really mean that. Uh, like in London. So when people come from a country where they've not got great rail experience, it is overwhelming. Yeah. It does make people anxious. So what we try and do uh together, and with our fantastic moderators in the train groups as well, and the uh all our groups, is we're trying to lay down phase, we try and signpost people to the information that we have to me for questions and answers for consults. So it's just coming from a place where they're not used to the rail industry, they're not used to travelling by train. It might be the first time they've actually ever caught a train, which comes up quite often. Yep. So yes, I can understand why it can be overwhelming, it can a bit confusing.

SPEAKER_08 7:12

So, what do you think of the assumptions that people often make that don't quite match how things work in reality?

SPEAKER_11 7:18

Uh the trains are always on strike. I think they misunderstand that one.

SPEAKER_08 7:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_11 7:21

Um, yes, like any other industry around the world, yes, they can have issues, uh, weather can play the part. But it's a lot of media damage done by the UK uh train industry around the world, and it puts uh the wrong impression, it puts the wrong images in, and I think it just causes more confusion than actually solve sometimes.

SPEAKER_08 7:40

You know, and there's a good point there because I know we get asked quite a lot because that there will there have been in the recent years quite a few train strikes. But we have we have actually had pointed out on numerous occasions that you could be on a train in France or Italy and you will just get dumped at a train station.

SPEAKER_11 7:53

You're speaking from experience.

SPEAKER_08 7:54

Yes, I am. Yeah, they can go on strike without any warning at that whereas in the UK they have to let you know too.

SPEAKER_11 8:02

There's a certain legislation they have to follow.

SPEAKER_08 8:03

Yeah, so you can, if you have to, make alternate plans. So for things like that, it you know, yeah, it's it's it's hard and it's difficult, and we've had to help uh people in the past that have been caught out by you know things that when they've been in the UK.

SPEAKER_11 8:17

But you could equally be travelling by a road and the road works and you have you know unexpected weather, you're like so that's part of travel, whether it's in your home country or in a different country.

SPEAKER_08 8:30

No, I'm gonna say that the majority of the time the the the well they have to let you know by a strike. So you can plan right now.

SPEAKER_11 8:37

An official strike they have to let you know by uh two weeks' notice. It's the things like the overtime bans which has caused more problems historically.

SPEAKER_08 8:45

Right, okay. So at what point do travelers usually start to feel uncertain or second guess their plans?

SPEAKER_11 9:51

Well, it I think that's at any stage in their planning, but what what they do is they do the Google searches and they do the looking in wrong groups and non-specialist groups, and they listen to people with limited or no UK experience, usually you know, from people with not even from that country. So they have extremely limited knowledge. Yeah, you know, you have to remember living uh in a country and working and travelling by train is different to visiting a country and travelling around for leisure, and we've done both, so it's an entirely different thing. So they'll you know they'll often look at Facebook groups, they'll look on websites and they'll listen to podcasts and they'll do various things, and some of the information on there is just so wider than marks. Yeah, yeah, and it just costs people money.

SPEAKER_08 10:41

The one thing I see quoted all the time is the 12-week uh window for buying train tickets.

SPEAKER_11 10:47

That's historic, and and that's a rule of thumb you'll see quoted, but it's nowhere near that quite often.

SPEAKER_09 10:52

Yeah, and I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_11 10:52

I mean, there's lots of there's lots of complications as regards uh training tickets in the UK and misunderstandings and interpretations, and but that that sort of 12-week rule was such an old-fashioned uh concept. You know, at times now, particularly things like weekend travel, you know, it could be down to sort of four weeks before they actually guaranteed what what um what trains are running, but it's closer to sort of six to nine as as a as an average.

SPEAKER_08 11:18

And I think I think that but that's a point is kind of and that's what I've seen when I was talking about these other Facebook groups, is that people quote what they have read and it's a historic, but they're not up to date with the knowledge. And uh, I know somebody in our Facebook group said unfortunately, like a lot of this stuff can actually have an impact on people's trips if they're if they believe in this. And it's really hard. And I understand, and we actually say this exactly the same because there are there seem to have been be a plethora of Facebook groups at the moment for London travel, for UK travel. Um, and quite often what I'm seeing is not it's not in the realms of reality, it's not it, it may be somebody sharing advice from a you know a one-week trip to London 20 years ago, and it's just about dating.

SPEAKER_11 12:02

But it's it's that repetition of things that aren't true. You know, I've seen I obviously can't mention names, but I've seen certain names that appear across different groups, and they are repeating that same incorrect information.

