Transport is always going to be a bit thing on any trip, whether you are just flying somewhere and then using public transport or if you are doing what we are, and going to not only use public transport, but will also be hiring a car for a large portion of the journey.
Planes
As I mentioned earlier on – the sooner you can book your plane tickets the better. And just for piece of mind, it’s worth doing early.
Tickets generally become available about a year in advance, but remember it’s a year from the return date of your trip! Don’t by tickets there at one time and then tickets back at another – it will likely cost you more. Most airlines work on a proviso that it is cheaper to book return tickets with the same airline. If you want to book with different airlines and not get caught with this – I suggest you look at booking with a third party such as Skycanner or Webjet – as these don’t seem to have that issue. Of course, always check if the price is cheaper by going to the individual airlines and comparing the same flights. I would always do this anyway as I usually start my flight searches using Webjet, and then once I have it narrowed down to who I want to fly with depending on prices, flight times, dates etc, then I would go to the particular airline and see if it is cheaper or similar through them. If it is cheaper or similar, I would always book through the airline as even though third parties like Webjet and Skyscanner are great and have their place, they are still third party companies and having your flight direct with the airline is always preferable.
Also take into account the type of flight you are going to book – particularly if it is a long journey. We were booking far enough ahead that we decided to book Premium Economy. The difference was about $2,000 each, but we decided it was worth the extra seat space, being able to lift our legs and recline a bit more and get good food. That might not fit in your budget, but it is worth thinking about for such a long trip. And again, booking early does make a difference on price.
So, a year before your return date, you should be able to book your tickets. I would recommend doing this and it will save you money in the long run. Can you get cheaper tickets closer to the date – likely yes if they have a special or if they need to sell tickets closer to the flight date – but don’t take the risk. When I booked our tickets in October 2024 for our flights in August 2025, they are nearly $2,000 cheaper than what I would haveb been able to book in March 2025 – I checked!! As I said, I would rather have piece of mind that I am booked then to take a risk and leave it till the last minute.
Automobiles
As we are hiring a car, I searched rentals companies to see what I could book as soon as I could. Unfortunately, these are a bit harder to pin down exactly how far in advance you can book – each seemed to vary. I was able to make a booking for a rental car through SixT – as early as September 2024 – one of the few I could do that far in advance. At the time I wanted to at least have something booked – and SixT mostly met my requirements at the time – I could book it online, it had options to select that I needed – such as extra driver, Island Hopper (this is needed for Ireland), Android Auto/Apple Car Play etc and I could book and cancel at any time up until a week before our trip. There was also a notable lack of selection for automatic cars – which I preferred as I wanted to concentrate on the driving given I was going to be driving roads I don’t know, so that limited the number of rentals available as well. The only other thing letting SixT down was that it didn’t do unlimited KMs which I really wanted. The most I could book was 3200 kms – and as you know we were travelling around all of the UK so this wasn’t really going to be enough from my estimates. Still I did book the vehicle and for 31 days it was going to cost approx £1705.70 or around $AUD3400.
I left this at that until around March 2025 when I starting comparing prices. As I had been using Booking.com for some travel bookings i had become eligigble for 15% discount on some bookings so I decided to see what they had available for our trip. And through them I was able to book a rental car through Hertz. The car was automatic, and for unlimited KMs. I could book the additional driver through booking.com but not the Island Hopping that I needed for Ireland. However, I did see that with Hertz you must have a VE103B certificate for you to take the rental car out of England, and that this can be done when you pick up the rental car. The initial booking was for approx $AUD2200 with a payment up front, with another $AUD450 to be paid on pick up for the additional driver and I will also have another $AUD400 odd for the VE103B certificate so all up just ofer $3K. That is a $400 saving on the SIxT booking and that is without taking into account any extra I would have had to pay for going over 3200 KM’s. It still gives me the option to cancel a few days before we pick it up as well.
You should also note that they may require an International Drivers Licence – its may not be necessary but it is worth getting one anyway so there are no hick ups once you get there. The cost for one in Australia is just over $60 including postage so it is not a big expense. Click here if you would like more information on International Drivers Licence for Australia.
Another thing to think about is that you will likely have Android Auto/Apple Car Play so if you are going to use your phone for navigating – make sure you have a sim card that gives you unlimited data for this. As a back up consider have a map as well. I purchased a UK map book to take with me just in case!
Trains
While we will be spending most of our time in a car, there are some instances we will be using the trains. The first train we will be using is from London to Paris – I booked this as soon as the tickets became available to ensure we had seats to get to Paris. Given we are going to Paris in September, the tickets became available around the end of March. Our tickets cost £274.00 or approx $AUD580. Refunds are available up to 7 days before departure and you can change your booking up to 1 hours before, paying any difference in fares. Click here if you would like more information on Eurostar.
The other trains we will be catching is from Paris to Bayeau where we are spending a night to visit the War grave of our Grandfather and the memorial. These only just became available in the middle of May so I booked them as well. It was cheaper to book them as a return journey and they cost £115 or around $AUD 198.00 – and this was their first class tickets! This was booked with SNCF. Click here if you want more information on SNCF.
Ferry
The other important thing I was able to book farily early on was the Ferry crossing to Ireland. I used Irish Ferries to do this and I was able to book these in October 2024. As we are going with a vehicle it was important to have this booked as early as possible – even not having the car licence plate wasn’t a hassle, you have the option to book with that and as long as you update it before you sail it is fine.
We are going in and out from two different ports so I booked them separately at a cost of £257.00 each way. It is quite a cost but when I considered returning the rental car getting flights, picking up a new car, returning it, getting flights and then getting another rental car – yeah no I would rather pay the amount I did and not have the hassle.
The process to purchase was nice and easy and even making changes wasn’t hard when I decided to change the time back – just a slight change in price so I paid the difference.
Click here if you would like more information on Irish Ferries.
So that is it for transport. As with anything shop around, find what is right for you taking into account budget, times, dates and anything else that will effect your itinerary. It takes time but if you are doing it early enough, it doesn’t have to be a burden or feel overwhelming. Take your time, do your due diligence and hopefully what I have outlined above will all make sense and help.
Happy travelling!