Couple catch flight for day trip because it's cheaper than train fare to London

The country's trains are on their a**e. I mean, it's not exactly news to anyone who has had the misfortune of trying to book a seat without first having to sell a kidney, but it's an absolute shambles.

But if you don't believe me, how about Jill and Keith McCormack.

The couple, from Liverpool, recently decided to go out on a day trip, and fancied heading down to London to check out the sights.

However, their big plans were scuppered when they tried to book a train ticket and were told it would cost them £101 for the pair of them on their joint rail card.

So they thought to hell with that and looked elsewhere for places they could spend the day, and happened upon a couple of cheap Ryanair tickets for Dublin.

They're certainly not the first people to find that jetting off abroad is cheaper than catching a train for a UK day trip.

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After having a search online, Jill, 51, found return tickets for £36 each, which amounts to a saving of £29.

Jill said it was a 'no brainer', with the pair jetting off, and packing in breakfast, lunch, walks around the castle, and even a drink and a dance at Temple Bar before heading home.

“We have fun day Friday," said the psychotherapist.

“We do different things. We do things in Liverpool or go to the beach. Or we’ll go for lunch and have wine.

“We were looking for a weekend away. But London was ridiculously expensive.

“Dublin flights were cheap. It sounds a bit mad but we went for it.”

Despite the Irish capital being notoriously expensive, Jill and Keith spent just £100 while they were there.

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Jill said: “We walked down the river.

“We then still had enough time to go to Temple Bar for a few hours for a dance and a few Guinnesses.

“It was like having a night out in the day.”

The couple left Dublin at 8pm, leaving plenty of time to catch their 10.30pm flight home.

And Jill says they definitely made the right choice of crossing the sea rather than heading to London for the day.

“It was long but a great day," she said. “We did two days in one day.

“It was really weird getting on a plane with just a handbag.”

They are now planning on heading back to Dublin next month after they spotted return flights for under a tenner.

And they've got their next day out planned, driving over to York for the day because of the 'scandalous' train prices.