Last updated on July 3rd, 2015 at 11:13 pm

I caught a VirginTrain from Manchester to London. Technically it was from Stockport four miles out of Manchester. The trick for booking these fares online is you can?t book the day of your travel with any reliability. The phone support people said I could, but the ticket counter guy said I couldn?t.

Anyway I paid GBP 28.00 to travel first class from Manchester to London. The published fare is over 150.00. See Virgin Trains.

Beware that a ticket that heavily discounted has no refunds, so don?t miss the train. The guy selling me a coffee on the station was so chatty I almost missed the train.