Reading Roars!

I suspected that a standard class rail ticket for an early morning journey from Reading to Swansea (and back on Friday evening) was not going to be cheap. But £153?! The figure floored me. Even the lad serving me behind the bullet-proof glass at Reading Station had a chuckle.

Put it this way: I paid less to fly to Istanbul (on the edge of Europe) and back last November. At a little more than double the price, I paid for a return ticket to Bangkok, covering a total distance of some 12,000 miles.

Frankly, £153 to go to Wales and back (with no complimentary newspaper or packet of peanuts) is shocking. Despicable. How much would a peak-time rail journey to Inverness cost? How much to go by first class?

I chose to travel in the evening instead, paying a more sensible £57.