SPEAKER_08 12:15

Probably because they're thinking that being helpful. Yeah, maybe the thing that they're doing. But and I think the whole point of what we're trying to say in this podcast is like really choose your trusted source of information and use that as your go-to, which is what we're trying to say, and this is what we kind of we publicize all the time about UK travel plan and London travel planning, about Doug's train knowledge.

SPEAKER_11 12:35

I have the credentials, yeah. You know, I don't I'm not very good at blowing my own trumpet, but whether when it comes to the railways in the UK, I have a huge amount of experience.

SPEAKER_08 12:43

Exactly. But also, and this is also something I say as well, is that we are both British. We are both born in the UK, grew up in the UK in in different, I've lived in different locations in the UK. Doug's travelled extensively, we both traveled extensively around the UK. I honestly don't know when I speak for train places that we've been to that people have not like lots of people, even in these that run these groups, have not been to. Um, so I think you know, we we spend a lot of time, we spend a lot of money, we do a lot of you know research constantly, um, traveling around the UK so we keep our knowledge up to date. We keep it up to date. We're not using AI, we're not, you know, producing all this, all these um driving routes and all this kind of stuff that's going viral. We we literally research and are passionate about what we do and passionate about making sure that you get the right information. So stick with us, that's what I'm saying. Yeah, stick with Doug when it comes to train travel because we genuinely care, we genuinely want you to get the best out of your trip.

SPEAKER_11 13:41

And listen to people who know. Somebody who's lived in London for two weeks is not an expert, trust me.

Why Trusted Sources Matter

SPEAKER_08 13:47

Yeah, and obviously the thing is I know you know you often you don't know what you don't know. No. Um, so we've talked a little bit about your background and expertise. I mean, the rail industry is in your blood, it really is. Um and you've actually brought, we've been married for 20 odd years now, and um I I've grown to love the railways aro around the world. I mean, we've traveled extensively around the world by by train, but I love the certain trips in the UK that I, you know, Caledonian sleep are absolutely love that journey that I would not have potentially would not have ever done, but that you've introduced me to, and also being able to kind of um you know know that you're the the expert. So if I'm traveling around the UK and you're not with me, and the same with I always talk about the fact that our daughter did this a few years ago when she was stuck trying to get from was it Manchester, Liverpool, to Edinburgh, and all the friends were meeting for Hockburn A and uh they couldn't get there for various reasons. That Doug actually got them all to Edinburgh because you knew that you know the root knowledge.

SPEAKER_11 14:43

Station staff didn't have that information, yeah.

SPEAKER_08 14:45

You know, so that's it. So you've got that kind of insider knowledge, you've got that, you know, that you're not guessing, you know the stuff because you've worked in the industry.

SPEAKER_10 14:52

That is true, that's true.

SPEAKER_08 14:54

Yeah. So obviously, I'm I'm like happy to to show you off because I know that you know so much. Um, so let's talk about the different ways that you can help travelers plan with confidence to travel around the UK. Now we know that not all of you will need the same level of help. So we we offer different options, and actually, this is across the board. This is for your itinerary as well. So if you're planning just a general UK itinerary, a general London itinerary, this is exactly the same as what we offer as well. But I wanted to actually make it kind of clear in terms of what the steps are, and then you can choose which would work for you.

SPEAKER_11 15:31

Give you options, yeah.

SPEAKER_08 15:32

So, I mean, the first thing we've got is if you go to the website.

SPEAKER_11 15:36

Yeah, that's right. The we have a whole section on UK travel planning, it's called the UK Train Travel Hub, and it's a whole list of information. And there's even an introduction, you can see my my face on.

SPEAKER_07 15:46

It's a video view, yes.

SPEAKER_11 15:48

Yeah, so that you might need to wear your sunglasses if you're doing that one just to looking at me. But um, no, that that's me. It's sometimes easier to put a face to the name and the voice.

SPEAKER_08 15:57

Which of course people could do on YouTube as well, because you've got a lot of successful YouTube videos now that you've been working on as well. So if you actually want to see, and I know people have said actually on YouTube, it's nice to see the the face behind the voice.

SPEAKER_11 16:09

That that's right. I mean, the the the YouTube videos, the first few I did, it was cringe worthy trying to put them together. I should point out I have no media training, I have no voice training, I have nothing of those skills, but I work on the basis that next video is better than the last one. Absolutely. And take it from me, there is passion there when you see me doing everything I do. Not to mention I love travelling by a train in the first place, but trying to record and trying to put information out there is a real passion for me. Yeah. And yes, it may be flawed, it may not be the very perfect video you've ever watched in your entire life, and I guess it won't be. Um, but you like to get the information out there, I like to show, I like to keep things simplistic. I always have done.

