Cheapest Way To Travel Around UK and Europe With Megabus

Megabus is the coach provider and the cheapest way to travel around Europe and UK. Megabus fare starts as low as £1 between UK cities. Another coach provider in UK is National Express but generally the fare is more expensive but it covers more cities than Megabus. You might get as low as £15 between London and Europe with Megabus.

What are the advantages to travel with Megabus?
1) Cheaper
2) Free wifi on board
3) Widely cover international destinations

What are the disadvantages to travel with Megabus?
1) Free wifi is within UK cities only but at least free wifi provided Vs National Express, no wifi provided.
2) Routes are limited in UK as compared to National Express
3) No proper coach station in certain cities (you might have to wait at the bus by the road bus stop)

Generally both seats are the same unless you travel with Megabus double decker because certain seat comes with table seating just like below.

Seat that comes with table

Megabus Double Decker

If you got an extra penny, try to use Megabus gold as it offer Sleeper Seat (bed) but the routes are limited. Mainly from London with a long hours journey (eg to Scotland).

Megabus Gold - Sleeper Seat

Megabus Gold - Sleeper Seat

Brussels, Belgium

Our last day of tour in Brussels, Belgium.

Nothing much to see in Brussels but the Top 4 Places recommended to visit are:
1) Mini Europe - Landmarks of Europe building in a small scale. You can "cover" Europe within few hours
2) City Hall of Brussels
3) Atomium - Atom based sculpture
4) Manneken Pis - Naked little boy urinating into a fountain's basin.

Try to eat Belgium Waffle and Belgian Chocolate in Brussels. The Belgian chocolate you can get from the street (non-branded) but the taste is good enough! We tried the Belgian Waffle from Haagen Dasz and obviously the taste is good (with extra penny on it). We did not know the Belgian Chocolate and truffles taste as good as the branded chocolate until we went back to Birmingham and eat the chocolate. If we were know that the street chocolate is good, definitely we pack extra chocolate to bring back to Birmingham (my house).

Please take note that there are some places quite dangerous (along the European Union office) to stay due to high crime rate. However it only start to become dangerous when it start to become dark and the place become quite. The hotel that we stay advice us not go out during late evening and in fact the hotel have to lock the entrance door during late evening and equip with thick glass door.

Brussels City Centre

The City Hall of Brussels

Atomium

The Canal City of Bruges, Belgium

Our next stop is Belgium! 3 hours coach ride from Amsterdam with Megabus (the cheapest way to travel as we paid only £5.00 for the ticket)

We leave our luggage at our hotel in Brussels since the room is not ready yet and straight away took a train to Bruges, another city of Belgium. It took abour 1 hour 15 mins from Brussels to Bruges and the ticket cost me €28 Euro for return journey.

Bruges is a small and less crowded city as compared to Brussels. The city is a canal based city other than Amsterdam and Stockholm in Europe. The reason I went to Bruges is to try their clams as it recommended by my friend due to its taste and freshness.

There is nothing much you can see and do in Bruges but the surrounded buildings are very old and nice. The city centre is a prominent World Heritage Site of UNESCO. So you can expect traditional old building surrounded the city. The two recommended activities here are:
1) Horse Drawn Carts - Romantic 30 minute horse-carriage trip around the old city of Bruges.
2) Eating clams

This is my first time to ride on double decker train and it was used to travel for Brussel to Bruges

The clams that you can die for! It can be shared for 2 persons for each bowl

Horse Drawn Carts. Sorry for the picture quality because it was raining and luckily my camera is water-proof

Shop Lots in Bruges

Canal Routes/ River

5 days 4 nights trip and begins with Amsterdam, Netherlands

5 days 4 nights trip covering 3 cities (Amsterdam, Bruges and Brussels) in 2 countries (Netherlands & Belgium)

My simple itinerary as follows:
Day 0
Depart from Birmingham in the evening to London (transit for 1 hour) before continue my journey to Amsterdam.

