Lad flies from UK to Abu Dhabi for less than train ticket between London and Manchester

Let's play a game of 'Would You Rather?'. Step on the train in dreary Manchester and travel 200 miles and two hours on a (probably overbooked) train to London, or jet off to Abu Dhabi, where you're almost guaranteed to get some sun?

It's probably not too tricky of a decision anyway, but what if I told you the latter option was also the cheaper one?

It might be hard to comprehend, considering that a journey from Manchester to Abu Dhabi usually involves a seven-hour flight and a distance of 4,600 miles, but TikTok content creator Rob Adcock has proven that it can be done.

On a mission to demonstrate just how cheap travel can really be, Rob uses his account to prove that there are some amazing deals out there - it's just about going out and finding them.

To prove his point, Rob and a friend managed to get a flight from Manchester to Abu Dhabi for just £69. For comparison, a standard single train ticket from London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly costs £71.

I know train fares are quite extraordinary at the moment, but the fact you can get to Abu Dhabi for cheaper than a trip across the country is quite remarkable.

So how exactly did Rob do it?

Well, if you're not fan of flying, then the mega-deal probably isn't the one for you, because the flight is definitely not a direct one.

That's because the first leg of the trip involves flying to Rome from Manchester for £21, with Rob actually having a bit of a day out in the Italian capital before his connecting flight.

Speaking to LADbible, he said: "We worked out Lazio [football team] were playing that night, we could go and see them, and the next day get the flight down to Abu Dhabi."

Then came the most impressive part of the trip - a £48 flight from Rome to Abu Dhabi, which took about six hours.

Of course, the flight was bare-bones, with no entertainment on the long-haul flight, but Rob still got to the same location, allowing him to visit somewhere he has never been before while enjoying a bit of football along the way.

While there, Rob visited all the sights, as you typically do when visiting a new place - but the TikToker was particularly impressed with one iconic landmark.

"The best thing we saw, hands down, was the Grand Mosque. I’ve been lucky enough to go all over the world, but it was the most impressive man-made thing I’ve ever seen," he said.

Rob is of course a big footy fan, though the standard of the sport in the Middle Eastern country certainly left him far less impressed than he was with the Grand Mosque.

"We obviously went to watch the football, and it was horrendous," he said.

He added: "The worst football I’ve ever seen, and I’m a Forest fan, so I’ve seen some pap over the years."

The bargains didn't stop with the outbound flights, as Rob managed to snag a one-bedroom suite in a five star hotel for just £35 a night - "Can't moan at that," he added.

The content creator said that food is relatively cheap too, but Abu Dhabi is probably not the best place to have a boozy holiday with your mates because it can quickly get 'expensive'.

The flights back to Manchester were a little more expensive, but certainly not massively pricey by any means.

"The flight from Abu Dhabi to Rome was £34, but the flight from Rome to Manchester was £70," Rob said.

That makes the total return flight £104 - meaning the total cost of flights for the trip rounded up to £173.

The whole purpose of Rob's TikTok account is to show that you really can travel for cheap, and that doesn't just end with the price of the flight.

When he documented his Abu Dhabi trip, Rob showed how he even brings his own tea bags on trips and asks airplane staff for hot water - which is free of charge.

No matter where you go, you've still got to have a brew, right?

It's not just Abu Dhabi that Rob has visited recently, as he has also paid Milan a visit with a return flight from London Stansted setting him back just £13.

In comparison, Rob said that was cheaper than buying two coffees and a cake at one coffee shop, which added up to £14.25.

"[The idea behind] the coffee and cake one was because I don't think people realise just how cheap you can get [flights]. And I think it's only when people put it in comparison to other stuff that you can really appreciate it," he added.

So, you're probably all on board with a cheap holiday and getting the suncream and flip-flops at the ready - but where exactly do you find such cheap flights?

Rob explained: "Skyscanner is the place we go to all the time, what we'll tend to do is go click on 'flight from most places in the United Kingdom', and there's a function where you can click 'everywhere'.

"Then just try and work out where the cheapest place to go to that weekend is."

Rob added that sites such as Kayak and TripAdvisor for hotels are useful, concluding for anyone who is thinking of taking the plunge: "You can always find the best flights and the best hotels, there's so many tools out there to do it. It couldn't be more straightforward."