SPEAKER_10 16:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_11 16:50

You know, the UK rail network can be overwhelming, but buy you know, buy it off little chunks, do a little bit of time. And that's what I try and do with the YouTube videos.

SPEAKER_10 16:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_11 16:59

You know, how to get from London to Bath.

SPEAKER_10 17:02

Yes.

SPEAKER_11 17:02

How, what are the train options to get from Heathrow into London?

SPEAKER_10 17:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_11 17:07

Try and keep things simple. Because if you don't know, you know, it's easy to even watching a video to be overwhelmed. So keep it simple.

Free Hub, Emails, And YouTube Guides

SPEAKER_08 17:15

Yeah, well, I agree. I mean, I know that when we're planning trips, I like to look at YouTube and look at the specific video about a specific train journey that we want to take or wherever, which country are. But usually how to get from an airport into a city is the first thing that we start with. So I know that's so those are useful. So I will link to those. But so you when you get onto the UK train travel hub, there is a video of Doug. There's also a sign-up box where you can sign up for our um free 12 UK train travel tips. So that's a a quick kind of win. You can download that, it's a it's a few pages and and check that through with kind of the the kind of tips that we offer. So that's the first one that will get you then signed up to our mailing list, and at that point you will receive some emails from us all about train travel, which we are thinking are very in fact. I think we have something like a I think an 80% open rate on those emails. Yeah, which is amazing, which is fantastic. So after you've done that, the next thing that we recommend that you look at is Doug's Guide to UK train travel ebook.

SPEAKER_10 18:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 18:14

So uh we update that often, and what's included in that?

SPEAKER_11 18:20

Well, everything. Yeah, um the ebook is for anybody who doesn't know, an ebook is a non-physical book. It's an electronic version of a book. Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 18:30

So you just you basically you download it in a PDF form. Um, and it we kind of wrote this one together because I was also kind of thinking about what people would need to know. And we updated it and we update it anything that changes. Yes, that's right. Um, and it basically this is a great introduction if you haven't experienced UK train travel before.

SPEAKER_11 18:51

That's right. What it is, it's a step-by-step, everything you need to know if you never traveled to the UK before. Um you have to remember a book is sometimes people's best way of learning. Yeah. They appreciate that more than you know, just a bullet points here, there, and everywhere on a screen and oh absolutely.

SPEAKER_08 19:08

Well, and I mean this is something we've been talking about as well, because we have, for example, we have the YouTube videos, we have the articles people can read, we have the ebook again that people can read.

SPEAKER_11 19:16

People are different mediums, yeah. Exactly.

SPEAKER_08 19:18

It depends how you learn. So we're kind of trying to trying to kind of target that really. Um, and I know in that one it gives you really just the sort of questions that we get asked all the time, but in it's a very easy, readable format. Yes. You've got it, there's information about train tickets, information about train passes.

SPEAKER_11 19:34

Yes, that's right. There's information about train operating companies, what that means.

SPEAKER_08 19:38

Yeah, so explaining so you have it uh you you will understand enough that you need to know about traveling in the UK if you get the ebook. So I will link to the ebook in the show notes, but um, it is a bestseller. The reviews we've had for that are absolutely amazing. In fact, I will put some of the reviews in the show notes as well. You can see there's some the feedback we've had from it has been absolutely phenomenal. Now, so you're into your planning, you've accessed some of the reading, you've bought the ebook, and you're starting you're starting to put your itinerary together. Now, this is where we have a couple of options, and we had a lovely QA the other day with a uh lovely lady down in Melbourne. So I'll say hello to you because I know you're a podcast fan. So talk about this. This is a brand new uh service that we've literally just launched in the last couple of months, and it's basically a QA session with Doug. So it's a 30-minute QA session with you. So what do what do people need to know and why would people access that?

Inside Doug’s UK Rail Ebook

SPEAKER_11 20:38

I think it's because if you don't necessarily want a whole consult as regards your entire um trip to the UK, this is just breaking it down into exactly what the problem area might be. And if the trains are going to form a big part of your logistics in the UK and you've got some fundamental questions there, it ticks that box in a major form. Yeah. Because everything else then sort of farms away from that one point. So, you know, if you want me to explain about National Rail cards, you've wanted me to explain about the ticket types or some of the London stations, or how you're going to get from London to Edinburgh, for example.

SPEAKER_08 21:18

Yeah, and you can look at if it works as well. I'm thinking in terms of like the because I I think some of the questions being asked about is like how much time will those connections work?

SPEAKER_11 21:26

Yeah, that's right. Or I have mobility issues, can you explain what options are open to me there?

