h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

London to York by train is a breeze!

The train is a good run - something just less than 2 hours I think from London but it seems so expensive.
Also, if you go at a peak time you may well find you have to stand all the way, at least to Doncaster.

The thing with British train companies is that they like to know exactly how many people will be on each train - which is not easy do. They do this so that they can ensure there are exactly the right number of carriages on each train - minus one.

Anyway, as a tourist coming to the UK, it is cheaper to book train tickets more than one week in advance, and possibly even one month in advance, although noone ever does this. In reality, the beauty of being a tourist is that you can change your plans is something comes up.

If, however, cost outweighs spontaneity in your case, then look at the train company websites to book cheap tickets. The most advertised ticket websites are actually owned by one rail operator, and don't offer advanced discount tickets for other rail companies (a bit sneaky, that).

Oh, and it can cost over fifty quid per person when a flight costs about twenty. My own train journey was complicated by needing to return to a different station than the one I had left from, but it still managed to set me back £85. Better for the environment (though not much; inter-city travel in the UK is mostly dependent on trains that aren't far short of the Big 4-0) but not so good for my wallet!