How to reduce the cost of travel to auditions

In the acting industry, you will often only be given a few days' notice of auditions, so it is impossible to plan ahead. Usually, it is too late to buy advance train tickets, but you should always check on websites such as eastcoast.co.uk, the trainline.com and tpexpress.co.uk in case there are any left. Sometimes, it may be possible to still buy advance tickets on the morning of your journey. Prices can vary from site to site, so it is important to check all of them and compare two singles with a return fare.

Depending on your age, you may be eligible for a railcard, which may reduce your rail fares by 1/3. Amongst those available are the 16-25, Senior Railcard and Family and Friends Railcard (perfect for parents travelling to auditions with their child.) Although these require an initial investment, they will save you money in the long-term and, from time to time, there are coupons in newspapers which will give you money off the railcard.

You can use your weekly grocery shop to help towards the cost of auditions. Tesco clubcard points can be exchanged for 'Redspottedhanky' vouchers, where points can be doubled so that £10 in Clubcard points can become £20 in rail vouchers. You should be aware, though, that it can take several days for the Clubcard points to be converted, so do this in plenty of time so you are ready to buy your tickets with the evoucher as soon as you have an audition.

A key trick to save money is to split the journey, even if you will still be on the same train. An easy way to do this is look at the changes in your journey and buy a separate ticket for each leg of the journey. Alternatively, you can try splitting the ticket every few stations.