'I'm heading to Madrid for same price as return train ticket from Rugby to London - why not when it’s cheaper than a Saturday shopping in England'

Emily Coles posted on social media that she got a return train ticket from Rugby to London a few weeks back that “was £65” and turns out to be “the same price as return flights to Madrid”. She said she is heading to Madrid this weekend as “why not when it’s cheaper than a Saturday shopping in England”.

Ms Coles told NationalWorld: “Back in September last year I was filtering flights to Spain for a prospective client and came across a few options that stood out, specifically Madrid. The return flights cost me and my partner £60 each with EasyJet at the time of booking, departing on a Friday at 16.30pm and returning on Sunday at 9pm from Luton, we booked hand luggage only! For us, this was the perfect budget friendly weekend escape.”

She will head on her trip to Madrid on Friday (10 January), adding that the cost of her return flights was the same as a return train ticket in the UK. She added: “In early December I headed to London with a friend, this trip was on a Wednesday, returning Thursday.

“I booked a train which called at Milton Keynes and Watford, terminating at London Euston, departing Rugby at around 9.30am. This journey cost me £65 and consisted of me standing in an aisle the entire trip down and spending over two hours on the journey back.

“Once back in Rugby, I spent a lot of time considering how drastic the costs differences are when it comes to rail journeys in England verses headed abroad for a few nights! London is considered a fair commute from Rugby, but in comparison to traveling to the likes of Spain and other European cities, it certainly is not budget friendly.”

Ms Coles said this example shows how “more accessible transport is across Europe as opposed to within England”. She told NationalWorld that another example of this is last August she travelled to Paris for 24 hours and stayed for one night, spending no more than £50 each on her return flights to Paris Beauvais Airport.

She said: “In December I visited Berlin, whilst we were there I paid as little as €10 for four train tickets, each valid for up to a two-hour journey from the station of purchase and usable until validated for one of the journeys. Both examples highlight how much more accessible transport is across Europe as opposed to within England.”