Traveling from London to Manchester
 

So, I'm going to London next week and a friend of mine will be in Manchester and I was wanting to visit but not sure the best way to get there. He said the train tickets can be very expensive if you don't pre-book them but I'm not sure I want to do that either because I don't know for sure when I'll be there and when I'll be able to leave. Also, do they travel at any time because I'd probably be coming back to London on the later side. I really don't know much about this; all I know about is the tube which I plan on using the most. Any tips on where to get tickets or what to ride would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks:)

Are you saying you want to make a day trip to Manchester? By coach, it can take 5+ hours. National Express and Megabus are two of the main coach companies that serve the UK. Virgin Trains offers service taking about 2.5 hours from London to Manchester, but it costs about twice as much as the coach.

The trains can be bloody expensive but they are the fastest way to go. If you have a UK address you could try
http://www.thetrainline.com
to get prices and book tickets.

well I know it'd be a lot....I just wanted to see how feasible it would actually be. It'd just be crazy cool to meet up with my friend over there but I guess the timing is just off because he leaves the day after I get there so he doesn't have time to come to London at all while I'm there so just wanted to see if it could happen. thanks for the links tho! I'll check them out just in case

If he leaves the day after you get there, are you saying you want to take the train right after you get off the plane? Wow, that's intense. But it's a straight trip and it take just over 2 hours. check out Nationalrail.co.uk to get all the timetables of the trains if you just want to check.