Lucy Walker, 27, from Newcastle and Zara Quli, 26, had planned to meet up in Birmingham, but were shocked when they discovered that Lucy's return trip would cost £105.
After looking at alternatives online, Lucy realised she could travel from Newcastle to Malaga for less than £20 return with Ryanair. And Zara, who is a charity worker, found a flight from Birmingham for £55.59 with Spanish budget airline Vueling and a hostel for £10 per night.
The pair met up in Malaga on Saturday 7 January and spent three nights together, as it was cheaper than train travel in their own country.
Lucy, a former Nottingham University student, told the Metro: "Trying to travel last-minute in the UK is always such a kick in the teeth as they put such a big premium on it.
"There are always these last minute deals for flights and so we just checked for a better deal. We realised it was cheaper for the both of us to go to Malaga instead.
"Considering I try to be environmentally friendly it is not something I would normally do but the train is so expensive and this was just so much cheaper."
The flights were cheaper than the rail fares between Birmingham and Newcastle would have been, despite the two cities being only 200 miles apart and the UK and Malaga being 1,500 miles apart.
Train travel is so pricey.
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