Just to check - are you talking about Liverpool in the NW of England or Liverpool STREET which is in London

If the former could you tell us the exact date as weekends & public holidays do cause a few changes to train schedules

There is BTW a route that avoids London - you change trains at Watford Junction

See http://www.nationalrail.co.uk for details and book 8-10 weeks in advance to get the best prices

I would advise flying if you can (I haven't looked to see if there are direct flights) to avoid 3 train journeys, which will include carrying your luggage on the tube (not a pleasant experience).

Liverpool in the NW of England. I will be traveling on a Sunday. One option is to rent a car and drive one-way. Unfortunately it sounds like that might be the best option. I was unable to find any flights. Any suggestions for an airline that flys from Liverpool to Gatwick?

There are no flights to any of the London airports from Liverpool. You can fly direct from Liverpool to most European capitals (Dublin, Lisbon, Madrid, Paris, Rome, Berlin, Stockholm, Oslo, Riga, Budapest etc.) but not to London!

As a side suggestion you could take the train to Manchester airport and fly direct to Gatwick from there on BA. The flights are normally around 40 to 50 pounds but can be cheaper (and of course more expensive). Depending on your airline you could also have your bags checked straight through.

Don't know if it would save you that much time but it might work out cheaper and a little less stressfull.

There is a 10am flight from manchester which gets to LGW at 11am. Should be enough time to catch your 1315 connection especially if they will through check you. There is also aflight at 0830 if you like to be early. Checked on a weekday in February and the 10am one was 39 pounds

Ruth, you are travelling on a Sunday, when train delays are almost inevitable, so there is no way (even if its possible in theory) you should train on a Sunday morning.

I think you'll either have to drive (look out for *huge* one-way fee on the hire car), get train the previous day, or get the 830am flight ...whilst a flight arriving two hours before, as Ronaldo pointed out, gives you enough time in *theory*, if its late, you *could* miss your flight back, for which the financial penalty is likely to be high....such as buying new one way tickets.

If I were you I would train or fly the previous evening and stay near to Gatwick. If thats not possible because of the timing of your football match, then early Manchester flight is the safest and probably cheapest option, followed by the "halfway house" of train to London on the Sat evening, stay in London,and then train to Gatwick the next morning.

Alterantively they could just try to get as far south as possible on the Saturday night and overnight there, doing the rest of the trip the next morning

Probably would mean leaving luggage at the station to pick up as you dash to the train

I'm sure there are plenty of places to stay in somewhere like Birmingham

Or even stay in London - last train from Liverpool on a Saturday leaves at 20:10 and even this weekend coming you can get fares of £14 one way