London - Faced with a £47 (about R1 090) train fare from Sheffield to Essex, most of us would have grumbled about the cost – but reluctantly paid it anyway.
Not so 18-year-old Jordan Cox, who found it was cheaper to fly... via Germany.
Determined to save money, he took to the skies instead of using rail services – even though it saved him just £7.72 (about R180) and meant a 1,017-mile (about 1 600km) detour.
The teenager bought advance tickets to Berlin with budget airline Ryanair.
While it added eight hours to his journey, it also gave him a day to see the German capital, where he enjoyed local food and visited the city’s famed Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie and the Reichstag.
Going the extra mile to save money is not unusual for Jordon, who is known as the Coupon Kid for his savvy shopping using money-off vouchers. Writing on his blog on website MoneySavingExpert.com, the teen – who first made a name for himself at 16 when he bought his mother Debbie £106 of groceries for just £1.62 – said: ‘Even by my usual standards, I’ll admit this is a rather extreme way of saving money. It’s crazy that it can work out cheaper than getting a train in the UK.’
Jordon was travelling home to Hutton in Essex after giving a demonstration on ‘couponing’ in Sheffield when he was hit with a £47 one-way train fare.
The price, found on the National Rail website, included a train from Sheffield to London St Pancras, a tube to Liverpool Street and a local service to Shenfield in Essex. If he had enjoyed a ham and cheese toasted sandwich for lunch on the way and got a bus home from Shenfield, the total cost would have been £51.79. Instead, his Ryanair flights cost him £11.83 from East Midlands to Berlin and £9.54 back to London Stansted – a total of £21.37.
Adding on travel to the airports, a currywurst sausage for lunch in Germany and a bus home from Stansted, the total was £44.07.
The difference between the two methods was £7.72.
‘It turned out that flying out from East Midlands Airport to Berlin, spending seven hours exploring the city and then flying to Stansted and getting the bus home was cheaper than a single train journey in England, he said.
‘But that’s not all, I also figured out I could buy a return train ticket to Berlin city centre, enjoy a free tour of a government building and lunch while I was out there and still save money.’ Jordon said on Wednesday:
‘I’m a massive fan of travelling. So when I saw I could visit a city I’d never seen before, get home on the same day and save money, it was just incredible and I jumped at the chance.’
The teenager said following his unusual travel method ‘won’t always work out cheaper than the train’ and added it was not suitable for those who are in a rush. He added: ‘It will take a bit of trial and error and you’ll have to book two separate flights, so take into consideration any extra booking fees. To get the cheapest price on your flights, I’ve seen the best deals crop up about 2-4 weeks before the travel date, most likely to flog surplus tickets.’
Jordon also found that those returning by rail from London to Bristol could save money if they flew via Dublin. Likewise, a trip from the capital to Manchester would be cheaper via Milan.
East Midlands Trains, which runs services from Sheffield to London St Pancras, said it could not comment as the journey to Essex involves two operators and an underground trip.
Daily Mail