IainMorton Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 Going to London at the end of March and booked a return trip with Megabus as they are the cheapest option, although reading online reviews I now regret this decision! Never travelled with them before, anyone with any good/bad experiences here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Gaines Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 It'll probably put you off doing a bus journey of any distance ever again. Certainly did that job for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IainMorton Posted December 31, 2018 Author Share Posted December 31, 2018 2 minutes ago, Principal Flutie said: It'll probably put you off doing a bus journey of any distance ever again. Certainly did that job for me. I’ve bussed it to London before with National Express over ten years ago and I said at the time never again, but the price of the train or flying down it seems like the best option price wise. Suppose for £23 you get what you pay for!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginaro Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 1 minute ago, IainMorton said: I’ve bussed it to London before with National Express over ten years ago and I said at the time never again, but the price of the train or flying down it seems like the best option price wise. Suppose for £23 you get what you pay for!! £30 advance single tickets available on the train, up to you if it's worth spending a bit extra to save 5 hrs each way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pandarilla Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 £30 advance single tickets available on the train, up to you if it's worth spending a bit extra to save 5 hrs each way!Absolutely this. Price comes into it but f**k me I'd need to be pretty desperate to choose a bus to London. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miguel Sanchez Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 I've done this. I didn't really sleep before we left for the bus at ~3 in the morning. I certainly didn't sleep bolt upright on a tiny seat, up the back next to a toilet door that didn't stay shut. Put it this way, if it's ~£10 extra for the train as suggested above, I guarantee by the end of your bus journey you would happily have paid much more to have avoided the bus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 55 minutes ago, IainMorton said: Going to London at the end of March and booked a return trip with Megabus as they are the cheapest option, although reading online reviews I now regret this decision! Never travelled with them before, anyone with any good/bad experiences here? They tried having bunk beds for a while but I think they didn't get enough demand for the slightly more expensive tickets. You'll be fine, just settle in with a book or film and you'll fall asleep in a bit and wake up at Golders Green. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFTD Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 I did London to Stirling and back on National Express a few times twenty-five years ago. It's not great. The bus smells like an abattoir by the time you get to the end, and God help you if anybody gets sick during the journey. I think the furthest I'd go on the coach from here would be Manchester; any longer is an endurance test. However, the wife and I ended up on a Virgin train down to London last summer, and that journey was probably worse. Horrible overcrowding, and so little leg room that I had to angle my legs out in the aisle - not because it was uncomfortable, but because there physically wasn't room for the legs of anyone 6ft or over. Fly down, unless finances make it out of the question. The saving is not worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Gaines Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 Never felt that bad on a train journey down there, and it's something I do a hell of a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFTD Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 15 minutes ago, Principal Flutie said: Never felt that bad on a train journey down there, and it's something I do a hell of a lot. We might have been unlucky, or it might just be Virgin trains, considering the bad rep they have. The point was more that you're not guaranteed a better experience on the train. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Gaines Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 Getting yourself a table seat well in advance is a decent guarantee. If it's possible, getting a later train usually guarantees some space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MP_MFC Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 Done a bus down and back in the same day for a gig once and it was horrible, attempted to get the mega bus down to a mates last year and it was just so damned long in one upright position, about Carlisle I started pricing up train tickets from Manchester to London and cut my losses with the bus and spent the £26 on the day cost of the train. Best decision ever especially as the driver announced as we rolled into Manchester bus station that the bus was fully booked from there and no spare seats.Don't do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IainMorton Posted January 1, 2019 Author Share Posted January 1, 2019 3 hours ago, ThatBoyRonaldo said: If you get a quiet day where you can get a spare seat next to you, and are willing to bring a book, or headphones, and just kill an entire day looking out the window watching the country go by, I've always found the bus to/from London quite enjoyable in a way. There's something nice about knowing that the next 8 hours is just a complete write off so you can relax, not think about anything, and you'll be in London when you step off. The flip side of that is if you find yourself on the overnight bus with someone rammed right in next to you, on a bus that's too cold to sleep in even if it wasn't shoogling about all over the road. In those circumstances it's genuinely a pretty unpleasant experience and you get off the bus feeling a bit grimy and horrible which doesn't really go away until the following day. Thankfully I’m not travelling alone so at least the time should pass pretty quickly! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Ferguson's Hat Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 The Megabus is absolutely fine. Make sure you have enough to eat/drink with you, try to squeeze out a shite before you get on and you'll be grand. I got the Megabus from London to Glasgow after having spent the previous ~50 hours flying back from Auckland and it still hasn't put me off from possibly doing it again in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invergowrie arab Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 Used to do it a couple of times a year as a student. It really depends. The overnighter was brutal as I can't sleep on a bus so the next day you feel shite. You also get people farting, snoring, taking their shoes off etc. I used to just try and get good and stoned and/or drunk. I was happy enough reading a book on the day trips. That said there was a massive crash on M6 one bank holiday Monday which shut whole motorway and meant a 6 hour diversion through Stoke in 30 degree heat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tree house tam Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 Done Edinburgh to London a few times, prefer the train though. If you can sleep it would be ok, I can't, it's a curse. Had junkies get on at Newcastle one time and then proceed to rake about every 20 mins for "tablets", disappear to the toilet then repeat for the next 4 hours. It also stops somewhere around 4.30am where they put the lights on and tell everyone over the tannoy they're stopping for 15 minutes. Only plus points are price and the overnight one gets you in London at 6.30am. You've got the whole day to do shit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I'm Brian Posted January 6, 2019 Share Posted January 6, 2019 Bussed it a few times Glasgow to London in my financially less well off years and most times it was brutal. I'm over six foot and leg room was always an issue, and the coaches always seemed to be fully booked. It came to the point where to get a decent seat where I could stretch my legs out I had to be first in the queue and that meant standing for an hour at the stance. Always went for the overnight option but it comes with pitfalls like snoring, loud farting and fuckers on mobile phones. One in particular was a guy who kept phoning his "UNCUL WULL" to give an update on where the coach was, and then at the same time discuss how shite Celtic had been the previous Saturday. In saying all of this, if conditions were OK then I have found myself falling asleep pretty early on the journey and waking up at the bus station. I did it once through the day and that was the worst journey of my life. The funniest long distance coach story I have was one time I had to go to Manchester and coach was the only realistic way of getting there thanks to the west coast trainline being shut. Stood in the queue at Glasgow behind some gadgie who was all excited about his weekend in Blackpool. Several members of his family had joined him to see him off. He was really excited about Blackpool...You could tell. Anyway bus pulls up guy puts his case in the hold and tries to hand over some cash for a ticket, only to be given the heart-wrenching news that you had to book a ticket. The look on his coupon was glorious. I am so glad I am in a position never to have to do long distance coaches again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyAnchor Posted January 12, 2019 Share Posted January 12, 2019 c***s on a bus thread for this pish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IainMorton Posted January 12, 2019 Author Share Posted January 12, 2019 21 hours ago, BillyAnchor said: c***s on a bus thread for this pish Not travelling till the end of March so that thread will be updated then Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
senorsoupe Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 I've done a fair number of long bus trips in my time (New York to Montreal at close to 9 hours was the longest) and I can solidly say that the bus is garbage. Even with our terrible trains I would much rather take the train in Canada than a bus, even the extra cost is totally worth it. In terms of UK bus trips (on National Express both times), I did Glasgow to Liverpool and a few days later Liverpool to London, most memorable moment of any of those trips was our "lunch stop" somewhere near Milton Keynes which was at some burger van on a dirt road just off the motorway, was sketchy as f**k Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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