dont come by bus to Madurai! there is a road building proces going on near Viluppuram and it delays buses by nearly 4-5 hours. I made a 15 hour trip to Chennai recently! Only if you are extremely lucky somehow the traffic gets thru otherwise you are stuck for hours at one spot. My suggestion is you guys buy tickets in train through Tatkal. This has to be done before 5 days of travel. It costs a bit more than the normal ticket but is worth as u can have a comfortable journey. The only issue here is if u cancel a Tatkal ticket you loose nearly 95% of the amount. My suggestion is confirm the members before 5 days, get the money, buy the tickets.