Travel questions: What’s the best way to book a holiday to Spain via train?

Q Is there any “one stop shop” where you can book a train ticket from Eastbourne to Malaga (or similar)? I’d prefer to travel “greener” but it’s virtually impossible to book compared with air travel.

“That Man Gaz”

A I fondly and perhaps erroneously imagine that once upon a time you could have walked into a branch of Thomas Cook in Eastbourne and walked out with a ticket taking you across the Channel from nearby Newhaven to Dieppe, onwards to Paris and Madrid, with a final leg through the rugged Spanish interior to the coast.

Today, the same task can be achieved even more briskly online, through the Rail Europe website. Bear in mind all international travel from the UK is currently illegal, but that might change on 17 May. On 21 May, Rail Europe prescribes a six-stage journey starting with a trip from the coast to East Croydon (south of London) and onwards to St Pancras (the Eurostar terminal in the capital) and Paris. Here you must transfer from Nord station to Austerlitz terminus, but it should allow you time for dinner in Paris before your overnight journey (in a six-berth couchette compartment) to Port Bou on the Franco-Spanish border. A local train takes you on to Barcelona, an express to Madrid and a final high-speed run to Malaga.

But I have problems with the proposed itinerary. It assigns you a 10-hour wait in Port Bou, from 10am to past 8pm, necessitating an overnight stop in Barcelona at your expense. And the price is a sky-high £263 one way.

In contrast, travelling by rail and air from Eastbourne to Malaga is easy. Southern Rail has loads of £5 Advance tickets for the 55-minute rail journey from the sunny Sussex resort to Gatwick airport. From there easyJet is waiting to whisk you to the Costa del Sol in under three hours for a fare of £29 (that’s for a flight on 7 June).

Yes, the train is eight times more expensive, even without the cost of that Barcelona hotel. Rail Europe wants to charge you £36 just for the journey from Eastbourne to London – more than the entire rail/air fare of £34.

A human rail expert will be aware of that amazing £5 flat fare deal and take advantage of it. The best way I can see to become on is to use the excellent Seat61.com website and put together the necessary elements yourself. But even with this online friend at your side, it will be a laborious business, I’m afraid.

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What does the government mean by ‘minimise travel’?

Q The government in England says we should “minimise travel”. What does that mean, exactly?

Name supplied

A I have spent the past five weeks trying to find out. On 21 February the prime minister said that from 29 March, residents of England would no longer be legally required to stay at home. But Boris Johnson added: “People should continue to work from home where they can and minimise all travel wherever possible.”

But Downing Street has provided no guidance on what that involves. Yesterday, on the eve of the stay at home rule being lifted, broadcasters repeatedly asked the culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, for more clarity on what that means.

“You shouldn’t be having excessive travel,“ he advised listeners to Times Radio. “We want to enable people to go and visit granny.” But he added that people going long distances would be stopping at service stations and therefore increasing risk to themselves and others.

When given the example of a trip from London to North Yorkshire, he said that it would be difficult to make a journey there and back in a day; overnight stays are off limits until the next stage of the roadmap, on 12 April.

That remark revealed a deficit of understanding of rail travel; the government’s East Coast main line train operation, LNER, as well as Grand Central, regularly depart from London King’s Cross to York in under two hours each way.

In the absence of any further guidance, the short answer is to avoid frivolous travel. I think the Welsh government put it best when it said: “Even when things are permitted, we ask you to think carefully about what is the most sensible thing for you to do to protect your family, friends and your community, rather than thinking about what the law allows you to do.”

I am not sure why Boris Johnson’s government will not say just that.

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Will I encounter problems travelling to Thailand and Vietnam in November?

Q In November I am heading off to Vietnam and Thailand for three weeks – at the third attempt. At the moment neither country is on the UK red list. Do you think that there will be any problems, quarantine wise, with either country and/or the UK?

Colin G

A I am impressed with your determination to get to southeast Asia and I very much hope that you will be able to in November – which I find an ideal time to be in both countries. Let’s look at what must change before you are able to make your trip without onerous restrictions.

First, the British government must relax its ban on overseas travel. I find it inconceivable that the new £5,000 fine for simply trying to go abroad from England will still be in place in two months’ time let alone eight months, so don’t fret about this.

Next, you will need both Thailand and Vietnam to welcome you without too much trouble. Thailand says that by 1 October it will allow people who have been vaccinated twice to enter the country without quarantine, though you must stay in one of six designated areas before you are allowed to reach the rest of the country. Unfortunately, none of the gateways is the capital Bangkok, the main entrance point for overseas visitors. That may change.

Vietnam is rather less dependent on tourism than is Thailand and has some of the world’s most draconian entry rules. Visas are currently being granted only in very special cases, such as being highly skilled in an in-demand profession. Anyone who is lucky enough to be granted a visa will almost certainly have to quarantine for a minimum of three weeks – longer if they test positive at any stage.

Again, I expect this to change with possibly a Thai-style favouring of foreign vaccinees. But I am not confident it will happen by November. I hope you have enough flexibility in your plans to allow you, for example, to focus entirely on Thailand – or, if other parts of Indochina are less restrictive than Vietnam, Laos and/or Cambodia.

The UK’s current onerous quarantine requirements will be eased very significantly by November for “safe” countries, and I don’t see this as a hurdle – though you might want to insist on direct flights rather than going via the Gulf, in case your “green” status is undermined by a transit via Dubai or Doha.

Don’t do anything hasty, though. At this stage I think it is fair to dream of being in Thailand in November, but I suggest you wait a few more months before finalising your plans.

Email your questions to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder