You can get on and off trains at will; that's the beauty of the pass. The disadvantage is you won't be able to reserve seats (unless you know specifically which train you're going on) and some sections of the journey may be very busy in Standard class.

First class is definitely a more pleasant way to travel, but only you can decide if it's worth the extra. I would think that if you're doing long-distance travel over several days you may enjoy and appreciate the extra comfort.

I'll leave the must sees to others... suffice to say the East Coast line passes through many historic places (York, Durham and Newcastle spring immediately to mind) and you could immerse yourself for days in any of them.

They are very easy to use; just validate it at the station before your first journey and that's all you need. Your individual trips aren't monitored. I assume you have checked into the Flex-pass as well, which can be better value if you are not making journeys every day.

As jdbri said, York is a beautiful city with a lot to see (cathedral, museums, castle, etc.) and the cathedral in Durham is perhaps the most beautiful in England.

Your new word has brought a smile to an otherwise tough workday - thank you! : )

I think you get a 20% discount for passes used during Nov-Feb or something. I used one last year and the first class upgrade was worth it, in my opinion. I never saw first class full (actually sat with a cabinet minister or high govt official on one Virgin train - the salmon and eggs were delicious), it was always quiet, and the best part is you get access to all the first class lounges at various stations (clean private restrooms, etc.).

We just spent two weeks in England with BritRail passes. We went south of London and then up to Cumbria, nearly to Scotland, and then meandered down to Portsmouth and back to London. We definitely got our money's worth and had a great time.

Getting on and off is easy. On our day from Windermere to Telford, we rode 7 different trains in order to take a detour up into the Pennines to see a mill in Burnley. Every train was on time except the last one, which was cancelled, but we caught another within 10 minutes that took us to Telford. Coming from a place with scant train service, the English system (we stayed in England only) was a marvel of efficiency.

If you're doing lots of train switching, it helps to know in advance which trains you are trying to catch. I forgot to print out my itineraries from National Rail. They would have been helpful. One advantage of the pass is that you can get on a train without queueing up for a ticket. Having to join the queue to ask which train you need to take cancels that benefit.

If the money isn't much of an issue and you'll be spending a lot of time on Virgin trains, first class might make a difference. The only trains we felt cramped on were the Virgin trains heading north from London. Other trains were crowded only at commute times. Most of the time, even without reservations, we had little difficulty getting seats facing each other with a table between.

We ended up not getting our pass validated until several days into the trip. Our first train had been replaced by a bus so the station wasn't opened and nobody else seemed to notice until we left the train in Oxford. We has written our starting date on the pass in ink and that seemed to be enough for most conductors.

For "must see sights," do you mean on the main rail line, or are you willing to take a detour? Are you doing the trip in a single day or taking several days to get there? What sort of things interest you? For instance, we took what amounted to about a 4+ hour detour to go up to Burnley to see a steam powered weaving mill (Queen Street Mill). For us, it resonated with our interests and was an absolute "must see" but I wouldn't think that would apply to everyone.

Also, beware of train travel on Sundays. Many lines do engineering works then and it wreaks havoc with the schedule and generally slows things down.

The 8 day CLASSIC Britrail pass is only good if you're travelling 8 days in a row. The FLEXI pass means you can travel any 8 days during your trip (meaning you wouldn't be travelling every day, you can stop for a couple of days or more when you feel like it).

Not all trains have first class so if you find yourselves on a short journey (short train) you'll have wasted some of that money on your first class passes. Standard class is okay and you can reserve seats the day before you travel (for a really long journey) at the train station (free service).

I have travelled with classic & flexi passes for years, and have sometimes upgraded to first class for a small fee (i.e. A Sunday train to Poole allowed me to upgrade for £5).

When you are making a lot of long distance trips, the passes are well worth the money.