SPEAKER_10 21:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_11 21:32

And I can it uh sometimes it's uh purely reinsurance. You know, people come to me and you know, in things like the Facebook groups and when we've done our itinerary consults generally, is they have an idea, they think, well, this might work and this might work. Tell me, I think I know about the two together rail cards. Can I explain to you and you can tell me if I'm right or wrong? And you know, things like uh saving money on, say, with a national rail card, that can make or break a trip because you can be talking, you know, quite a saving.

SPEAKER_08 22:03

Yeah, yeah, and also you talk about Brit rail pass as well, because obviously you're very expensive at that. So it's all based on your knowledge and experience, and I don't think there's a question that anybody asks that you haven't got an answer to.

SPEAKER_11 22:13

No, no, I mean these there's certain questions that come where you think I need to do fact-check myself on that, and which is fine because then information I give it that helps to re-update my knowledge as well. Um, you know, a good question yesterday, it was an excellent question. I knew the answer and I was right, but I double checked myself was about uh applying the National World Card to the London Underground.

SPEAKER_08 22:36

Yeah, the oyster card, yeah.

SPEAKER_11 22:37

Uh the oyster card, and I was about 99.9% sure that and we we checked because you actually helped as well. And I was right.

SPEAKER_08 22:44

Yeah, yeah. So but it's like the fact that you will you'll check and again make sure that um people are on the right lines, that they know exactly what they've got to do, that their itinerary works. So that QA session is a thirty minute QA with Doug. That's a live session. So once you've booked that, you book a slot with Doug on our calendar. And then that is a Zoom chat, which we can record so you've got that information afterwards. And Doug will go through. We do ask you to we do ask send like a little uh form for you to fill in just with some information or just to email us kind of uh roughly what the questions are or you know what it is that you want to talk about. Exactly. So Doug can prepare and and and but he you I mean you can do it off the bat if you need to, but it's better to prepare.

SPEAKER_11 23:27

And don't be afraid to talk to me. I'm quite a normal, easy-going person.

SPEAKER_08 23:31

Absolutely, absolutely. Now, what we have done with that as well is we've introduced that 30-minute QA um and we've bundled that up with the ebook. So if you want to, if you haven't bought the ebook and you're thinking, actually, I want to just have the QA session with Doug, um, and I'm I'm keen to read the ebook, um, I would suggest you buy the bundle because that's actually the best value. That's really good. So you get the ebook, you also get access to Doug for 30 minutes. So, and we find that is often enough for people and that that you're happy with that. But we do offer kind of a next service up, which is our uh video itinerary review. Now we do this for train itineraries, UK itineraries, uh I would do it for London itineraries. Um, so basically, this is slightly different, is that I'm usually involved with this as well.

SPEAKER_11 24:16

Yeah, you were involved with the QA the other day, you stuck your head in.

SPEAKER_08 24:19

Well, okay, yeah. Sometimes I do, but um, I'd just like to say hello.

SPEAKER_11 24:22

Actually, she listens and then if she thinks, actually, I want to go and join this one.

SPEAKER_08 24:26

I'd say hello. But um yeah, so with a with a video review is that you send us your itinerary, and then Doug and I will go through it. So generally he will look at the training aspects of it, the logistical aspects of it, um, and I will look at what you know, other questions because you can ask questions as well when you send that itinerary, and then we will do a video and send you that back. We get great reviews on that.

SPEAKER_11 24:48

And if you're perhaps a little shy and you don't want to talk face to face, that's fine. That's that's your thing. That's not a problem at all. And it's the same dedication, we put the same effort into whatever, you know, whatever your your you know, your preferred choice is, you know, we give it 100%, don't we?

New 30-Minute Q&A Sessions

SPEAKER_08 25:03

Absolutely. And again, it's a you know, it's a second set, in fact, two sets of expert eyes having a look at your itinerary. So we can check if you've got have you know, is that unrealistic travel days? And that's often what we get asked about. Is it realistic that we can do X, Y, and Z in a day? Is it with the train or the driving? Is this possible? Am I staying in the right, you know, is there somewhere else you'd recommend that it's better to stay in? All of those sorts of questions that we get asked about. In fact, often we've caught out things like um people plan to visit places that aren't accessible or open.

SPEAKER_09 25:33

That's right.

SPEAKER_08 25:34

Um, that people have put into the plan. So we find that out. And then our kind of premium offer is that you get a one-to-one consult with myself and Doug. So that's a live session. So the video one, it's not live, you just send us your and we your itinerary and we do the video and send it back to you. But um, we do one-to-one consults, don't we?

SPEAKER_11 25:52

We do, and we love everything.

