kit

I would like to hook up with a friend in London, but there's this cheap flight to Manchester right now....<BR><BR>Must be fairly simple to rent a car and drive down (and back, right)? I thought easy jet or ryan would have a quick hopper, but they don't.<BR><BR>Thoughts?

ret

i think it's about 5 hours

Elaine

Depends on the time of day you start off - ie make sure you don't hit Birmingham during morning or afternoon rush hours - but if you get a good run, you should do it in about 3 hours. Train is the quickest and least hassle, but can be expensive. Cheapest is probably the regular bus service from Chorlton Street bus depot, but it can take hours. BTW there's a big road safety campaign going on in the UK at the moment, warning people not to drive if they're tired (following a tragic accident where someone fell asleep at the wheel and drove onto a railway line, derailing 2 trains, killing 10 people and injuring countless others in the process) so if you've just got off a long haul flight, I'd think twice about driving that sort of distance straight away.

regular

Have a look at the RAC route planner page http://www.rac.co.uk/plan_route<BR><BR>According to them the distance is 208.5 miles and should take 3hrs 57 mins.<BR>I would echo the warning about getting mixed up in the Birmingham rush hour.

janis

The drive isn't bad - but then you have the problem of what to do with the car once you are in London. I would take the train. Especially if you are just travelling to London for the day - a cheap day return ticket would be less than a one day car rental plus petrol plus parking.