While Skype and Facebook are great for keeping in touch with old friends and family, it doesn’t quite live up to seeing them in the flesh.

This means that as a student you’ll probably have to rack up a fair few road and railmiles as you travel across the country to give your mum a hug or catch up with old school chums. The last thing you want is a lack of funds to get in the way of being able to pop home for Father’s Day or to get together for a mate’s birthday, so you’ll need to make sure you’re spending as little as possible on travel. Here are a few tips to help you do just that.

Coach Travel

National Express Young Persons Coachcard

If you travel by National Express you can grab a Young Persons Coachcard for £10 a year (or £25 for 3 years) plus postage, which will entitle you to a third off standard fare tickets.

The key word here is ‘standard’. If you usually book your tickets in advance you’ll have access to ‘funfare’ tickets which aren’t entitled to a discount.

Megabus

The Megabus might not be the most glamorous (or quickest) form of travel, but it is usually the cheapest. If you have an NUS Extra card you’ll get it for 10% cheaper. With the service extending its routes beyond the UK into Amsterdam, Paris and even Barcelona you can even plan a cheap European getaway – if you don’t mind spending 24 hours on a coach that is.

Train Travel

Railcard

For £30 a year you can buy a Young Persons Railcard which will give you 1/3 off rail tickets – and not just full price tickets, but advance and off peak tickets as well. While there are some restrictions (discounts will only apply on tickets that cost £12 between 4.30am-10am Monday to Friday for example) these usually won’t affect you.

Cheaper railcards

If you collect Tesco Clubcard points you can trade £15 worth of points for a railcard, while some student bank accounts offer free railcards for the duration of your university education.

Nectar points

If you purchase your train tickets through a certain company you can earn Nectar points simply by linking your Nectar number to your train account. Remember that you can buy a train ticket from any provider for any service (e.g. you can buy from First Great Western and travel on Cross Country), so you can collect points even if you don’t actually travel with that train company.

Plusbus

If you’ll need to use the bus on the same day as your train journey, checking the Plusbus option adds unlimited bus travel from as little as £2. Although you can’t get Plusbus in London, most other towns and cities are covered. Oh, and you can still get your 33% discount by using your Railcard!

via wikimedia

Break up your journey

An anytime ticket from Reading to Leamington Spa costs £40 (without a railcard). However, an anytime ticket from Reading to Oxford costs £13.50 and an anytime ticket from Oxford to Leamington Spa costs £17, for a total of £30.50 and a saving of £9.50.

Even advance and off-peak tickets can cost less by breaking up the journey, so on top of your 1/3 discount you can really make some great savings. While you won’t save money on absolutely every route by buying multiple tickets, it doesn’t hurt to check.

Driving

If you’re planning on driving you might still be able to reduce your costs by putting an extra bum or two on your spare seats by using a service like Liftshare or Bla Bla Car. Alternatively you could see if anyone else is making your journey and travel with them. While it’s not as reliable as simply hopping on a train or coach, it could be a viable alternative.

These money saving travel tips were provided by the free online competition site MyOffers. For a chance to win gadgets, holidays or even a car visit us at MyOffers.co.uk.