SPEAKER_08 25:54

We've been doing those for years now. We absolutely love them. Now, if you're thinking about, you know, do you need a full consult? It's a really helpful way to look at your whole trip. So not just trains, everything, and to support you developing your itinerary. So often we will ask if you've got an itinerary that we can look at, but we've also had options where people have kind of said, look, I want to visit London, then I want to go to Cornwall, and I want to go to the Lake District, then I want to go to Edinburgh, and how can I do all of those things? And I've got the I've got this length of time, and we've actually logistically worked it out with them over that time period so that it makes the best use of their time when they're in the year.

SPEAKER_11 26:32

We do that together. We work very well when we do that. So we do.

SPEAKER_08 26:36

Oh, and I love it. And I have to say, I love meeting you guys. Uh we've just met some amazing people over the years. So I want to say a huge thank you to all of you who's book have booked a one-to-one consult with us, um, or even a video consult in the QA. We love to meet you. I'm actually going to be meeting some people. I've actually met quite a few people from the podcast over the years, and I've got a tour with a few people that I'm I'm attending in in May, which I'm really looking forward to.

SPEAKER_11 26:58

Having some staff, some lovely friendships.

SPEAKER_08 27:00

Yeah, absolutely. Yes, we have made some wonderful friends. Um, so if you've got a more complex or trip and you want that big picture planning, that is our personalized support and service, and that is that we love doing those. Those are only open at certain times um due to the fact that often Doug and I are traveling and not necessarily together. Um, but if you want a one-to-one consult and you go to check to book and there is no slot, always email, always email us because generally once we know what it's about, we can we can fit it in. Yeah, for example, when you were in the UK last year, um, I had a lovely request from a lady in uh San Francisco. Yeah, um, so I just did that uh one-to-one consult with her and helped actually plan her trip from London and some date some day trips from there as well.

SPEAKER_11 27:48

Yeah, I did when I was here in Australia, I did one when you were in the UK. Yeah, yeah.

Video Itinerary Reviews Explained

SPEAKER_08 27:51

So also I will say, not only are you getting our expertise um with that as well, uh, with any of these, is that we also have some of the our our preferred partners, our trusted partners in the UK that we work with, we work with amazing people, amazing British companies, amazing just tour groups, uh, and we we've taken care over the years to make sure that we work with the best. Uh, and so not only do you get those uh you get to meet us, but you also will get those recommendations as well. Yeah, and uh we've we've had the feedback we get is absolutely phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal. So Doug and I reached out to some of the amazing, amazing people that we have met over the years doing our consults, just doing the web website and the podcast. And we have met some amazing people, haven't we? We have some lovely, lovely, lovely people. So we reached out some to some of these fantastic, amazing friends. We they're now friends, they are indeed so. Um, and so um each one of them sent us back a message on Speakpipe, and so we are gonna play those for you now. These are all genuine people that we never had met before we started doing this business. We are so lucky that we are considered these people friends, but this is what they had to say, and actually, I I have to say, I'm gonna let you know before Doug says anything. But Doug was obviously listened to all of these messages, and he actually had tears in his eyes when he listened to them because he was he was you were very touched, weren't you? I was it's a lovely thing. So um, so the first uh message we're gonna hear is from Rob. Uh, and we met Rob, Heather, and their son Beckett a few years ago, actually, in the UK.

SPEAKER_10 29:30

In Whitby.

SPEAKER_08 29:31

Yeah, we met them in Whitby, but we had helped Rob with a consult. Yes. We did the a one-to-one consult with him. Now, Rob is an excellent planner, absolutely fabulous planner. Uh, but he reached out, we helped him on the consult, you helped him a lot with the train travel aspect of the trip. Um, Rob actually has been on the podcast a few times. Loved interviewing Rob, but um, I'm gonna now let Rob take the floor. So this is what Rob had to say.

SPEAKER_04 29:55

Hi, Tracy and Doug. Uh, I just wanted to say we can't say enough about how much Doug's expertise helped us in planning our one-month trip with our son a couple years ago. Coming from the US, you know, we don't really have a lot of trains around here, so we don't have a lot of experience. Um, riding trains, planning trains, and to be quite honest, the trains over there in the UK can be rather intimidating to those of us without that experience with all the different routes and the companies, ticket prices. Um, so when we downloaded Doug's ebook and then scheduled a consultation with uh both of you, uh it took a lot of the stress out of all the choices we had to make regarding uh the train travel, especially. I think a lot of people are afraid of making mistakes uh that could affect their trip. You know, were they choosing the wrong line or fair, you know, not wanting to waste money. And Doug's suggestions and expertise definitely gave us the confidence in the choices we were making, and that we were gonna have a good time and not a stressful time riding the rails and enjoying our trip. So thanks so much for all your help. And everybody should definitely take Doug up on all the expertise that he has to share with you, from which lines to pick, days to travel, what side of the train to sit on, and so much more. So thanks for all your help, guys.