Day 1
Arrive in Amsterdam in the morning and tour Amsterdam

Day 2
Tour Amsterdam

Day 3
Depart from Amsterdam to Brussels early in the morning and it took about 3 hours journey.
We straightaway took a train to Bruges after we checked in to our hotel

Day 4
Touring Brussels and depart back to Birmingham in the afternoon

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the capital city of Netherlands (the Dutch). The city is full of river, canals, narrow houses and buildings and paradise for weed. The country is fully legalised to sell weed (with licensed).

We travelled by coach from Birmingham to Amsterdam and transit in London coach station with a total journey of almost 15 hours including transit and ferrying. This is our first time doing back-packing and it was really tiring. We booked Megabus because the only coach provider offer routes from Birmingham to Amsterdam and it was really cheap! However, once we entered the French border, wifi is no longer offered. It put us the rest of the journey so empty and bored. Think twice if you are not mentally and physically ready to travel by coach for long hours.

The Top 7 places to visit within full 3 days and 2 nights are:
1) Vondel Park - A small park located near the city centre. The New York Central Park of Amsterdam or London Hyde Park of Amsterdam
2) Magna Plaza - The most popular shopping mall in Amsterdam and consider as Harrods of Netherlands.
3) Leidse Square - The local shopping street where you can get street food (some of the restaurant sell Halal food), souvenirs, clothing and varieties of desserts (recommended) (don't forget to try Dutch waffle, Stroopwafel
4) Gassan Diamonds - The factory/ museum that sell and produce diamonds. Woman's best friend.
5) Rijksmuseum - It is an art museum. This is where "IAMSTERDAM" sign is located. One of the best spot to take picture is in front of the museum
6) Red Light District - Where a concentration of prostitution and sex shops, strip clubs, adult theatres and more is found. Not advisable to bring kids to this area.

The best and fastest way to cover 7 interesting places through Hop On Hop Off bus. You can use unlimited ride. They only activate your ticket once you board and valid for 24 hours if you chose 1 day pass (e.g activate at 1pm and valid until the next day at 12.59pm) and ! day pass is enough. Try the canal if you got extra penny. :) You may purchase with Hop On Hop Off and it will offer you discount on canal. The routes for canal cover most of the interesting spots through river. You will find few people are live inside the canal as their main house. It looks very nice and interesting. The extra one day, you may spend to buy your souvenirs, coffee and dessert, shopping, relaxing and walking around the city.

If you wanted to find weed "bar", try to find "Coffee Shop" sign. The Grasshopper Coffee Shop is one of the most popular in Amsterdam. Talking about mushroom, they have three type of mushrooms if I am not mistaken which are sad, happy and high. Happy Mushroom is the best mushroom to try as it will make you happy and you able to make your decision wisely. It will last about 4 hours and advisable to take around 6pm until it gone before you went bed.

If you have extra days to spend, try to visit Keukenhof and Zaanse Schans. These two places are located totally opposite direction. Thus you might need extra two days to spend to visit these two places.

Keukenhof - Where you can see garden of tulips. It only open during Spring. Generally, it opens during late March until mid May.
Zaanse Schans - Well-maintained historic windmills and houses built during 1961.

Below are the some pictures were taken during my visit.

We got a chance to view the clarity of the diamond at Gassan Diamonds museum.

Some of the Jewelries sell in Gassan Diamonds. Non-EU entitle to claim tax-free :)

In front of IAMSTERDAM sign, near Rijksmuseum

On the canal with the view of Amsterdam city

The Canal interior

Some of the few desserts they sell along Leidse Square

Amsterdam at night

Shop Lots and Houses that build along river

Keukenhof

Zaanse Schans

Edinburgh, Scotland - I just went to Edinburgh for a day trip. We rented a car in Glasgow and drove to Edinburgh. It took about 1 hour 15 mins to get there

To-See
Edinburgh is a worth to visit. Consider as a posh city of Scotland or London of Scotland. There are many things to see and to do. We didn't go to the castle because need a long hill walk and we did not have a much time but we manage to take few pictures from the town with the view of castle.

