Cheap rail fares

[GrumpyGregry]

Do the laws of the Netherlands apply in these Dutch cities in Belgium? Do the citizens have Belgian citizenship or do they carry Dutch passports? Are the taxes they pay paid to the Dutch Exchequer or the Belgian Finance Ministry? Over the years I've been to lots of them, the cars had Belgian plates and I saw lots of Belgian policemen and Belgian flags flying, and a fair few Flemish ones, but oddly I don't recall many Netherlands tricolors. Perhaps times have changed.

 

[srw]

Sorry to spoil a good ding-dong, but the conditions of travel make no mention of Dutch cities in Holland
http://www.stenaline.co.uk/ferry/rail-and-sail/holland/terms-conditions/

In any case, Holland's in Lincolnshire, innit?

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Sorry to spoil a good ding-dong, but the conditions of travel make no mention of Dutch cities in Holland
http://www.stenaline.co.uk/ferry/rail-and-sail/holland/terms-conditions/

In any case, Holland's in Lincolnshire, innit?

Sorry to spoil a good spoiler but the website copy still says "From just £39* single, Dutchflyer is the affordable and comfortable way to travel from London or East Anglia to any Dutch city in Holland with an inclusive combination train and ferry ticket."



I think what they mean is to any city in the Netherlands but either the copy writer is a small easily confused child, an idiot, or has some ghastly form of PC infection. Then again they may have simply been confused by the official website of the official tourist board for the Netherlands which is called www.holland.com

 

[Davidc]

Do the laws of the Netherlands apply in these Dutch cities in Belgium? Do the citizens have Belgian citizenship or do they carry Dutch passports? Are the taxes they pay paid to the Dutch Exchequer or the Belgian Finance Ministry? Over the years I've been to lots of them, the cars had Belgian plates and I saw lots of Belgian policemen and Belgian flags flying, and a fair few Flemish ones, but oddly I don't recall many Netherlands tricolors. Perhaps times have changed.

What a stupid post.

The Dutch cities of Belgium are different from the Walloon/French cities in architecture, culture and language. The populations generally try to interact as little as possible.

That is why they are referred to differently. That is why a prudent train company has been careful to exclude them.

 

[srw]

Sorry to spoil a good spoiler but the website copy still says "From just £39* single, Dutchflyer is the affordable and comfortable way to travel from London or East Anglia to any Dutch city in Holland with an inclusive combination train and ferry ticket."

I think what they mean is to any city in the Netherlands but either the copy writer is a small easily confused child, an idiot, or has some ghastly form of PC infection.

...or the copy writer doesn't speak English. Or not as a first language. After all...

Perhaps you may not have heard of Abellio before; and you may wonder why we have been entrusted to run Greater Anglia – the new franchise for the train services in East Anglia – to deliver improved services. We are part of a wider transport group, Abellio Transport Holdings, who also operate the successful Northern franchise and Merseyrail concession, plus bus services in London and Surrey. We are owned by ‘NS’ in the Netherlands who operate the rail services, stations and facilities on much of the Dutch network so are well placed to bring real improvements to your services.

Another successful re-nationalisation of our railways, then!

 

[subaqua]

Perhaps you may not have heard of Abellio before; and you may wonder why we have been entrusted to run Greater Anglia – the new franchise for the train services in East Anglia – to deliver improved services. We are part of a wider transport group, Abellio Transport Holdings, who also operate the successful Northern franchise and Merseyrail concession, plus bus services in London and Surrey. We are owned by ‘NS’ in the Netherlands who operate the rail services, stations and facilities on much of the Dutch network so are well placed to bring real improvements to your services


typical we get dutch railway . its a gateway to dutch cycling you now

 

[Maz]

There are many Dutch cities in Belgium as well as in the Netherlands (Also referred to as Flemish, both are correct).

What Arch says is right, Holland is the southern bit of the Netherlands, but the (cheap and good) service isafaik to the Netherlands.

'Isafaik'...now that is in Azerbaijan.

 

[Maz]

Err, no, not yet, I'll have to have a look at them though as I read somewhere that if you spend more than £80 a year on train tickets they are worth it, and I can see us doing that if myself and No.1 son start trying to journey further afield by rail.
Short, well not 'rant' exactly but grumble; Why can't the govt see that if the railways were invested in and or made cheaper to use, people would use them more? Or is it that because they don't carry anywhere near as much freight as they could, the cost of infrastructure maintenance is loaded more upon the passenger-carrying companies, hence the high passenger ticket prices? As said before I'd love to go off rail-hopping for a day and so would Browser junior, but the costs thus far looked at prohibit such travels, so I'll have to look harder.
Thanks for all of the replies thus far, plenty of food for thought

I saw this on Money Saving Expert today. I will be renewing mine now!
Family & Friends Railcard £20 (usually £28)Special link and online code
This railcard is a stonking buy for almost every family even if you don’t use the train that often. Use this special Family & Friends Railcard link and enter the code SAVING8 before Sun 3 March 2013 to get the annual railcard for £20 (usually £28).

Why we rate it so much?

• TWO adults can be named on the card
• If either of them use it, not only do they get 1/3 off their rail fares, up to THREE more adults travelling with them do as well
• The only proviso is there must be at least one child (aged 5-15) with them
• Not only that but the child (AND up to three other kids) also get 60% off their fare
• And you don't need to be related.

With these type of discounts even if you only do one decent-length rail trip a year, it can save you more than the £20 cost.

If you're travelling with one child under five, you'll need to buy a child rate ticket as the railcard only covers children aged 5-15.
Alternatively, if you've a Tesco Clubcard you can get it for £14 of Clubcard vouchers. See the Family, 16-25 and Senior Railcards £14 in Tesco pts info.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/deals/cheap-coach-train-ticket-deals?utm_source=MSE+Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=22-Jan-13&utm_campaign=deals#family

 

[Arch]

Sorry to spoil a good spoiler but the website copy still says "From just £39* single, Dutchflyer is the affordable and comfortable way to travel from London or East Anglia to any Dutch city in Holland with an inclusive combination train and ferry ticket."



I think what they mean is to any city in the Netherlands but either the copy writer is a small easily confused child, an idiot, or has some ghastly form of PC infection. Then again they may have simply been confused by the official website of the official tourist board for the Netherlands which is called www.holland.com

I assumed it was actually just a copy editing slip - something like it said "any Dutch city." to start with, and then the writer decided it was better to say "Any city in Holland", typed that in, and forgot to remove "Dutch" from the sentence.

 

[TheDoctor]

That offer is actually valid to any railway station in the Netherlands.
Which you'd have thought was a more sensible way to phrase it in the website!
The Harwich - Hook crossing is a rather good one, and I'd recommend it to anyone