SPEAKER_08 31:26

Thank you so much, Rob. That was lovely, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_11 31:28

Oh, that was unbelievably nice.

SPEAKER_08 31:30

Thank you very much. So lovely, Rob, and we we really appreciate that. We we loved um meeting you guys and and helping you with your trip and um that you um you bought the ebook and then you booked us to have your the session. And I just want to actually say at this point as well, because we are constantly finding people asking questions in the in other groups, and I've mentioned this before, and getting wrong answers.

SPEAKER_11 31:53

And you know some of those answers just do in my head in.

SPEAKER_08 31:56

I know, and I just want to make the point, and Robert said it about saving money. It's like you can, it's like you've already spending a lot of money for this trip, and so just to get Doug's expertise is gonna cost you a little bit more, but at least you'll know that what you're doing is it's right and it can save you money. So I'm gonna not I'm not gonna say anything more about that, but I just think it's so important, and there's so many people out there who will rather take some advice in another group that's completely wrong than than spend a little bit of money and get the help. Even just buying the ebook, it's$39, guys. Just buy the ebook if that's it, and just get that that help and that expertise. Anyway, I'm gonna go on to actually the next person um who is Wes. Uh Wes is also incredibly special. Wes has booked, I don't know how many consults with us so far.

SPEAKER_11 32:42

Yeah, a few.

SPEAKER_08 32:42

Quite a few.

SPEAKER_11 32:43

And there's another one in the bar blind.

Full Live Consults And Logistics

SPEAKER_08 32:44

Yeah, absolutely. So um Wes Hi Hi, where's Hi Beth? Um, you know, Wes knows the UK, but you've helped him numerous times with his train travel. He bought the ebook and then he's had the consults.

SPEAKER_11 32:55

That's right. Um Wes is his experience, he for his job, he travelled to London. Yeah, and he's gonna say that in his uh and he expanded his uh you know post-retirement away from London. Yeah, and that's where you've helped them, yeah.

SPEAKER_08 33:07

So so let's listen to what Wes has to say. So you won't be embarrassed and touched together about this.

SPEAKER_06 33:14

Hi, my name is Wes Wetherall, and I'm from Glen Allen, Illinois, just outside of Chicago in the United States. I wanted to tell you how helpful I found the services of UKTravelplanning.com and in particular Doug Collins' help and advice. I've traveled frequently to the UK for business, but it's one thing to feel comfortable in London, and another to navigate the rest of the UK. Doug's train experience and expert advice have helped me get off the beaten trail and into areas I wouldn't have otherwise felt comfortable traveling. For example, the Cotswolds, Wales, the Lake District, the Peak District, and more. Most recently, Doug suggested train itinerary for Scotland to form the basis of my 40th anniversary trip with my wife to her ancestral home and up through the aisle of sky and on the uh uh Caledonian sleeper on the way back to London. The highlight of that trip, by the way, was that we actually got to have lunch with Doug in Sheldon. Well, anyway, I'm planning my 2026 trip now, and I'm looking forward to the travel consult that I'm having with Doug to make sure that I make the most of the trip. I've used his train book, uh, I've done the itinerary consults every time I travel with Doug and Tracy, and the train consults with Doug have been fantastic, above and beyond what I had expected. Anyway, I'd highly recommend Doug and his wife Tracy to make your trip something to remember forever.

SPEAKER_11 34:52

Well, thank you very much, Fez. I don't know what else to say. It's uh it was humbling meeting you and Beth um and be part of your celebration trip. So it was fantastic. Yeah, you it was a highlight of my trip, to be fair with you. It was really good. And you hear those lovely words said by you was uh a bit much.

SPEAKER_08 35:12

It's so lovely. Honestly, I have to say, after he's listening to Rob now, he's listening to uh Wes Now, and he's like really, really just it's lovely, isn't it? And uh it just makes what we do so. You are I'm almost compliment, you know he says that like you never compliment them at all, uh, but I do. Um but I I I think it's and you know, thanks to you to Wes for your support over the years, you've just been absolutely fantastic, and uh we've we've really appreciated that. And you know, like I say before, it's like um we consider you a friend, um, and I can't wait to meet you and Beth as well. I mean, I was a bit jealous because Doug had that opportunity, I didn't. But anyway, our next lovely review is from Laura. Now, I have yet to meet Laura. Um, neither of Doug and I have met you, Laura, but I feel like you you're already a friend. I know you are a friend. Um, you know, we chat all the time. Uh, and this is what I'm saying about our business being so much more than just helping you guys with train travel. It's like you become uh friends, and it's it's just fantastic. Um, so this is Laura's lovely review of your um train ebook.

