A man has revealed how a nine-hour Megabus journey from London to Edinburgh turned out to be worse than he expected, but still hasn’t put him off using the service again.
Reporter Sam Ormiston shared his experience for MyLondon, explaining that he bought the £15 overnight coach journey because it was much more affordable than train tickets which started at around £120 for a return journey, four days before his trip.
With everyone looking for a cheaper alternative these days, Sam decided that the 418-mile journey from London Victoria Coach Station to Edinburgh was the better option for him.
His verdict? “From barely catching a wink of sleep to finding myself sat next to the cramped and overused toilet, I can honestly say that the trip was somehow worse than expected. I expected the queues to be non-existent on a Monday night, yet the London to Glasgow via Edinburgh Megabus service was jam packed.”
Sam went on to explain that he’d often used Megabus when he was a student, usually travelling with friends and often heading “somewhere exciting like a musical festival”.
“It’s an incredibly different vibe catching it on your own, completely sober and exhausted after a long day at work,” he admitted.
The trip was already off to a rocky start for Sam, who turned up at the London departure point at 11.15pm, on an empty stomach, only to find that most of the shops were closed. After scrambling around, he managed to find a small corner shop where he was able to pick up some drinks, snacks and a burger.
What then caught him off guard was how busy the Megabus turned out to be - and being at the back of the queue proved a disadvantage, report Daily Star.
He explained: “I think there was one, maybe two spare seats. Another rookie error on my part was that I didn’t turn up early enough, and so found myself at the back of the queue while boarding the bus. This meant - you’ve guessed it - that I ended up sitting right next to the loo.”
While the woman next to him promptly fell asleep for the entire journey, Sam said he “barely caught a wink and was kept awake by the loud snores and cries of my fellow passengers”, not to mention the passengers who used the toilet meaning he was disrupted.
Eventually, he decided to get changed as he was getting hot and headed to brave the toilet.
“I was shocked to discover the toilet seat up when I entered with a toilet almost overflowing with urine,” he said. “Trying not to throw up, I desperately pressed the button to realise that it all flushed away instantly. It was quite the relief, but I have no idea what my fellow passengers were thinking.”
The rest of the journey wasn’t any smoother, as he says the conditions were “very hot, and a little cramped”, although his aisle seat meant he could stretch out his legs.
Another snag came when the bus got stuck in traffic due to an accident on the road, meaning that ultimately they arrived at Edinburgh over an hour late.
However, that hasn’t put Sam off for future trips.
He said: “Despite all my criticisms of the Megabus experience, though, I’ll almost certainly be back. They’re almost never delayed, this trip I think was an exception. They’re also cheap, and to quote one of my fellow passengers who was travelling up to Scotland to visit her long-distance boyfriend, “I refuse to pay full price for anything.”
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