Let the departures board choose your day

A destination you hadn't chosen at breakfast

A station departures board can make a familiar place feel briefly full of possibilities. Names you normally ignore become somewhere you could be in an hour.

Give yourself a day to follow one of them.

The idea is simple: choose a destination from the board within a few sensible limits, buy a valid ticket and go. You don't need to select the finest town in Britain. You need somewhere unfamiliar enough to make you look around.

Set the limits before the surprise

Decide what you can spend on the whole outing, including the return journey, food and anything you might pay to visit. Then decide when you need to be home and how much of the day you want to spend travelling.

For example, you might choose a direct journey of roughly an hour, with enough time at the destination for lunch and a walk. Those are your boundaries, not a formula for everybody else. If you have access requirements, include suitable stations and transport in the choice from the start.

Choose a day when a modest change of plan won't cause a serious problem. A spontaneous outing is less enjoyable if it sits immediately before collecting someone who cannot wait.

Take comfortable shoes, a weather-appropriate layer, a charged phone and whatever you need to use and show your ticket. The equipment should fit the day you are actually having.

Let the board suggest rather than command

At the station, look for two or three destinations that fit your limits. Check journey times and the return service. The place listed in large letters may be a train's final destination, so check where the service actually stops before choosing an intermediate town.

Pick one that interests you. If you want chance to decide, number the suitable options and use a random number on your phone. Randomness comes after the practical checks.

Buy the correct ticket before boarding. Check the permitted train, route, operator and time restrictions, as applicable. An Advance ticket is normally tied to the booked service; “Advance” doesn't mean you can choose any departure that looks convenient. National Rail also notes that some operators sell these tickets on the day. Advance ticket conditions.

If the fare or return doesn't work, choose another place. You haven't failed the experiment by refusing to spend money you didn't intend to spend.

Find one reason to leave the station

On arrival, take a moment to find the town centre or the particular place you want to see. Some stations sit farther from their named destination than you might expect.

Give the visit one loose anchor. A museum, a riverside path, a market or a café can be enough. Check that the place is open and that the route suits you. Then leave room around it.

You might notice an elaborate doorway, a small bookshop or a street that bends around something much older than the buildings. Read a plaque. Look at the view from a bridge. Go into the local museum if it takes your interest, rather than because an app says you must complete it.

There is no obligation to turn every hour into a discovery. Lunch in a place you didn't know existed is already a different day.

Leave a return worth having

Keep an eye on service updates. Choose a return with enough margin for the things you need to do afterwards, and avoid making the final train your entire plan where another option is available.

Set a reminder to head back to the station. Allow time for the walk, finding the platform and any access arrangements. If disruption changes things, follow the operator's advice rather than assuming your ticket works on a different route.

On the way home, you may have acquired a new favourite place. You may simply know what one more name on the board looks like from street level.

Next time you pass through the station, it won't be just a name.