SPEAKER_11 36:13

Oh, me again.

Partner Network And Added Support

SPEAKER_08 36:14

Oh, yes, well, it's all about trains, darling.

SPEAKER_11 36:16

It is, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:18

Laura Sternheim Dilt's here. Doug's ebook made me feel confident to take a train ride, a five and a half hour trip to Glasgow, and access passenger accessibility and be able to relax and enjoy the skyline, the countryside, and first class food service. It was wonderful having a cup of tea and a biscuit and relax and enjoy the United Kingdom. Thanks, Doug.

SPEAKER_08 36:53

Thanks, Laura. That was uh that was lovely again. Thank you very much. And um Laura's actually gonna be coming on in April, and we're gonna be talking, we're actually gonna be doing a whole um episode about accessibility because Laura um had to do a lot of arrangements for her trip, and so she's gonna share how she prepares and some of the websites that she used and what she looked at. And obviously, she used your ebook and we chatted a lot with her about how she could get uh assistance for when she was on the trains, and she found that incredibly helpful, and I know that reduced a lot of her stress and anxiety. Yeah, um, so that was amazing. Um, so thanks again, Laura, for leaving that lovely review. And next um we have Deborah, and I've been lucky enough to meet Deborah. You haven't met Deborah yet, um, but hopefully later on in the year when uh Deborah's in in the UK with her husband, and maybe hopefully we'll we'll both get to meet her then. But I met her a few years ago in London. Um, so Deborah is a huge fan of our work and is really finds your train uh information and help and support really really helpful for her. And so this is what Deborah had to say.

Listener Testimonials: Confidence And Savings

SPEAKER_02 37:59

Hi, I'm Debbie Harson from the United States, and I want to comment on Doug's UK train travel book. I purchased and downloaded Doug's UK train travel guide several years ago. The quality of information and helpful practical advice was literally priceless. My husband and I traveled throughout the UK seamlessly in 2025 following those tips. We encountered large stations such as King's Cross London and Waverly Station, Edinburgh, mid-sized stations in York and Newcastle, and much smaller stations in Whitby and Anmouth. Using Doug's timing guides helped us plot our travels and consider all the options that he had so carefully detailed before booking. Those options included the different types of tickets, first or standard class, what apps to follow and download so we could see the train's path, arrival time, potential delays, food options, and even how to plot and plan our luggage. While we self-planned our trip to incorporate specific areas, I found the suggested itineraries within the book extremely helpful with maps, travel times, and highlights of each step. We have planned yet another UK adventure for the spring utilizing train travel, and I have returned time and again to this guide. We plan to take the Eurostar to Paris, and I am so thankful for the easy-to-understand process from St. Pancreas to Paris Gardenur that Doug has outlined. Overall, I highly recommend this book as an essential tool for planning and enjoying all aspects of UK train travel. Thanks again, Doug.

SPEAKER_08 39:52

Thank you, Deborah. And I will just also say a guest star from Shakespeare, because you heard the cat. That's that is Deb's cat, Shakespeare, who had a little starring role in in that um in that message from Deb. Thanks so much, Deb. Thank you, Deb. That's really good of you. You know, you're so supportive of everything we do. Again, and um, you know, meeting you through this process, it's just been absolutely fantastic. Again, you know, all everybody that we're talking to would just you just become friends, honestly. It's just so amazing. And and um thank you for leaving that.

SPEAKER_11 40:25

Such lovely words, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_08 40:28

So the next guest we have on is Michael. Now, um, Michael, you helped plan his trip here. Michael's got a fascinating story, isn't it? Yes, um, all related to the Titanic. I'm not gonna tell you more, really. You should go and listen to Michael's episode, I'll link to it. In fact, um, Deb's also got an episode. I mean, you should you should listen to all these guys' episodes. Laura's also got an episode, Wes has got an episode, Rob's got an episode. All these guys have been on the podcast, which is also fantastic, amazing. Um, yeah, so Michael has an amazing story tied to the Titanic. I'm not gonna say more than that because I I want people to listen to his story. It's so good. Yeah, um, so this is what Michael had to say, Doug.

SPEAKER_11 41:02

Thank you very much, Michael.

SPEAKER_00 41:04

Hello there. My name is Mike, and I'm from the USA. And last year I scheduled a consult. And the great thing is, not only did I get information specific to my journey, but I got information to help me get around any problems that might arise. In our case, Caledonian Sleeper encountered a problem, and we had to find another way up to Inverness. And every piece of advice, including the ebook that I gained from the console, kept me from panicking. So if I were you and you're planning on going to get a consult from Doug and Tracy.