Shopping
There are many expensive branded lines you can get in Edinburgh such as Celine, Victoria Beckham, Balenciaga, Gucci, Marc Jacobs and Stella McCartney at Harvey Nichols and as well as standalone boutiques such as Louis Vuitton, Mulberry, Michael Kors and others along the Multrees Walk.

Garden along Princess Street near Edinburgh Castle

Picture taken with the background of Edinburgh popular bridge.

Nearby the Princess Street's Garden

Pictures taken with the view of the castle behind on top of the hill

Glasgow, Scotland

This is my first time travel to Scotland and Glasgow is my first city stop. It took about 5 hours 30 mins including transit for almost 1 hour 30 mins in Carlisle to travelled from Birmingham to Glasgow. I chose Virgin train because it offer the fastest ground transportation at competitive fare vs coach.

I book Virgin Train from megabus.com because it offer the cheapest fare from Birmingham to Glasgow but I have to book 2 separate booking because it does not offer promotional fare if I book directly from Birmingham to Glasgow and only show coach option:

1) Birmingham to Carlisle
2) Carlisle to Glasgow
MAKE SURE THE TIMING DOES NOT CLASH!!

You can book directly at much higher fare and it took about 4 hours to travel from Birmingham to Glasgow. For me, I don't mind to travel extra 1 hour 30 mins as long as I get much comfortable seat at shorter travelling time vs coach (8 hours by coach).

The view u can get travelling on Virgin Train from Birmingham to Glasgow during winter.

Sorry for the image quality, the picture was taken on phone camera, Samsung Galaxy Note 1 while the train is moving.

Scottish Pound
The Scottish Pound is widely use in Scotland and it is good as a British pound. Both currency works here and give the same value. However, certain money changer in a home country (eg. Malaysia) takes lower value than British pound due to less popularity even though the currency valuation is the same.

Copyright: Telegraph UK, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/10714016/If-an-independent-Scotland-wants-to-keep-the-pound-it-may-lose-its-banks.html

Manchester & Lake District

This is my first city that visited when I studied in United Kingdom and it is about 2 hours away from Birmingham by bus. I booked Megabus since it offer the cheapest fare at that time.

The city considered as one of the famous city in United Kingdom and full with Malaysian. You can see Malaysian are everywhere often called as "Kampung Melayu UK" or UK Malay Village.

I personally dislikes Manchester not because I do not like Manchester but it just feel that I am still in Malaysia because Malaysian are everywhere. If felt like the city is a Malaysian city with a cold weather.

I managed to meet my close friends that studies in Manchester at that time. We went to Lake District since it is less than 1 hour 20 mins journey from Manchester traveled directly to Oxenholme Lake District with Virgin Train.

Due to pictures transferring issue. More pictures to be uploaded at later time.

Lake District

Birmingham, United Kingdom

Birmingham City University is the place where I choose to pursue my studies in MSc Accountancy and Finance and ACCA due to exemption given for MSc papers after completed F level of ACCA papers and as well as the best university rank that offers the same course, Manchester Metropolitan University VS University of Northampton VS University of Gloucestershire.

My campus was located in Perry Barr, Birmingham before it moved to a new built City Centre campus in Birmingham City Centre.

Copyright: GetMyUni, http://www.getmyuni.com/assets/images/main/colleges/big/birmingham-city-university-perry-barr-birmingham-united-kingdom-birmingham-united-kingdom.jpg

Copyright: Birmingham Post, http://www.birminghampost.co.uk/news/local-news/students-legal-bid-stop-120m-3907583

Hello UK! Bye Malaysia.....

25th August 2012 - This is the peak point of my studies where are really dream about to study in United Kingdom became reality. This is effort that I really put into and it become reality! hello UK!