A thrifty jetsetter bought return flights to Berlin for £33 - seven times less than a peak train ticket to London and back. Samantha Wragg’s Ryanair flights from Manchester to Berlin Brandenburg cost vastly less than the £235 she’d need to fork out for a peak return train ticket from her home in Matlock, Derbyshire to the UK’s capital.

A super off-peak ticket would still set her back nearly £80 - almost triple the cost of the flights which is more than four times the distance. And it wasn’t just the price of travel which is vastly different, with Samantha getting six nights in a Berlin hostel for just £95.

This is less than half what she had to pay for four days in a similar room - which she shared with eight others - during a trip to London last November. Samantha, 35, revealed that the cost of domestic trips is increasingly putting her off holidaying in the UK.

“It’s so much harder to have city breaks on a budget in the UK,” she explained. “For one, there’s less choice of accommodation when compared to other places. But it’s mainly the cost of trains.

“It’s a lot easier to get the train than to drive because you’re immediately in the centre of a city and don’t have to pay to park. But you’ve also got to consider that you can spend more than £200 on a ticket which is ridiculous.

“Off-peak and super off-peak tickets are cheaper but if you want to get there and leave for a reasonable time during the week you are likely going to get stung. That’s such a big chunk of your budget that you want to spend on doing things rather than travel.

“Something needs to be done about it because it’s putting people, myself included, off holidaying in the UK which is a shame as there is so much to see.”

Samantha - who goes on holiday around once a month - spent around £30-a-day on street food when she visited Berlin this month and kept costs down by going on a free walking tour. She also went to famous landmarks like the Berlin Wall, Brandenburg Gate and Check Point Charlie - all of which are free to see.

Her travel around Berlin cost £27 for three days. This compared with London, where she had to spend around £40 on fuel, left her car outside the ULEZ zone and paid £20 for four days parking.


She then had to pay £14.90 to use zones one to six of the London Underground to get two and from her car and £9.60 each day to use zones one to three. On top of this, she spent £200 for a bed in eight-bed room in a hostel in Tower Hamlets.


She spoke as online property marketplace Housesearch said that increasing numbers of Brits are flocking abroad because of cheaper property prices.

Mark Wilson, from the firm, said: “British millennials are increasingly exploring the idea of moving abroad to work remotely, taking advantage of a lower cost of living. Struggling to afford home ownership in the UK, particularly in London, they're eyeing up the possibility of buying smaller properties for living in countries like Indonesia, Thailand, Turkey, and so on."

Want the latest Bristol breaking news and top stories first? Click here to join our WhatsApp group. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.