SPEAKER_08 41:38

Thanks, Michael, so much for um those kind words.

SPEAKER_00 41:41

Yeah, it's really good of you.

SPEAKER_08 41:42

And it was really, I know when during your trip, it was just so good, like you said, that you had a few things, stressful things that happened, but because you had that help and support and you'd read the train book and had the consult, you felt so confident about dealing with those problems. So that's amazing. Um, then the last guest that we have uh on the podcast today, again, Tina has been on the podcast. Tina was again um one of the very, very first persons that we actually did a consult for a few years ago. Um and Tina, again, we've stayed friends with, we chat with Tina all the time. Um and Tina agreed to come and uh leave and said some lovely things about you. So I'm gonna I'm gonna play that now so you can listen to that, Doug, and everybody can hear what the lovely words from Tina.

SPEAKER_10 42:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 42:27

Hi, this is Tina Lang here with the European Farmhouse. And I want to give a shout out to Tracy and Doug for the amazing work they do on UK travel planning and the European train uh website. I have been using them for years as a single woman, uh, traveling my first time in Europe. They gave me um two trip consults um worth every penny because they go into so much detail and make you feel very comfortable about what you're doing and not having any major hiccups. Also, I've used Doug's um train travel ebook. Um also a great investment. Um, my friends consider me an expert in train travel, which is hilarious. But I cannot say enough. I am their biggest fan. It is worth every penny and all your time. So check them out.

SPEAKER_08 43:24

So thanks so much, Tina, for those kind words for uh for UK travel plan and our global travel plan and uh website as well. We have where we have do we do have a lot about kind of travel around the world as well. Yeah, um, because Doug is not only an expert on UK train travel, he knows about travel, train travel all over, really. I've done a lot of it. Uh because you have done a lot of train travel. Um a big shout out for you, Tina, for your uh European farmhouse as well. Definitely. Um so uh Tina is your go-to for uh antiques in in the US, and I will link to Tina's website. She started that business. Looks fantastic. All the time she spent travelling backwards and forwards to Europe. So that's what she's been doing. So that is amazing. So thanks so much, Tina.

SPEAKER_11 44:04

Thank you, Tina. And we actually met Tina as well in Chewesbury.

Handling Disruptions Without Panic

SPEAKER_08 44:07

We did, we met her in Chewesbury. We actually also met her at King's Cross Station when she was getting a train up to Edinburgh. So we've met Tina a few times. So um, thanks so much, Tina. And I want to say a huge thank you as well to Rob, Wes, Laura, Deborah, Michael, and Tina for their support over the years. Um, also huge thank you to Deborah and to Tina, who are ongoing supporters of the podcast. They um sponsor us every month, uh, which is amazing, and it allows us to keep producing the podcast, which you all got you guys all get for free. And it's all help because we have some of our fantastic listeners and now friends who are supporting us with this process. Also, thanks very much also to Laura, who I know she's uh she gives us ongoing support as well. Where's Rob, Michael, all of you guys out there that have given us the support over there? We really, really appreciate it. I will put a link if you would like to sponsor the podcast and we really truly appreciate that we that you do. I'll put a link in the show notes that you can you can sponsor us from as little as three US dollars uh a month. You can do it that way, or you can go to um we've got a tip your guide button, you can go on that and you can give us a recurring sponsorship on that as well. If you'd like to say, give back and say thank you, we really truly appreciate it. Well, as I said, I will put links to all of the different services, products that we offer to help you with train travel in the show notes at uktravelplanning.com. But if there's three things that you do from this episode, number one is sign up for our emails and for the uh free guide. Follow Doug on YouTube, UK travel planning, yes, and join the Facebook group. Yes, absolutely. So I will again put that in the show notes. It's UK train travel tips on Facebook, YouTube, UK travel planning, and you can sign up via the UK Train Travel Hub on the UK Travel Planning website.

SPEAKER_11 45:58

That's it.

SPEAKER_08 45:58

If you know anybody who has planned to travel the UK by train and is feel a bit unsure about it, send them in our direction. Please refer the podcast to the website, the Facebook group, to those people as well because we need to get the word out. If you've enjoyed this episode as well, please leave us a review. It helps so much for a podcast to get reach other people. Um, but I guess until next week, Doug, that's gonna just a buy from us, isn't it? So it is. And our usual sign-off, happy UK travel planning. Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of the UK Travel Planning Podcast. As always, show notes can be found at uktravelplanning.com. If you've enjoyed the show, why not leave us feedback via text or a review on your favourite podcast app? We love to hear from you, and you never know, you may receive a shout out in a future episode. But as always, that just leaves me to say until next week, happy UK travel planning!