Here is a list of everything you could buy for the cost of your train home this Christmas

Anyone fancy 19 meal deals at Parsons?


With Bristol uni set to move online from the 9th of December, and with the introduction of mass testing, Bristol students are being encouraged to head for home.

With many having to take public transport, we thought we’d see what you could buy instead of your train ticket home.

We looked at train prices for the 3rd of December, which is the first day of the travel window at 10 of the biggest stations in the UK.

1. Newcastle

With a return flight to Barcelona from Bristol Airport costing £158, you could escape those rainy winters nights and top up your tan. Perfect for a language student hoping to improve their Spanish. The only downside is the return flight takes 24 hours…

2. Glasgow

For the price of a train home to Glasgow, you could instead get 20 of Eat a Pitta’s falafel in a box at their new store in Clifton.

3. Leeds

A trip back to Leeds costs £125.30 which, in pre-corona times, could get you into Lizard Lounge 25 times. If you’re boujee enough for first class tickets, then that’s equivalent to 55 nights out at Lounge. The heartbreak is real.

4. Edinburgh

For the price of a train to the Scottish capital, you could get 24 small donners at Jason Donnervan.

5. Manchester

Why would you want to get the train back to Manchester, when instead you could save up for when Cori Tap reopens? At £2.50 a cider, you could complete the 10 before 10 challenge three times and still have change left over.

6. Canterbury

We all know Christmas is meant to celebrate the day baby Jesus was born, but instead of midnight mass belting out your favorite Christmas carols at Canterbury Cathedral, you could enjoy nine Bosco pizzas.

7. Gatwick

Instead of jetting out of the UK at Gatwick, you could grab a Parsons £3.75 meal deal a whopping 19 times. So is it a flight or the 19 meal deals of Christmas?

8. Liverpool

For a £42 ticket to Liverpool, you could drive across the Clifton Suspension Bridge 42 times. That’s quite a few visits to Ashton Court but it’s probably worth it for the views.

9. London

Almost everyone you’ll meet at Bristol Uni is from London, so it was inevitable that London was going to be on the list. For all those who are heading back to the capital this Christmas, you might think again when you hear that instead you could save up to be able to bag yourself seven Monday nights in Gravity and still have money left over to buy drinks once the corona vaccine is out. What will you choose?

10. Birmingham

The cheapest train journey we found was to Birmingham, but instead of heading back up north for the same cost as a train ticket, you’d be able to get six pints of Steam Brew at Steam once we are out of Tier 3. 

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