Shenfield

Teenager saves £7.72 on his train journey from Sheffield to Essex

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• published: 27 Jan 2016
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Teenager saves £7.72 on his train journey from Sheffield to Essex… by taking a PLANE via Berlin He has always been willing to go the extra mile to save money - but this time he went 1,017. Jordon Cox, 18, was so incensed by the cost of a train ticket from Sheffield to his home in Shenfield, Essex, that he decided to see if flying was cheaper. After ransacking the internet for a deal, he flew from East Midlands Airport to Stansted via Berlin and still saved cash, despite spending his seven hour layover on a whistlestop tour of the German capital feasting on currywurst. This extreme option may not be for everyone. Jordon's journey took 13 hours door-to-door, while a train trip would have been just three-and-a-half. Jordon, who blogs on how to save money, was dubbed The Coupon Kid by friends when he started saving money by using vouchers. He once got £600 of groceries for 4p. On the day of his Berlin jaunt, he had travelled from Shenfield to Sheffield by train to teach a class on couponing. The teenager had managed to book a cheap £19 ticket for the journey north. But when he discovered the cheapest fare home was £47, he looked for alternatives. An open return from Shenfield to Sheffield would have set him back £97.70. He discovered he could fly home via Milan, Copenhagen, Dublin or Berlin with Ryanair. and it would be cheaper than a single train journey in England. Even by my usual standards, I'll admit this is a rather extreme way of saving money, he said. In the end I chose to travel via Berlin as it was the cheapest and the furthest away so I would get my money's worth. It is also a city on my bucket list that I have never been to before, so to have a short holiday there for less than the price of my train fare was brilliant. I know that flying is not environmentally friendly and I won't do this every time I travel, but this was the cheapest way for me to get home and I got to enjoy a 'free' mini holiday to a city I've always wanted to visit. Jordon, who blogs for MoneySavingExpert.com, booked his flight around three weeks in advance, flew from East Midlands Airport to Berlin. He spent £4 on a train from Sheffield to Derby, £4.20 on a bus from Derby to East Midlands Airport, £11.83 on a Ryanair flight to Berlin, £9.54 on a flight from Berlin to Stansted and £8 on his bus ride home, totalling £37.57. A train from Sheffield to Shenfield was £47. The teenager had decided not to book a return ticket to Sheffield as that cost £97.70. Jordon's extraordinary talent as a bargain hunter first hit the headlines in 2013 when it emerged he had bought his mother Debbie more than £100 of groceries for almost £100 off. On one occasion he got a Christmas dinner with all the trimmings for 10p.