travelling from Edinburgh to Manchester with 2.9yo

[feckymcfeckedoff]

Just hoping for a bit of advice, I've been asked down to pal's house near Manchester mid January with DD (2.9) and would love to get there, Thurs to Mon or something similar.

I've checked trains and am shocked at price - £170 and plane is about that too. I can't afford that and have concluded it would be much cheaper to go by car, sadly.

I don't think DD would stand for a 5 hour daytime journey so was wondering if leaving around 5pm with lots of snacks and hoping that she'll fall asleep about 6ish for the remainder of the journey is a good idea? I thought if I got arrived around 10pm it should be pretty easy to pop her straight into bed and hey presto (and I get to listen to lots of radio 4 on the way).

Really not sure if this is a good idea, anyone had any experience of evening journeys?

Thanks TheBBE, I'll have a look on the AA route thingy and mull over if I should make a day of it. I can pretty much rely on DD to sleep for an hour daytime in the car so I could just try and time the last leg to coincide with that.

Another good stopoff is the Llama Karma Kafe which is just a mile or so off the M6 on the A66 (on the right hand side of the A66 as you're coming east from the M6). There are various animals out the back to check out, and it's a nice place.

I have just checked on The Trainline and tickets aren't as expensive as you have been quoted.

It is often cheaper to buy two singles and have found ticket prices at around £15 - £19 each way.

The trainline was where I was looking bunbaker, checked twice and couldn't get it lower than 160...I"d much rather go by train so will look again and hopefully match your bargain.

Way hey, just clicked your trainline link and it goes to a different page from the one I was checking...what a difference in price! Thanks bun, job done

The prices can change a lot, one week on Monday the cheapest ticket I could get London-Birmingham was £45 for me and DD, by Friday I could do it for £17. You might want to consider getting a family railcard and buying LO a ticket if the prices are high enough to make it worth it. (It can sometimes be cheaper to have one and buy an under 5 a ticket than to travel without.)

Glad to be of service. I use the Trainline website a lot. Have a nice Christmas.