The Anonymous Widower

A Strategy for Over-60 Visitors to the UK!

Travel when you get older can get strenuous and tiring. But on the other hand, a country like the UK, where there are plenty of pretty good small hotels, restaurants with rooms and B&Bs in addition to expensive ones where you can  really pamper yourself, is probably the ideal destination for the senior tourist.

I have just had it confirmed by a man close to the Fat Controller at ATOC, the trade body for the train operating companies, that Senior Railcards are available to anyone with the appropriate fee of £26 for a year, on production of a passport, which proves they are over 60. Holders get a 33% discount on all Standard and First Class tickets. So you don’t need to do too many trips before you have reclaimed the fee!

As an example of what you can do, take my trip to London from Cambridge last weekend. I visited the Olympic Park, Canary Wharf, Croydon and the National Gallery, all in a few hours on a ticket that cost just £21.10. If I’d wanted to see a play or have a meal, then I would have had time and my train ticket would still have cost the same.

My only problem with this sort of Awayday is getting to the station, as I can’t drive and taxis are just too expensive.  But stay in Cambridge, Oxford, Reading, Bristol, York, Liverpool, Coventry or any one of a number of historic cities and towns, with plenty of attractions of their own, perhaps a nearby airport to get there from outside of the UK and good rail links to lots of other places worth visiting.

Another thing that should be mentioned is that the UK has one of the youngest train fleets in the world.  On all the trains I used on the trip last weekend, not one was old and decrepit.  Two were old, but very comfortably refurbished.

Remember too, these things about the UK.

• A lot of national and many local museums are free.
• Most major towns and cities have a decent live theatre.
• We have some of the best restaurants in the world.  But if you are on a budget, it is generally not a problem these days, especially if like me you like Indian or Chinese food, as every B&B owner knows where the best local ethnic restaurants are.
• The shopping ranges from the expensive and swish down to some of the best street markets in the world.
• For those who like walking, we have them at all levels of difficulty.  My favourites are to go up Primrose Hill, walk along the Thames and explore Hampstead Heath in London.  But there are endless and many walks that are easily accessible from train stations.
• If you like horse racing, we have dozens of tracks from the grand to the somewhat quaint.  All are different and few are the boring ovals, you find in many countries.
• You can choose times that fit or don’t fit in with annoyances like children going to school, harassed commuters as they go and come back from work and those dreadful flying midges in Scotland. This web site has details on the latter. 

Hopefully, this blog will detail some places to go.

July 27, 2010 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | London, London Underground, Trains