Hi
@abieleanor,
Thanks for your questions. There are many ways to easily travel between UEA and Birmingham. To answer your questions:
a) The rate at which UEA students travel across the country (to go home or visit friends and family, for example) depends on many variables! It often depends on timetables, as some students have less contact hours than others, or live closer than others, meaning it is easier for them to travel more frequently. Some students, however, travel on the occasional weekend, and some only travel back during the Christmas or Easter breaks. It is completely individual and you can be as flexible as your course and workload allows you to be.
b) The cheapest and fastest option is the
Megabus. This runs straight from UEA campus to Birmingham Brunel Street, takes around 4 hours, and is around £15 each way if you book last minute. If you book far in advance, however, is it only around £6 each way. This bus runs on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. If you have a
NUS card, you also get 10% off!
The
National Express also runs from UEA campus to Birmingham Coach Station, however, it has a changeover stop at London Victoria. With the
coachcard (which you mentioned that you have considered purchasing), it is roughly the same price as the Megabus, but does take much longer due to the changeover (about 7 hours). The National Express does however run throughout the whole week and not just the weekends, lending itself to more flexible journey options.
You can also get the train from Norwich Station into London (just under 2 hours), take the tube from Liverpool Street to Euston, and go to Birmingham New Street from there (just under 1.5 hours). This also takes about 4 hours, but is slightly more expensive (however, if get yourself a
railcard you save 1/3!) As a previous poster as mentioned, you could also get the train from Norwich to Ely, and then Ely to Birmingham. Travelling by train is a more flexible option as trains run frequently throughout the day, every day of the week.
c) To sum up, Megabus is probably your best option if you don’t need to travel mid-week. However, you could always book one way with the Megabus, and get the train back, for example.
If you have any other questions, please do let me know!
-Sian, UEA Official Rep