Commute from London to Dundee ?

[Boo]

Hi People,

I expect to be working in Dundee for a while and wondered if anyone here has had the pleasure of that particular commute : London (South Coast, actually) to Dundee ?

Do sleeper trains still run, or have they been killed off ? What about flights, how reliable are they ? (Is suppose I'd have to fly to Glasgow and get a train from there, but are there any alternatives ?)

I thought Belgium was a trek but this is twice the distance

Also, does anyone have any personal experience of good and inexpensive B&Bs in that location ?


Thanks for any advice,

Boo

[Lumiere]

Hi People,

I expect to be working in Dundee for a while and wondered if anyone here has had the pleasure of that particular commute : London (South Coast, actually) to Dundee ?

Do sleeper trains still run, or have they been killed off ? What about flights, how reliable are they ? (Is suppose I'd have to fly to Glasgow and get a train from there, but are there any alternatives ?)

I thought Belgium was a trek but this is twice the distance

Also, does anyone have any personal experience of good and inexpensive B&Bs in that location ?


Thanks for any advice,

Boo

No sleeper trains in that area I am afraid.

East coast service is your friend (from London, 1 change in Edinburgh). Alternatively fly to Aberdeen with Easyjet from Luton - very cheap and about 1hr duration and then again take a train down south to Dundee (around 2 hrs).

Not the best time of the year to be commuting there though.

[craig1]

Hi People,

I expect to be working in Dundee for a while and wondered if anyone here has had the pleasure of that particular commute : London (South Coast, actually) to Dundee ?

Do sleeper trains still run, or have they been killed off ? What about flights, how reliable are they ? (Is suppose I'd have to fly to Glasgow and get a train from there, but are there any alternatives ?)

I thought Belgium was a trek but this is twice the distance

Also, does anyone have any personal experience of good and inexpensive B&Bs in that location ?


Thanks for any advice,

Boo

I did a 6 month contract near Dundee a number of years ago. It all depends on what you want from a contract and your personal life. If you're coming back Friday and going there on a Sunday/Monday then you could look at pre-booking flights. I'd rather walk than take the train from London to there though.

For the first three months I flew Stansted to Edinburgh then train to Dundee from Inverkeithing (regular bus from airport to Inverkeithing train station). Then I worked out that I could almost drive there in the time that I was messing around getting to Stansted, going through security, waiting on flights, cancellations, getting off at the far end, bus to train station then iffy train journey plus then getting to my hotel. It meant that I had my own car when I was there for my own use. Plus I could charge it out at mileage rates to my company. Some of those commuter time flights are damnably expensive!

By the time I finished my contract, my weekly route was: Home - Newcastle Marriott* or a Travelodge on Sunday night - Early morning drive to get to work Monday morning. Straight drive home on Friday evening. Tiring and I'd probably not do it again unless the rates were truly exceptional.

On Dundee itself, you need to be a bit careful with Dundee and where you stay, some areas give rough London inner-city areas a run for their money. There are some decent places there though, one place I stayed at was near the Tay Bridge, can't remember the name of it but I'll look later when I get home. That said, I generally stayed at one of the Travelodges there simply for convenience and a bed as their long-term rates were cheaper than anywhere else I could find. Keep an eye on things like this for decent hotel deals.

* Quite probably the best commuter/business hotel in the UK for customer service and fully deserving of my business any time I'm in the area.

[Ignis Fatuus]

Hi People,

I expect to be working in Dundee for a while and wondered if anyone here has had the pleasure of that particular commute : London (South Coast, actually) to Dundee ?

Do sleeper trains still run, or have they been killed off ? What about flights, how reliable are they ? (Is suppose I'd have to fly to Glasgow and get a train from there, but are there any alternatives ?)

I thought Belgium was a trek but this is twice the distance

Also, does anyone have any personal experience of good and inexpensive B&Bs in that location ?


Thanks for any advice,

Boo

Caledonian Sleepers,

http://www.scotrail.co.uk/sites/defa...ly_-_Final.pdf

From 12 Dec 2010:

London-Dundee Sunday
Cabins available from 2000
dep Euston 2055
arr Dundee 0608

Dundee-London Friday
(originates Aberdeen)
dep Dundee 2306
arr Euston 0747
Vacate cabins by 0800

[doodab]

You can fly to Edinburgh from Southampton or Gatwick depending where you are on the south coast.

[DodgyAgent]

I thought you could fly from london city airport to dundee

[SueEllen]

I thought you could fly from london city airport to dundee

http://www.cityjet.com/

[DodgyAgent]

CityJet airline book flights London City airport European destinations business to from

And golf clubs go free

[SueEllen]

London City is my favourite airport.

Unfortunately they rarely have flights to the places I want/need to go.

[Wanderer]

commute : London (South Coast, actually) to Dundee ?

You could consider:

Drive to Dundee, work the week
Friday PM, Drive to Edinburgh park the car in the long term and fly to LGW.
Sunday PM, fly back to EDI and then drive to Dundee.

That way you've got a car in Dundee. Conversely though, you have no wheels in the South East...

Loads of cheap flights LGW-EDI but a mate used to do the weekly commute to EDI and he reckons easyJet can be a pain with delays and cancellations. They won't publish their punctuality figures either which makes you wonder if its worth paying the extra 25 quid for BA.