Transportation help

[Chaz and Riggs 0]

Does anyone have any ideas on the cheapest way to get to London for the Medical and Interview from Nottingham?

I'm thinking carpool ideas, if you know a guy who knows a guy that drives cheap, or commutes...

Please, I need as much help as I can get. Riggs won't schedule the medical until we know how he's going to get there...

I'm desperate!!!

[Big Papa Zone 93]

Does anyone have any ideas on the cheapest way to get to London for the Medical and Interview from Nottingham?

I'm thinking carpool ideas, if you know a guy who knows a guy that drives cheap, or commutes...

Please, I need as much help as I can get. Riggs won't schedule the medical until we know how he's going to get there...

I'm desperate!!!

Unless he's driving (or being driven) it's gonna involve an overnight stay, I'm afraid (I'm assuming the appointment at the embassy will be early morning). That being the case, National Express will get you there and back for 10 quid.

Edited October 8, 2009 by Damian P

[Welshcookie 17]

I would also suggest National Express too as a cheap way to travel...my medical was an afternoon appointment so I managed that on a days train journey....but the interviews are usually morning appointments, I did an overnight stay even though I was just traveling from Cambridge. He could maybe request a later appt but he will still be putting a lot of faith in public transport to get him there on time. There are some reasonable priced hotels in London for an overnight stay, it doesn't have to be horribly expensive.

[Chaz and Riggs 0]

Unfortunately, coaches turn Riggs into a pile of vomit smelling goo... he doesn't travel well on the "floaty" busses... I think I'm stuck with train or car....

[JeremyR 8]

Tell him to go to his nearest train station with a booking office. It's often cheaper and easier to get them to do the legwork seeking out the cheapest fare option than it is doing it yourself via the internet.

If coach travel is out, you can get some excellent deals by train if you book early enough and lock yourself to specific trains. For example, my train journey from Lancaster to London (a good 150 miles further each way than Nottingham) for my medical a couple of years back was fifteen quid each way excluding travelcard for the tube because I booked it about three weeks in advance and got a great deal. The walk-up fare is astronomically more than that - the key is to book as early as possible.

Of course, the problem with that is you need to know your dates to make the reservation and if you're trying to combine the interview and medical into one trip then you may not get enough notice of the interview date to get the cheapest seats.

[Chaz and Riggs 0]

Thanks, yeah, I've been looking online alot, and cheapest looks around £65.60 round trip, including the £5 something for tube fare. I would like to have him do medical before, just because it would be really nice to know at the interview that he will be getting the visa, you know? Go outside, have a smoke and maybe a drink to celebrate being approved, rather than "approved pending medical results". He's got an issue with anxiety, and I think having the interview and medical separate will make things easier mentally to handle.....

[JeremyR 8]

I agree about doing them separately. I did mine separately even though it made things more expensive travel-wise. I did the medical as a one day trip (that was a long day) about 4-5 weeks before the interview and took the opportunity to spend a few hours in London after the appointment. The interview I did as a three day thing staying with some family outside London - it served as an opportunity to see them before I left shortly after. I'm not exactly the world's least anxious person myself and it was definitely less stressful separating them than it would have been on a combined trip. The medical office is a stone's throw from the embassy so it's also a useful opportunity to scope out the area and find everything before the day.

[The SwiftBirds 0]

JeremyR has given you good advice. Booking train tickets well in advance can save you a lot of money. I did a quick example online search, and found you could get a same day return train ticket from Nottingham to London for £36 on the 10th November (excluding tube fares). He would arrive in London just before 8am and would return just after 3pm, which would give him a window of about 6 hours to have his medical, and he would not have to stay overnight in London.

Hope this helps. Good luck with everything!